I have always been a big fan of Mr. Morrison's Honda Challenge NSX. It was certainly great to see the car in the last Grassroots Motorsports magazine where it had done quite well in their track car competition.
Well, recently I found an odd reference in a completly unrelated topic that leads me to believe the there is more to RacerX than I had previously understood. Forgive the lengthy story, but the chain of events that led me to this post are unusual and rather complicated.
My father-in-law walks into my office this afternoon and mentions that my brother-in-law and nephew will be in Chicago this weekend visiting. I ask why and he responds that my nephew (who has learning disabilities) wants to come and play the old pinball game in the basement. Apparently the game had been broken and he had been very disappointed on prior visits that he couldn't play. Luckily, my mother-in-law chatted up an electrician at a home show that just happens to fix games such as this. He came and refurbished the machine for a few hundred bucks so now my nephew can play again.
At this point I mention to my father-in-law that a friend of mine who I had known for several years runs a pinball business out of his home and does restorations as well. I was of the opinion that a few hundred bucks was worth it given that the machines can be quite valuable. This one probably wasn't worth a lot, but I said there are rare machines out there that could be worth tens of thousands of dollars. I know I've seen a rare machine at my friends house that was worth a bundle-- hmm, what was the name of that darn machine? Well, anyhow my father-in-law had purchased this machine "Bon Voyage" through a friend at Bally in 1974 the year it was manufactured. Let's look it up on the internet I say.
The first site I visit is my friend's site -- http://www.perfectamusements.com. We search around and find some interesting things, but nothing relevant to early Bally machines other than the fact that Perfect Amusements doesn't do restoration work on electro-mechanical pinball games which Bon Voyage just happens to be-- he couldn't have helped in the restoration anyway, oh well. Ah, but there is link for the "Vault" where all the rare and valuable machines are lisited! Interesting list, but I still don't see the name of that darn machine that he has that is so rare. How about the newsletter link?
Bingo.
That's it I cry! That is the machine he's got (or used to have) that is so rare! It was supposedly a serial #1 or #2 prototype of one of the most advanced pinball games ever made, though unfortunately made at a time when pinball was dying out thanks to the home gaming console revolution. It never made it to production. Read the full story here.
A fascinating story in itself, here is where I start making the connection and this rambling story starts to make sense. The game (Bing Bang Bar) is an unusual shade of purple because apparently it was a favorite color of the designers wife. Also, there is a "Racer X" on the playing field because the designer was also a competition jet skier, and that was his nickname. Racer X? I know of a RacerX on NSXPrime, seems like a popular name. What was that pinball game designer's name again? Rob Morrison!!??
:biggrin:
Is this you Rob? I already know that you are secretly Speed Racer's older brother Rex, but you need to come clean on this one.:smile: I recall that the BBB machine my friend had, has your autograph on it. The game looked to be a remarkable piece of work, though I never did get to play it.
That's my story, I hope you all enjoy it. I certainly had fun wasting time on the internet looking at pinball machines with my father-in-law. And I also had fun posting the story as best as I could tell it. If you missed the link to the story about the game itself, here it is again. It is worth reading.
regards
Randy Johnson
Well, recently I found an odd reference in a completly unrelated topic that leads me to believe the there is more to RacerX than I had previously understood. Forgive the lengthy story, but the chain of events that led me to this post are unusual and rather complicated.
My father-in-law walks into my office this afternoon and mentions that my brother-in-law and nephew will be in Chicago this weekend visiting. I ask why and he responds that my nephew (who has learning disabilities) wants to come and play the old pinball game in the basement. Apparently the game had been broken and he had been very disappointed on prior visits that he couldn't play. Luckily, my mother-in-law chatted up an electrician at a home show that just happens to fix games such as this. He came and refurbished the machine for a few hundred bucks so now my nephew can play again.
At this point I mention to my father-in-law that a friend of mine who I had known for several years runs a pinball business out of his home and does restorations as well. I was of the opinion that a few hundred bucks was worth it given that the machines can be quite valuable. This one probably wasn't worth a lot, but I said there are rare machines out there that could be worth tens of thousands of dollars. I know I've seen a rare machine at my friends house that was worth a bundle-- hmm, what was the name of that darn machine? Well, anyhow my father-in-law had purchased this machine "Bon Voyage" through a friend at Bally in 1974 the year it was manufactured. Let's look it up on the internet I say.
The first site I visit is my friend's site -- http://www.perfectamusements.com. We search around and find some interesting things, but nothing relevant to early Bally machines other than the fact that Perfect Amusements doesn't do restoration work on electro-mechanical pinball games which Bon Voyage just happens to be-- he couldn't have helped in the restoration anyway, oh well. Ah, but there is link for the "Vault" where all the rare and valuable machines are lisited! Interesting list, but I still don't see the name of that darn machine that he has that is so rare. How about the newsletter link?
Bingo.
That's it I cry! That is the machine he's got (or used to have) that is so rare! It was supposedly a serial #1 or #2 prototype of one of the most advanced pinball games ever made, though unfortunately made at a time when pinball was dying out thanks to the home gaming console revolution. It never made it to production. Read the full story here.
A fascinating story in itself, here is where I start making the connection and this rambling story starts to make sense. The game (Bing Bang Bar) is an unusual shade of purple because apparently it was a favorite color of the designers wife. Also, there is a "Racer X" on the playing field because the designer was also a competition jet skier, and that was his nickname. Racer X? I know of a RacerX on NSXPrime, seems like a popular name. What was that pinball game designer's name again? Rob Morrison!!??
:biggrin: Is this you Rob? I already know that you are secretly Speed Racer's older brother Rex, but you need to come clean on this one.:smile: I recall that the BBB machine my friend had, has your autograph on it. The game looked to be a remarkable piece of work, though I never did get to play it.
That's my story, I hope you all enjoy it. I certainly had fun wasting time on the internet looking at pinball machines with my father-in-law. And I also had fun posting the story as best as I could tell it. If you missed the link to the story about the game itself, here it is again. It is worth reading.
regards
Randy Johnson
