I found a Williams Triple Action for sale. The seller was originally asking $750 (everybody thinks their machine is worth more than it really is) for it and claimed the only problem was a burned up coil on one pop bumper. He said he had a new coil but was afraid to install it himself for fear of damaging something else. I started communicating with him via text about how easy it would be to replace that coil but I stressed he should find out what caused that coil to stay energized in the first place. Otherwise the same thing would probably happen.

He ended up sending more photos and even made a little video playing it one handed while holding his phone. The machine actually does work. The backglass is pretty rough with quite a bit of flaking. The front of the cabinet around the coin door is rough. There are some wear areas on the playfield but there don't appear to be any places with delamination/cracking so for the most part it appears to be pretty level. One drop target is missing about 1/3 of the face (I found similar ones on Pinball Resource so I figured all four would need to be replaced in order to have them all match). He said it would need a thorough vacuuming in the cabinet and it smelled like cigarettes. The photos definitely confirmed the need for vacuuming.

Because of my efforts to help him repair and troubleshoot his machine, the owner has offered to drop the price to $575 but I have not seen the machine in person. It is a little over three hours from me so it will take my time and gas to inspect it.

I have brought one EM back to life, a Williams Gulfstream. When I bought that one, the owner claimed it worked before he put it in storage but when I went to look at it, I realized that was probably not a true claim. All it would do was light up the playfield and backglass. That's it. It wouldn't even attempt to reset or eject a ball. I had that machine "working" before my rubber kit came in the mail so I feel I have some good experience with Williams EMs. Also, this forum is a great resource.

This Triple Action works (for the most part) but the condition is a little rougher than my Gulfstream was. From the comments in the owners section, it might be a fun machine to have. It rates just outside the top 100 machines on this site (similar to my Gulfstream). I wouldn't be buying this to try to make it a show piece and I know it's not a popular machine, but I was thinking it might be a fun project and a fun machine to play.

If any owners want to weigh in on this, I would appreciate to hear what you have to say. The price sounds like it is firm at $575. I am almost thinking I should go look at it and if I decided I didn't want it, replace the coil and look for what caused the original one to stay energized. I'm inclined to think the switch got out of adjustment, the skirt pin got stuck on the lip of the spoon or the bakelite stack screws are loose letting the switch contacts touch. Who knows? He did say if someone could fix it cheaply, he'd be inclined to keep it (I guess you can't get any cheaper than free). It would only cost me a little over six hours of driving and gas but everybody could use a good deed every now and then.

Thanks in advance.

After the seller sent photos of the inside of the cabinet and some close-up pictures of the playfield, my interest dropped and I decided it wasn’t worth the drive to look at it.

I still wish I could have helped him get it running. I think deep down, he really wanted to keep it. I did tell him how to disconnect the harnesses and remove the playfield so he could just take that to a shop to get the coil replaced (and get the switch settings looked at). Hopefully that will save him some money in getting it repaired.

Thanks everyone.