Re: System 11 Reliability

I know the repair guy, and he is not a clown. But, he does only do the
repairs that are pointed out to him. So, if you go in and say I have a
problem with A, he fixes A. He tells you to play before you leave and
let him know any other issues, but as we all know, not every issue
shows up every play of the game. He also backs his repairs 100% for 30
days. He will go through a game and get it working 100%, but that gets
pretty expensive.

I also have seen the game, and I would lean toward the neglect end of
things, although the cosmetic condition is pretty nice. The guy who
owned it was definitely not a pinball guy and sold it to Bill via eBay.
Before that, my guess is that it was a route game or an import that
was mechanically neglected for some period of time. I also know that
Bill was not all that familiar with the game when he bought it, and he
may be "discovering" issues that have been there since he picked up the
game, but he did not know the game well enough to know the issue.

I think that the game may very well be more suitable for someone with
the time, inclination and skills to mechanically rebuild it as John
described. The beauty of the Radical and Elvira Bill has is that they
are fairly simple games, at least as playfield toys go. The beauty of
the TSPP is that it is complex, but a hell of a lot newer, and has
never been on location. Compared to the older games, WCS 94 has a lot
more moving parts, optos that can get dirty and a more complex board
system. They can certainly be made reliable, but making them that way
once they have been neglected for a while requires some skill.

No knock on Bill, who is a great guy, but that type of complexity is
probably not within the realm of what he is willing to try to repair or
rebuild. I won't say that Bill can not do it (he is a very bright
guy), but it is not a priority. I know it is outside of what I am
willing to try to repair, which is one of the reasons why I own older
machines. If I had the time to learn how to fix these machines, I
would own a few and I would be fixing Bill's for free.

So, my thinking is that in Bill's particular situation a mechanically
simpler game may be a better bet. Someone with a System 11 or other
earlier game and greater techical skills may be able to work a swap
that is good for both parties. My guess is that the WCS 94 is probably
very close to fully working (after the various repairs Bill paid for)
and it would probably be a very nice machine for someone who is a
little more mechanically inclined.

So, other South Florida guys might think about working with Bill on a
swap. He is a good guy, very honorable and helpful. For whatever it
is worth, I would personally buy from Bill site unseen, based on his
word alone. I can't say that about all that many people. Of course, my
opinion is just an opinion, so talk to Bill and make your own
decisions.

Ron



frenchy wrote:
> Your WCS94 sounds like a lemon, or it was in sad shape from neglect
> when you got it and needed a lot of fixing begore you started playing
> it. Or your repairman is a clown. Once I work the bugs out any game
> (even a Gottlieb early SS) I generally have few problems with any of
> them. WPC needs a few tweaks (mandatory ones, not optional ones) to
> make them pretty bulletproof but mainly it's the old reset bugaboo and
> getting the controlled GI and it's connectors straightened out.

.

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