mechanic wrote:IT WAS 1983, I WAS WORKING IN SAN MATEO CA REPAIRING AND CONVERTING SLOTS. MOST OF THEM WERE BACK TO BACKS. WE CUT THEM IN HALF AND HAD A METAL PLATE WELDED TO THE BACKS MAKING TWO INDEPENDENT MACHINES. IN THE INVENTORY WERE ALSO SOME ACE AS WELL AS SPACE OPEN FRONTS. MANY WERE BALDECCHI OPEN FRONTS. ANYWAY ALL WERE CONVERTED TO 25C. WE SHIPPED NEARLY 800 BACK EAST AND THEY THEN DISAPPEARED, WHERE THEY WENT I DON'T KNOW BUT THEY ALL WENT TO GLEN BURNIE MD. NOW IF YOU FIND ONE OR MORE TAKE NOTE NOT ALL HAD PACE STYLE MECHS IN THEM, WE ALSO USED MILLS MECHS WITH A CONVERSION KIT TO MOUNT LATE MODEL PACE COIN ACCEPTORS TO. SO IF YOU FIND ONE WITH A MILLS MECH INSIDE IT IS A LEGIT CONVERSION NOT A HACK JOB. THE ACE'S WERE SHIPPED AS IS AT THE SAME TIME AND THEY TOO DISAPPEARED. THATS SOME OF THE HISTORY!!! IF YOU FIND THEM LET ME KNOW. i OFTEN WONDERED WHERE THEY ENDED UP.
Well, hello friendly!
It just so happens, that Jim Perry e-mailed me recently, about trying to find an Ace machine, as pictured above.
I just spoke with him this past evening, about an hour before your posting. I didn't tell him at the time, but you
were first on my list, to contact, hoping that you may have one, or know someone that does. He is anxious to
find one for his collection, being as they were made in his own backyard. Well, now that you have popped his
bubble, with the info about them being shipped back to Glen Burnie, it is putting the ball more in his court. He
really should be able to turn something up, out of the 800 shipped. Sure is strange how they would all disappear,
when there are so many new collectors looking for machines. It might also be wise, to keep an eye on CraigsList
in the Maryland area. You never know. In the meantime, I will be checking with a couple of other sources.
And 'NO', one of them is not going to be Willie Wonka. If he does have one, he will want your first-born, and
some change!
Bill