I picked up a Data East Hook this past weekend! I put a ad on Craigslist looking to buy a pinball machine and a gentleman emailed me with this machine. At first it was $500. I didn't reply immediately and I got another email about 6 hours later stating that his "boss" (The wife) wanted it gone and I could have it for $275. Well I jumped at that! The boards and playfield are worth that much alone. So I hopped in a borrowed van hoping the entire time that the machine was in good shape. So I get there and I meet a gentleman in his 70's. Good thing I can move these by myself! He walked me to his garage and there it sat in the corner. Initially it looked to be in OK condition but the closer I got I started to realize that this was not in the best of shape. The positives were the playfield was in good shape and the game booted up and played. The negatives… well take a look:
We went to lower the head and I noticed that it wasn't lowering properly. A quick glance at the back of the head shows what you see above. Apparently the head had been dropped before and the bottom was separating from the sides. WOW, I have to be super gentle with this one. The rails were rusty and missing paint so I didn't even bother with putting cardboard between the head and body like I usually do. I used my huge stretch wrap and wrapped it as tight as I could to try and give it some stability.
I loaded it up in my van and off I went. When I got it home I took some more pictures:
http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1950
Yeah it is dirty. I pulled up the playfield and was greeted with a bunch of broken glass. Looking around the playfield it appeared that the top rollover lanes were missing the wire actuators for the switches. Looking closer I noticed a few pieces of broken glass in the way holding the actuators down… yeah this is going to be fun!
Now many people would take a game like this and part it out. Not me
I will be saving this game, it will be stripped down, the playfield removed and the cabinet painted. It would be a shame to part this out or any game for that matter unless it is totally water damaged.
We went to lower the head and I noticed that it wasn't lowering properly. A quick glance at the back of the head shows what you see above. Apparently the head had been dropped before and the bottom was separating from the sides. WOW, I have to be super gentle with this one. The rails were rusty and missing paint so I didn't even bother with putting cardboard between the head and body like I usually do. I used my huge stretch wrap and wrapped it as tight as I could to try and give it some stability.
I loaded it up in my van and off I went. When I got it home I took some more pictures:
http://gallery.metahugh.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1950
Yeah it is dirty. I pulled up the playfield and was greeted with a bunch of broken glass. Looking around the playfield it appeared that the top rollover lanes were missing the wire actuators for the switches. Looking closer I noticed a few pieces of broken glass in the way holding the actuators down… yeah this is going to be fun!
Now many people would take a game like this and part it out. Not me
