1978 PHOENIX RESTO & PURCHASE

[Caveoftreasures]

A huge thankyou to Blair (Pintoxicated) for allowing me to purchase his project 1978 PHOENIX PINBALL by Williams. (photos below)

I played this machine once for 20 seconds when i was a 7 yr old kid, and never saw any other pinball again til I was 38 yrs old, 3 yrs ago.
I have fond memories and will be sparing no expense in bringing this machine back to as close to brand new as I can. Blair has already done alot of work, making my life easier.
I will be repainting the cabinet and redoing new stencils for it, plus making everything else as minty as I can make it for a 33 year old machine.

Another big thankyou to Jeff (Pinballheaven) for also sharing with me his experiences of owning a PHOENIX Pinball, which helped me to make my mind up to add this machine to the collection.

Having a collection is all about sharing the machines with other people and watching them play a variety of fun and interesting games. I can only play one game at a time, but seeing others play these pinnys is why I keep collecting them.

I have added a few photos below. I will update this resto thread when I start the cabinet respray. I am lucky enough to have both Andrew (Beaky) and Gav (Retropin) giving me some advice as I go.
Thanks for reading.   

[Caveoftreasures]

Forgot to add, my first ever SS machine.     More photos below >

[Caveoftreasures]

A few more photos to finish off.

[pinballheaven]

WHAT A MAGNIFICENT MACHINE!!!!!

Congratulations Brett on getting her! I know alot of the purists may see it as one of the more boring SS machines but to me it is something special, memories etc and if your misses is like mine she will enjoy playing it as well(and let's not forget it is the right colour!!).

Can't wait to see your progress but looks great already!

Jeff

[Pintoxicated]

No worries Brett.  There is a bit more to do on the machine, namely sort out the master display board and then the rest after that is basically cosmetic.  The machine is very very playable as it is.  I enjoyed playing it, just have 4, well 3 too many machines now. 

Hopefully it arrives safe and sound and lives up to your expectations. 

Cheers.   

[GORGAR 1]

Congrats Brett well done and I missed out on playing this machine by a month as I'll be at Blairs next month and would have had a bash oh well one less machine to beat Blair at lol

Peter

[Strangeways]

Great feeling when you finally own your "Holy Grail" machine - well done Blair and Brett !

Have FUN 

[Boots]

The machine looks very good as is.
Wouldn't pick that it needed a cab respray.

[Pintoxicated]

Sides and front of the cabinet aren't too bad overall.  I had the back of the cabinet replaced by a cabiinet maker so at the moment it is bare plywood.  The backbox could do with some attention.

I am sure with Brett's enthusiasm it will end up being a really really nice machine.

Looking at those pics, the legs were off another machine and put on Phoenix so I could clean up the legs that came with the machine.......didn't get around to that sorry Brett, the legs with the machine will need a rub with some 800 or higher grit sandpaper and then some metal polish and they will look like the ones in the pics.

[Pintoxicated]

Congrats Brett well done and I missed out on playing this machine by a month as I'll be at Blairs next month and would have had a bash oh well one less machine to beat Blair at lol

Peter

You're a nasty man.  You never know, I might have Sinbad up and running by the time you get here plus that other GnR machine to talk you into buying. 

[faza]

Well done Brett looks like it will come up great one question though how do you remember what you played when you we're seven I can't remember a year ago

[wizo]

Nice one buddy 

[v8racefan]

Well well the first SS in your collection, well done  this will sit well next to the BK 2000

[GORGAR 1]

 

Well done Brett looks like it will come up great one question though how do you remember what you played when you we're seven I can't remember a year ago

+ 1

Peter

[Caveoftreasures]

Thankyou everyone for the kind words. Blair (Pintoxicated) has to be the best bloke on the planet and very easy n professional to deal with. We have communicated mostly via email, and spoke the other day ( I was asleep n the wife woke me up) but when she said "Blairs on the phone" I jumped up like a kid looking for presents on Xmas day.

Its kind and thoughtful members who make this AP site so dam great.  

RE THE QUESTION ABOUT REMEMBERING the machine from 33 yrs ago, I actually saw it getting unloaded off a truck when I was 7 yrs old. It was at Freddy Fongs Takeaway shop at Reevesby in Sydney, and it was placed into the small side arcade room which had 2 x brand new 1978 Sit down Space Invader cocktail cabinets in it only. This was the first Pinball machine to ever be put into the shop. The owner was Japaneese/Chineese decent and he must have seen the profit in having on-site arcade stuff etc. I know the cocktail cabinets were huge earners from the second they were unboxed.

2 months later, it was time for the PHOENIX PINBALL and i watched the guy unbox the BRAND NEW PHOENIX and set it up etc. He played a few games, adjusted the legs, and left about a dozen credits on it. I can tell u now, the bright yellow n pink colours plus all the playfield colours were BRIGHT and I really mean Bright like u could never have imagined. The PINK caninet u see today, is nothing compared to the BRIGHT LIPSTICK PINK it had when BRAND NEW. The factory brochure, due to lousy colour cameras of the time, do it no justice at all. This is going to be the absolute best ever SS machine I could possibly hope for.

Maybe it will be the first of a few SS machines I will collect. After seeing the cabinet brand new, I just have to make it brand spanking new again. It will be worth every cent and every second I put into it.
The legs and lockdown bar, plus the side rails are going straight off to the chrome shop with no expense spared.
This will be beautiful against the new cabinet paint job. i will consider doing the coin door in chrome as well, plus the shooter rod n housing etc. Everything on this machine will be restored to the very best I can get done. I think it will be worth it since I will pass it onto my kids when i leave the planet..
Thanks again for the kind comments.