May the Force be With You!

I picked up a Star Wars pinball machine on Sunday, Dec 6, 2015.

WOW!

It was built in Jan 1993 and the lady said they had it in the house since 1997.  It's a touch beat up but nothing too serious.  I swapped out the old balls and gave the playfield a good cleaning.  I will give it more love and attention in the future.

For now I'm playing it and loving it.  R2D2's head spins and he moves up and down.  The death star rotates as it should.  Fun.

Ducati 996

One of the bikes I remember fondly was the Ducati 916 which was introduced to the world in 1995.  It was the bike that dominated the WSB championships and forced Honda to develop the RC51.

It was one of the best looking bikes ever made in my opinion.  Very sleek and elegant.  It was replaced by the more powerful 996 in 1999.  The bike was visually identical but with a slightly bigger bump in displacement.

Here is my 1999 Ducati 996, bought in Syracuse NY.

It has been fitted with the 5 spoke Marchesini wheels introduced in 2000.  It is going to get a new speedometer to change from miles to kilometers.  And I need to switch the shifter back to the original because it's set up in racing mode. 

It came with the original 3 spoke "boat anchor" wheels.  And the passenger pegs, the passenger tail, the original footpegs, and some books.

The Addams Family

I found an Addams Family Pinball game to add to the collection.
Bought in Markham Ontario.
Plays OK - like all pins it's not perfect but needs a bit of work.

Elvira!

Found an Elvira on Kijiji in Montreal.  Liked the game so after emailing back and forth decided to pick it up.  It was in OK shape.  I may put some work into it but as of right now it plays ok.  Maybe over the winter I will repair the cabinet. 

My winter projects are stacking up.  Lol

Anyway here is some shots of it.

1962 Scout 80

East of Toronto there was a guy selling a 1962 International Harvester Scout 80.

I have always been interested in Scouts and so I drove down to pick it up.  It supposedly runs, has no brakes, and the body is rough.  But it's a good project.  And it looks sweet.

I'm on the hunt for parts to repair it.

Honda RC51

Back in the late 1990's Honda Racing was tired of getting whipped by a bunch of Ducati riders in World Superbike Racing.  Ducati's V-Twin was pretty much unbeatable as it had a nice broad power delivery band which made it smoother to ride.  Plus twins were allowed to be up to 1000cc displacement while inline fours were allowed up to 750cc.

So what did Honda Racing do?

Honda introduced its own V-Twin powered motorcycle the VTR1000 SPW in 2000. The result was clear right away as Colin Edwards won the championship in the bike's first year of competition.

The street version of the bike for sale to the public was the RC51.

I found one for sale in North Toronto and bought it.  It has quite a few Km's on it but was fairly clean.  I will maybe do some work on it next spring but for right now it's ok.

It's a 2003 Honda RC51 SP2.

It has side mounted radiators which is pretty unique.  The SP2 model also has a better rear swingarm than the SP1.

I think it would be cool to get it to look like Colin Edward's ride from Laguna Seca below:

I'm on the lookout for a second gas tank to repaint.

Medieval Madness

If you Google top 10 pinball machines of all time chances are good that the game Medieval Madness is on the list - probably in the #2 spot if not #1.

It was so good that the remade the game in 2015 and have started reselling it.  But the older originals are still worth more money.

I found this one in a basement in Ohio waiting to be restored.  Picked it up for half of what it is worth plus a playfield and ramps.  A pretty sweet deal.  It needs some work but will be a great addition to the pinball room.

 

ACDC

I have been hunting for an ACDC pinball machine for a bit.
The east coast is fun because there are lots of different towns and places to see.
I finally got my truck here and this weekend decided to drive to Ohio to buy a pinball machine.

A great guy named Erik H. was selling an ACDC Luci.

So we loaded it in the truck and talked pinball for a minute. Then I drove back to Toronto. It was a 14 hour round trip. The drive is a bit boring but I was excited to get the game.

A great addition.

Back to move junk

I was supposed to fly back to Edmonton in May but the company needed me to stay. So I ended up going back in June.
I had to move the rust bomb to my parents farm. That and some of my motorcycle projects. My old coke machine.
So now they are all tucked away.

Then I loaded the truck and trailer to the max and headed to Toronto. The trip took 3-15 hour days. Lots of rain. And the natives had blocked the road into Ontario so there was a bit of a delay.
But overall a painless trip.

 

 

Moving to Toronto - and of course new toys.

So my contract in Vancouver ended. I knew it was coming.
I transported all of my pinball machines and motorcycles back to Edmonton.

The next contract was going to be in Toronto so I rented a house in Mississauga ON and began prepping for the move. I flew up in April and bought a bed, a couch, and a TV.  Then started work using a rental car.  The plan was to fly back to Edmonton in May and take 3 weeks to move.

I rented a van and drove to Quebec to pick up a Simpsons Party Pinball. That was a great adventure. A windowless white panel van with no cruise control and no a/c. The people in Quebec were great but they couldn't believe I was going to day trip it. Lol.