CoinOpCollectorForum.com

Hello all
I've mentioned this VP in my last post. Now that I've had plenty of time, I finally got the thing running and I decided to polish the case. I can't tell if the payout flap was replaced. It's not thin, like the reproduction door and it's chrome, so I feel it's original.
The award card is the reproduction from Dave B. I have the original but re-doing it. As you can see, the case still has stains and marks in it. I could probably buff this out, but I think I'd rather have it "used shiny" rather than brand new looking. If I did that, I'd have to disassemble the coin slide and have that re-chromed. I'm not touching that thing long as I can help it. I spend enough time working on that slide!
Of all the VP's I've had, I've never seen a case like this. It's MUCH lighter than the pot metal type. I have two restored machines and about 4 more parts machines and I bought this mostly complete and immediately noticed the much-lighter case. The serial number is 12511 but I really can find no record of S/N's other than that I think they started with four digits and ended up maybe in the 4XXXXX ?
My question here is has anyone seen a case like this? It appears original to me. There is black though on the inside lip of the door but I doubt the machine was painted that color.
Hard to tell. It reminds me of a DeLorean.
I'll probably make a lengthy post of what I actually did to make this work. It baffles me to see what people do when they "rework" these poor machines.

Is it a 5 cent machine?

Yep!

Wish it was a quarter, or penny.

The earlier VP's were a lighter aluminum case. These earlier styles were always green wrinkled paint, and they had the lock cam slot cast into the top of the case instead of the metal reel window frame with the slot cut into it. The earlier cases often have cracks in them, so I believe that is why they beefed them up some.
George.

Thanks for the reply George.
I think I'm losing my mind...
Since the case on this unit was complete with glass/flaps etc, I didn't pay attention to the locking mechanism. I just installed it (one of Dave's VP replacement locks) and it worked/lined up fine. I knew the earlier machines had the notch incorporated but I just didn't notice on this one!
I have another VP with s/n 3178 and it also has the notch for the cam in the case as well. That one is painted (brush painted red... ICK!) so there's just a little more weight to it, but it never occurred to me that it was aluminum as well, since I haven't got to working on that one yet. So thank you for pointing that out.
I wonder how well the paint held on those?
I think I'll leave mine the way it is. I like that "old aluminum" tone to it. I thought clear coating but I've had surfaces get weird on me, under clear coats. Plus it's really not hard to polish.
Here's a shot of the underside for anyone else that wants to see an example of an earlier VP. And I've put in a "before" picture of the machine, when I got it a year or so ago.
Mark