What happened to the shipping containers that were full with

[Lol]

What happened to the shipping containers that were full with the inventory/stock of the Watling factory when it was sold in 1970.

I was fortunate to get some crumbs from a guy who was able to get a slice of the pie that was new old stock parts that was purchased from the Watling factory when it closed and was sold in 1970.

The Watling manufacturing company was purchased by Carlton Van Gorder in 1970. This included the entire Watling inventory/stock. At the time his company was USAMCO. Later the company changed to Games West, last location Tucson, Arizona. Shipping containers filled up with un-issued parts for Watling slot machines & scales. With the kind permission of David Mead, I have attached an article from Loose Change November 1994 when Daniel R Mead interviewed Carlton Van Gorder.

As recently as the last ten years the guy who purchased a slice of the Watling inventory was J.R. of Orange County, Ca. He put a good quantity of new old stock Watling slot machine parts on ebay. Various badges, yale locks, corbin locks, keys, bolts and even some hardware. There were many, many items and he sold them over a number of years. Around 4/5 years ago I met up with J.R. and purchased the crumbs that he had left over. Some very nice crumbs indeed. I know that a couple of my friends in this group also purchased items directly from J.R.

The ultimate question is what happened to the motherload of Watling parts being the rest of the large pie? I am sure that others in this group know a bit more than me. Games West was in Tucson, Arizona. Most likely that is where the shipping containers ended up. Are they still there in Tucson, Arizona in some forgotten place/junkyard or better still in the hands of relatives of Carlton Van Gorder? What a find that would be.

Again many thanks to David Mead for letting me share the interview. Please check out his website “Mead Publishing Company” which offers many slot machine books and manuals. The link is: http://www.meadpublishinglasvegas.com/

Laurence.R