The first pin i ever owned was a Bally Supersonic.  It was 13 years ago, it cost me $300 and i kept it for about 2 years.

It was fully working, with coin mechs when i bought it, reasonably good PF, bit shabby on the artwork but overall good condition.
I was a "COMPLETE" noobie when i bought this. Eventualy one flipper died and i had no idea how to fix it. Got a tech in, and he spent 2 hours to no avail. I was dissapointed to say the least. Another thing i did(which now looking back was completely insane )i wanted to get a real good shine on the PF, so i "rubbed it with cooking oil", it looked great for about 4 games. Then it died. Sold it for $200 and didnt think much more about pins till now. Thats my first pin story and im stickin to it *Prepares for ridicule*