Rollercoaster Saga

jbk

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Donor 4 years: 2011, 2013-2015
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rivesville, West Virginia
I have a friend that tears down buildings for a living and he called with news of a pin inside one of his jobs. I went to check it out and found a Gottlieb Rollercoaster EM setting on the second story of a three story building in total darkness. The roof had been leaking for 25 years or so and the ceiling had fallen on it and was stacked with debris and leavings of the local homeless. The backglass was nice but with the amount of work needed to get to it I left without it. A couple of week later I bought a Rollercoaster that was complete with a badly peeling backglass. I called my friend and told him i needed in there again and he had lost the job because the building had been sold. That machine haunted me and I figured it was lost. Flash forward two months and my friend called with news that the new owner had contracted him to tear down that building. I jumped and went to save the back glass. With a five gallon bucket of tools i began working my way through a building that had giant holes in the floor in order to retrieve what I could. The body of the machine was soft and falling apart because it had no legs and was setting on the floor. Luckily the backdoor was unlocked and I got the glass out without any issues. I found the playfield and head were both in decent condition so I worked them out also. After an hour of carrying stuff out I got it into the truck and brought it home. Here are some pics.
 

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I sealed the BG and will put it in the working machine. I cleaned the PF and have not figured what to do with it yet. Here are the pics of it cleaned with just bleachwhite and two rolls of paper towels. I will take pics as i go of the PF cleaning. I have no use for it but it might be a canidate for a pinball coffee table. I have always wanted to make one but refused to cut up a machine for that use. It has had a very poor touchup near the flippers in the past but is really in good shape for its situation. More to come.
 

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That's an amazingly dirty playfield. It's hard to believe that the paint was in that good of shape under all of the crud.

I wish I had that good of luck with old playfields.

- JM
 
I thought about using the hose but figured it would destroy what was left. One place around the arc the grain in the wood is raised up a little but overall it would play ok if reused. EVERYTHING under the playfield is locked up and not moving very well but most, minus most lamp sockets, is worth saving.
 
I sealed the BG and will put it in the working machine. I cleaned the PF and have not figured what to do with it yet. Here are the pics of it cleaned with just bleachwhite and two rolls of paper towels. I will take pics as i go of the PF cleaning. I have no use for it but it might be a canidate for a pinball coffee table. I have always wanted to make one but refused to cut up a machine for that use. It has had a very poor touchup near the flippers in the past but is really in good shape for its situation. More to come.

Wow man, I can't believe that's the same playfield! At first I thought there was no hope but to salvage the parts.. but now.. there is some real potential!
 
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