The Wreck of the Old 6325  --OR--  Capt. not-so Fantastic

(In the styling of a typical RESCUE-911 Episode)

Our story begins on the morning of June 28, 2000 in an area of New York City know as Manhattan Valley.  A Mr. Ron Maxwell was taking his dog, Maggie, out for a second time that morning.  "Maggie was being a pain in the butt that day," Ron. explains. "She wouldn't poop or piddle the first time so I had to take her out again."  As fate would have it Maggie was more cooperative this time.  Ron  being a long time resident of the upper west side and a 13 year veteran of  NYC's Auxiliary Police has seen just about everything.  However, nothing prepared him for this.  Ron explains what happened next. 

-- all pictures can be clicked on to view larger photos --

I was walking northbound on West End Ave from 99th street.  As I approached 100th street Maggie decided to piddle. As I looked up I saw the strangest thing I have ever seen. There it was.  The body of a Capt. Fantastic!!  I couldn't believe it!! There was no head and one of the legs was gone.  Surrounding the machine were a couple of washers and refrigerators. I quickly ran home and got some basic tools and of course a camera!

Did it have a playfield?  What shape was it in?  How about the glass.  It has to be in very poor condition.  Right?   Wrong!

The first thing to go was the coin door.  Feeling like a professional auto stripper I dug right in. I popped the coin door in about 10 minutes.  Heheheh.  Not exactly a record, but a couple of bystanders were impressed. Once the coin door was opened I removed the glass and the playfield. The playfield was in better than expected shape. The bottom "logic" borad was next.  I couldn't believe it. Aside from front cabinet damage, it was in good shape over all.

However, the logic board does show signs of water damage where the transformer is.  I do not know if the transformer is any good or not.  One day I will have to try and plug it in.

Now I am really late for work.  I got all the parts home, washed up, and went to work.  By the way carrying the bottom logic board one city block is a real pain. Literally!  That thing is heavy.  The play meter indicated 69,398 plays. 

Later that day I returned to see if the shell is gone.  Well, it is still there. I rushed back home to get some tools, and the camera. Time to get the Tilt / Play Meter board. Once removed all that remained is the cabinet and some miscellaneous hardware. The twin-t leg mounting brackets and the coin door hinge and strike plate hardware. My wife Hilary tells me it was still there the next morning but when I went to work it was gone.  I would have liked to get a picture of the garbage truck splintering the cabinet.

Some history on the game.  The game was sold for $635.00 from Novel Pinball Corp. Novel was located on 42nd street and 10th Ave. in NYC. I bough a Royal Flush from Novel several years ago.  They moved from 10th Ave to 57th between Lex. and Park.  From there on to East 60th Street and 2nd Ave. Now they are located on 27th Street and 10th Ave.  I am assuming the price was $635 from a marking on the bottom of the cabinet.  The serial number is 6325

Here  are the pictures of the individual components after I got them home.  These are in the exact condition I pulled them out of the "garbage".