Arcade Collecting > Pinball

New pinball restoration - 1969 Gottlieb Road Race EM

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Dazz:
I have finally moved my 1969 Gottlieb Road Race pinball machine into my house!    

This machine was located in a restaurant that my grandfather owned when I was young.  This cabinet was located in a small brick add-on to the main building.  The main restaurant caught fire and burned down and this pinball was one of the only things standing.  My grandfather brought the machine home with him and moved it into the garage when I was 2 years old.  He specifically said that this was my machine and I pretty much grew up playing this machine.  I actually think that this specific pinball machine was my very first portray into the world of pinball machines and video games.

My grandfather passed away about 2 years ago.  I recall telling my my grandfather, when I was little, that when I grew up and got my own house that I was going to take the pinball machine and make it look brand new.

This machine was located in his garage where it sat in the same exact place/position for 33 years until Friday afternoon.  Unfortunately, the conditions where the cabinet was located at was not the best over the years.  When I went to pick it up it was under a blanket that was covered in rat droppings.  Upon revealing the glass you could see years of roach droppings, the plastics are all tinted yellow, and a fairly nasty smell.  

I know these old EM's aren't worth much, and I probably couldn't even get $200 with the cab in it's current condition.  This cabinet is going to need a lot of TLC to get it back in proper condition.   So, that's where I'm at now...

This is what the cabinet looked like shortly after unloading off the truck.  My son was really anxious to start playing it, he triggered the ball, and shot it.  Of course not being on level ground the ball got stuck and we had to remove the glass and get the ball out.  



Backglass is in near perfect condition.  There are a couple places where one of the red colors is flaking off.  Other than that the backglass still has real colorful vibrant colors.



I wish I could say that the playfield was in the same condition as the backglass.  Unfortunately it's not.... The colors look washed out and no shine to the playfield at all.  I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to clean the playfield or if it will just need to be completely re done.  I'm wondering if getting some Novous playfield cleaning and polishing compund will help clean off this playfield.  If not I need to find a place that can re-paint and varnish the playfield back to it's factory state.



Upon inspection, inside the cabinet, I could easily see that there was about 1/2" deep pile of roach crap, old coins and old car keys.  All of the rubbers and posts are ruined and will need to be replaced.  The plastic lane dividers are ruined of old age and will need to be replaced as well.  

After 4 or 5 hours of work, I've completely cleaned out the cabinet.  I removed the lower board, unscrewed all parts and cleaned the board.  The cabinet has been vacuumed out, all metals have been removed from the cabinet.  

Playfield - All plastics, rubbers and posts have been removed.  I have already placed an order for the rubbers and new posts.  

With my wife still out of work it's going to be a slow process on getting this re-built.  I've already started sourcing parts and have even placed a couple small orders.

This is the first time that I have ever tried to do a re-furbish of anything like this.  I'll be adding more and more images while I "try" to complete this re-build.

Check out my 1969 Gottlieb Road Race album for more images.

jimmy2x2x:
What a nice story and excellent family heirloom, the best of luck restoring your pin and may it stay in your family long enough to be passed to your grandson!

Santoro:
Very cool, nothing wrong with fixing it up for the sentimental value.  It will be really gratifying when you are done!

Dazz:
Ok, so I have the pin nearly torn down completely.  The order has been placed for new posts, rubbers, flippers, lane dividers and several other smaller items.

I've scanned all of the artwork and have someone currently re-drawing them.  I'm doing both the restoration of the real pinball as well as doing a re-creation of the table in Visual Pinball.  Sortta trying to kill 2 birds with one stone... 

I've read an article about printing your own and cutting your own plexi, but I'm not sure if I want to go that route if I don't have to.  I really don't have the skills to make sure that this process is done perfectly. 

Is there a company, or individual, around that does re-creations or restorations of the plastics? 

drventure:
Great Story. Who cares about what it'll be worth... Sounds like a great piece of your history to preserve.

Besides, when I took my 6yo daughter to the Texas Pinball fest a few months ago, her favorite game was a pinball from 1940 something called Southern Belle. Couldn't get her off that machine. Point is, the old stuff can be fun too (Oh hell, you're on the BYOAC forums, you definitely already know that!)  :cheers:

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