WTB Preserving a small piece of pinball history! Parts Needed

[DRANO]

Many of you here share my passion for restoring these great machines we all love. However, there is a small difference between restoring a game to make it beautiful and play better and restoring a game to physically ‘save it’ or bring it back to its original glory. It’s even more unique when that machine has a special place in pinball history.

It seems I am currently on a historical kick and finding and restoring historically significant pieces has become as interesting to me as restoring a modern DMD.

My time in the hobby has gone something like this:

· Oh wow! You can actually own a pinball machine… in your house?
· So… how much does an Addams Family cost?
· Well, having just one machine would be boring…
· I think I can squeeze a 5th game into that corner…
· Ooooh, there are forums with other local collectors?
· Hi guys, anyone got anything for sale?
· I think I can squeeze a 20th machine into that corner…
· Wow, these older machines look pretty cool
· Wow, these older machines are kinda tough… I think I need one, or two, or three
· I really don’t care for anything pre 1970’s. 2” flippers suck
· Damn, that 2” flipper game was awesome. I need one, or two, or three
· Man, restoring that old EM was a lot of fun… I wonder how hard it would be to work on a woodrail? Maybe I need one, or two, or three
· Wow, I’ve got a few woodrails to restore…. now where can I find parts?



And so, here I am today.

In the last few months I have expanded my EM collection and now have several that I would call ‘historically significant’.

I first grabbed a 1959 Pinch Hitter with the classic Williams running man unit, then decided that I wanted to find a space-themed woodrail (of all things). I found a 1958 GTB Rocket Ship. I then happened upon a couple of 1930s bagatelle games; Five Star Final and Ballyhoo (first game produced by Bally and how they got their name). Then, I stumbled upon the very significant GTB Humpty Dumpty from 1947 (first game with electric flippers) and, as of this last weekend, I completed my little historical collection with my first and only pre-flipper electric game, 1937 Bally Booster.

I now have just about every major iteration of the game represented; from depression era mechanical games to pre-war/pre-flipper machines with electrical contacts… a post-war early flipper pin to early ‘score reel’ games and finally, the EM pinnacle: single player ‘wedgehead’ EMs.

I’ve sort of taken on a mission to preserve, repair and maintain some of these older machines and, even though it may take me some time, I would like to ask for any help that may be out there. Parts and expertise for many of these games can be scarce. And, while some of them might be in fine shape, a few of them will really need some attention.



I will cover each needy machine in detail with its own follow-up post after this intro. If anyone has the knowledge or part I may need, please shoot me a PM.

For now, my primary focus will be on the 1937 Bally Booster and the 1947 GTB Humpty Dumpty… although, if anyone has access to original price and instruction cards for the 1933 Ballyhoo, I would love to get some high res pictures or a scan!

Thank you and wish me luck!

Adriano

 

[DRANO]

1937 Bally Booster






I think Bally really made a great stride with their 1936 game Bumper! They had just designed the first ‘bumper’ and what better name for the game that carried this new invention. To give you a sense of how old this really is, the newly invented ‘steel spring’ was used to create a coil that would make balls bounce around. As they hit each of the bumpers, a contact would be hit (think of the board game Operation) and a score was counted.

Bumper was a huge deal and the company started making several games with similar features. One of them was the 1937 Bally Booster. What’s great about booster is that, unlike Bumper, it now had a real theme; baseball!

Every bumper hit counted as a single base hit and 4 would get you a run. An animated back glass diamond reinforces this and keeps track of your score.



Now, the really cool part! On the playfield there is another diamond and at home plate there is a metal cup. If you can manage to get the ball to fal into the cup, a switch is made and a kicker sends the ball back up to the top of the playfield where it hits a home run coil that is impossible to make any other way. Any men on base also get scored. Pretty sophisticated for this era I think.



Now, here is my first problem. My kicker assembly is entirely gone At some point it must have been removed and bypassed. But that’s not all, someone also altered the curled springs on the playfield to compensate for this. So, I now need to find two curled spring steel pieces with their matching posts to get the game back to original. Getting a coil and kicker shouldn’t be too hard.

Here's the missing kicker. If anyone has any ideas on what mech woul work, I'm all ears. I am currently waiting on pics from another Booster owner that might shed some light on what I need.



Also, here’s a photo of how the topside of the playfield was modded, followed by a picture I found of what it’s supposed to look like.





If anyone can help me find a pair of these "moustache-shaped" bumpers I would be very grateful.




Thanks in advance for any help!

​

 

[luch]

good luck . looks cool

 

[DRANO]

1947 Gottlieb HUMPTY DUMPTY



[URL='https://flic.kr/p/pWoPrf']
For most people who have spent any time digging into the history of this great passtime of ours, Humpty Dumpty needs no itroduction. The very first game to have electronic flippers (designed by Harry Mabs with art by Roy Parker).

While doing some woodrail homework and searching around for parts, I just happened to come accross this project machine. It turns on but doens't quite work properly. I figured a game of this era would be a pretty easy fix... there just isn't much inside that can go wrong.

The game came from NJ via a friend in Buffalo so I didn't really get a great look at it until it was unwrapped in my garage a few weeks ago.

The cabinet, although in good shape needs a repaint. Someone shellacked the surface years ago and it has turned a nice gross yellow, not to mention some non-original black and red paint details on the woodrails and elesewhere. The glass was in decent shape and generally speaking, the game will make a fine restoration candidate.



Now, for the bad. The flllowing is a list of things that need fixing or parts I need to locate. As per my original post, if anyne can help me source what I need, I would be most grateful!
[URL='https://flic.kr/p/qToY34']
Firstly, legs. I got four of them... but mis-matched. You can see the two in the middle with the holes set slightly lower. Those are correct for HD and these are not exactly winning any beauty contests. If anyone has a set or even two to match, let me know.




Next, bells! the game has two bell mechs. The larger one inside the cabinet is missing the bell. The one in the head is missing the entire mech. This first pic is from IPDB and shows the bell I need.
The second image is my backbox showing where the smaller bell should be. I don't have a visual reference for this part.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qTePgv]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qToUf4]

Lastly (and probably least important) is the timer. These early games had a mechanical timer similar to a kitchen timer that would be engades manually as you pressed in the coin mech. If the game was left unattended for too long, the power simply cut of. HD is missing its timer. I would certainly save me having to constantly unplug the machine. If anyone can help here is a pic from IPDB showing the part and general location.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/qAPtww]

As always, thanks in advance.
I'm really looking forward to getting all my vintage games into top form and once again being enjoyed by everyone!

Adriano[/url][/url][/url][/url][/url]

 

[luch]

Talk to Dave Astill he has some of these style games

 

[FastEd]

Great stuff Drano! It's always cool to look back at history and see the evolution of pinball.

 

[bstock]

Those look really cool Drano! I must admit that when I started getting involved in this hobby, I didn't think I'd ever have any interest in anything pre 80's. That is definitely changing. I've definitely been bitten by the EM bug. Every one of them is a piece of history that has it's own story, whether we know it or not. Looking forward to seeing these games get cleaned up!

 

[DRANO]

Just wanted to post a quick update.
I was able to get a few of the spring bumpers from a couple of very kind collectors and Bally Booster has been repaired (top side anyway).
Now I just have to continue to try and source a solution for my missing slot kicker.




Sounds like Humpty Dumpty may also be getting a new timer and some bells. And... I even found a possible source for my mismatched legs.

Hopefully I will have everything I need within the next couple of weeks.

I think these projects will likely be shelved for a couple of months while I finish up a couple of others that are already in progress, but it feels good to know that I may have everything I need soon.