PINGEEK'S PINS: Zephyr (1), Bally, 1938

I actually owned two of these rare pins, based on the Pioneer Zephyr from 1934, a train that averaged speeds as fast as 77 mph, according to The Internet Pinball Database. They were side by side at The York Show so I bought the pair back in October, 2000, and sold them several months later, due to lack of space.

Both have different bumper layouts. This one has only one group of numbered bumpers, but the other one I owned has two. This one is less common. It's not the one pictured in the original flyer, so I believe this one may have been an early limited production model. This one has the original paint, rough in a few spots, but not bad for a 69 year old pin.

There is no on/off switch. That wouldn't exist until around 1964 I think. You cut the game on by placing a penny in the coin mech, and pushing the lever. After you have finished the game or left it idle, a timer under the playfield shuts the game down automatically after about 2 minutes. Tilt, lose the game, and you're out a whole penny, which must have gone a long way, considering one of these Zephyrs new in the box was $79.50 according to the sales flyer. Nowadays, the average pin new in the box goes for around $4,000.

Be sure to check out Zephyr at The Internet Pinball Database. Notice the playfield on one particular Zephyr has lights and art, as opposed to a plain metal playfield with no lamps. So, there were apparently three versions of this pins produced, not counting the listing of Zephyr Junior at The Internet Pinball Database, produced a few months after Zephyr, and to date, I have never seen a photo of this game, unfortunately.

The late Russ Jensen, pinball historian, told me shortly after I bought these two pins, that there were actually a few others produced with an all metal playfield. The ones he mentioned were Bally's Mercury, and Exhibit's Track Meet , both from July, 1937.

I took these pics using my now obsolete Sony FD7 Mavicam, which uses 3.5 inch discs. I retired in this camera in 2005, and have since switched to a Vivitar Vivicam 3750 digital camera.

CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO ENLARGE

The cabinet had some scratches, and a nasty bit of black spray paint, but otherwise, pretty good for a pin this old.

One big plus is that the wooden legs were included with this game, probably not original, but definitely hard to find.

A shot of the front.

Another shot of the game showing the side art, and just barely visible behind it is a Zaxxon videogame I used to own. A Centipede cabaret videogame took it's place, which I still have, and is not for sale.

The number "28" indicates the serial #.

Here's a better shot of the coin mech, also hard to find, so if you see these at a show cheap, grab 'em.

If you are into 30's pins, and see one of these shooter housings in a box of junk at a show, grab this also. These are very hard to find, and to the best of my knowledge, nobody reproduces them. You never know when you might find a project pin of this vintage, missing this part.

This sticker was on the left at the top of the playfield. Excise tax started in the 30's with liquor and beer, then later was added to amusement machines.

On the right, at the top of the playfield, the original Bally manufacturing label is still somewhat intact.

A closer shot of the label.

A closeup of the upper half of the bumper layout. They are numbered 1-4.

Here's a shot of the center of the backglass. The numbers light up for each numbered bumper hit.

Here's the lower half of the playfield. Notice none of the bumpers are numbered. However, on the other Zephyr pin I owned, there were two groups of numbered bumpers.

Here's the bottom of the playfield.

Look how simple the rules were for the early coin-op pins.

This label was at the edge of the playfield. Click on the pic to see it better.

A shot of the backglass lit up. You can score anywhere from 100-900 on the lower part of the backglass.

You can score anywhere from 1,000 to 20,000, in the middle part of the backglass.

Here's a shot from the back of the game, and across from it, in the dining room area, a United Singapore, which I also purchased at The York Show in 2000, and a Gottlieb Egghead, both long gone. As of 12/4/07, in their place are Fun Fest and Meteor, with Galaxy to the right.

Here's a closer shot of the side art on the left side of the cabinet.

Notice the transformer is inside the head, which bolts to the back of the cabinet, instead of from the top, like on later pins.

I was unable to get a good photo of this hard to find warning tag located in the back of the game, so I scanned it. If you click on the image, you will see it clearly.

Nothing much underneath the playfield.

Nothing much inside the cabinet either.

The original inspection tag still present!

The tilt light is located on the upper right of the backglass.

Do this, and it's game over.

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