When the pandemic hit and canceled a trip to Switzerland, fine art photographer Edward Fielding decided to stay close to home in Grantham, NH and tackle a project – restoring a 1970s era electromechanical pinball machine.
He started by moving out the cars and converting his garage into a suitable work area and then located a suitable vintage pinball machine to restore.
Previously Fielding had brought a 1976 Bally Hang Glider pinball machine back from the dead. That machine was found stored under a barn in the Keene area.
Following a lead to the Ossipee, NH area, his new find had more potential to be restored into a showpiece. A 1972 Gottlieb World Series pinball machine that was mostly working but filthy, had mismatched rubbers, weak flippers, dead pop bumpers, and burnt-out bulbs.
It had been routed for two years and then sold to a family for home use where it was passed down from one generation to the next and sat in various basements for the next forty-four years.
Under the old wax, faded cabinet, and dusty exterior was a pristine back-glass (unlike the back-glass of Hang Glider which suffered from flaking paint and a crack that ran from top to bottom).
Over the next few months, Fielding read schematics, vacuumed out the mouse droppings, stripped the old wax, scrubbed away the dirt and ball trails, paint matched missing paint stops, clear-coated the playing surface, cleaned hundreds of relays switches and contacts, updated the electrical, sanded down the cabinet, made stencils for the cabinet art, sprayed on a new cabinet paint, polished steel parts, rebuilt the flippers and pop bumpers and replaced plastic parts with new reproduction parts.
Inside the 1972 Gottlieb World Series pinball machine – the relay board. Hundreds of contacts to clean and adjust. 
The back box was surprisngly clean after 40+ years. 
Old machines didn’t keep high scores so players scratched them into the backbox with their keys. 
Old high scores scratched into the paint. 
40 years of dirt and grime. 
The dirt of 40 years finds its way into cracks in the paint. 
Holes in the playfield where 130,000 heavy steel balls bounced. 
The grimy old coin door. 
Grungy metal parts need to be polished. 
Metal parts get a bath in Evaporust.
Did you know? A pinball machine contains over half a mile of wire. A vintage pinball machine is controlled by hundreds of switches, solenoid-powered relays, and a score motor. There are no memory chips, no CPUs, no soundboard, no lamp matrix – everything is electro-mechanical.
After – A nearly 50 year old pinball machine looks as good as new!
Fresh paint, shiny metal. 
Automotive clear coat playfield. 
Before and After pinball restoration project 
No more mouse droppings or yellowed, grimy wax. 
Cabinet restored inside and out. 
About Gottlieb World Series
The D. Gottlieb & Co. released World Series on August 1st, 1972. World Series is an electro-mechanical pinball machine with mechanical score reels. Only 775 units were made.
World Series was the AAB (Add-A-Ball) version of “Grand Slam”. 3,600 units of Grand Slam were produced.
ABB pinball machines score extra balls rather than free games for states or countries that outlawed the awarding of free games which were considered in some parts to be a form of gambling.
These one player baseball themed games kept track of points scored as well as runs scored. World Series awards free balls for high score and runs.
Sounds are produced by the traditional three chimes as well as a bell for runs and a knocker for free balls. The backglass has lights for up to 10 balls.
Along with cards and bowling, baseball is a common reoccurring theme in pinball machines over the years. Past baseball-themed pinball machines include: 1970 Gottlieb Baseball, 1962 Williams World Series, 1977 Gottlieb Big Hit – among dozens of other pinball machines that explored the sport of baseball.
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