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SDTM Cary Hardy: Going Old School: Toledo EM Pinball Machine Part 1

Straight Down the Middle·video·19m 4s·analyzed·Jul 15, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.015

TL;DR

Cary Hardy restores rare 1975 Harry Williams Toledo EM with complete original documentation.

Summary

Cary Hardy from Straight Down the Middle documents the acquisition and initial restoration of a 1975 Harry Williams Toledo, a two-player electromechanical pinball machine obtained via estate sale. The episode focuses on cosmetic inspection, reassembly, and pre-power-on diagnostics, discovering minor issues including a loose solenoid connection and a non-standard free play modification. Hardy expresses personal disinterest in EMs despite respecting collectors who maintain them, but appreciates the historical documentation and condition of this particular machine.

Key Claims

  • The Toledo came with original instruction manual, pricings cards, schematics, and replacement rubber ring kit from December 1975

    high confidence · Cary Hardy, directly showing the materials on camera

  • The machine was acquired via estate sale found on Facebook by a friend, with Hardy's wife attending the sale while he worked

    high confidence · Cary Hardy, explaining acquisition method

  • EMs can catch fire and still keep working, and can be worked on with power on without risk of shorting a board

    medium confidence · Cary Hardy, stating advantages of EM machines despite personal disinterest

  • The playfield is in very good condition with visible ball wear patterns from repeated use over decades

    high confidence · Cary Hardy, during visual inspection of playfield

  • A solenoid switch connection was loose/unsoldered, preventing proper reel activation detection

    high confidence · Cary Hardy, identifying and fixing the issue during troubleshooting

  • The machine has a non-standard free play mode activation/deactivation setup that differs from typical Toledo configuration

    high confidence · Cary Hardy, noting field modification during inspection

Notable Quotes

  • “I don't care for EMs. Now hear me out. Troubleshooting these things can be a real pain. And they play way too slow for my attention span.”

    Cary Hardy @ opening — Sets Hardy's personal position on EMs while establishing respect for collectors who maintain them

  • “For those of you that collect, repair, and maintain this genre of pinball, I respect you. But I still don't care for these things.”

    Cary Hardy @ early — Demonstrates community respect despite personal preference, frames EM work as specialized/valued expertise

  • “This is like stepping back in time. This is what the operators would get on location whenever they were setting up the games.”

    Cary Hardy @ mid — Reflects on historical value of complete original documentation from the era

  • “If I had a dollar for every time I'd kicked myself I'd be a lot of ass kicking.”

    Cary Hardy @ mid — Humorous PSA about threading power cable before final assembly; practical maintenance wisdom

  • “Now you other electrical mechanical aficionados take a gander at this and you let me know what you think about the condition of this game is. As I'm going over it I've got to say it looks Papa Duke damn good.”

    Cary Hardy @ during inspection — Acknowledges EM specialist audience and invites their assessment of the Toledo's condition

  • “One thing that I will say that I do enjoy about EMs is that they have a particular scent to them. I don't know, something about that. You open the coin door and just, I guess it's the smell of 1975.”

    Cary Hardy @ closing — Identifies sensory/nostalgic appeal of EM machines despite mechanical frustrations

Entities

Cary HardypersonStraight Down the MiddleorganizationToledogameHarry Williamscompany

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Content creator Cary Hardy producing educational restoration documentation for EM machines, signaling ongoing community interest in preservation and knowledge transfer for vintage machines

    medium · Two-episode series format focusing on detailed documentation, troubleshooting process, and identification of original components

  • ?

    technology_signal: EM machines represent pre-digital pinball era with different diagnostic and repair approaches compared to modern solid-state machines; Hardy contrasts the visible mechanical/electrical complexity with contemporary digital systems

    high · Discussion of solenoid connections, three-chimes system, knocker mechanism, and manual troubleshooting vs. board diagnostics

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.057

0:00
I don't care for EMs. Now hear me out. Troubleshooting these things can be a real pain. And they play way too slow for my attention span. So I don't plan on owning one, because I haven't played one that I want to own yet.
0:29
There are perks to these things. For instance, these things can catch fire and usually keep on working.
0:38
You can also work on these things with the power on and not have to worry about shorting out a board.
0:43
For those of you that collect, repair, and maintain this genre of pinball, I respect you. But I still don't care for these things.
0:56
We're going back in time today, guys. This time around, we're going old school. What's up, guys, and welcome back to another episode on Straight Down the Middle. My name is Kerry Hardy, and I talk into everything pinball. So if that sounds interesting to you, then hit that subscribe button down below. The following footage is from a machine that I picked up, and it's going to be about a two-episode series, so I hope you enjoy.
1:37
Alright, so what we have here is actually a Williams 1975 Toledo. This is a two-player electrical mechanical. Now, the interesting thing about this is that I have even got the instruction manual original, as well as, I want to say, a whole bunch of other, the original, oh my goodness gracious. Yeah, this is all original, guys. This is the original instruction manual Toledo folder.
2:13
Another folder. What did I drop? The original instruction cards. The pendulum for the tilt. Wow. All the different types of... I'm all worked up in here that I needed to get it out. Instructions, pricings that you can slide into the apron, more instruction cards. Wow.
3:00
And a replacement rubber ring kit, which I will not be using that. Including the schematics. Once again, all original.
3:22
December of 1975. This is crazy. I'm really enjoying this because this is like stepping back in time. This is what the operators would get on location whenever they were setting this machine up. Suggest ordering all games one play quarter. To convert Williams equipment to one play for 25 cents, please order. Wow. I'm going to throw this back into this folder, and we're going to set this to the side. So how did I get this machine? It came up actually a buddy of mine messaged me via Facebook to let me know that there was an estate sale coming up, and there was a picture of this machine, and that was it. The thing is, of course, it's an estate sale. You have no idea what the prices are until you get there. So the other troublesome part is that I had to work. So I had to send my wife out there to fetch it for me. So that was interesting and also a little bit worrisome, but actually turns out she did pretty damn good. So all is fair. So let's take a little bit of a tour of the game.
4:40
🎵 so there's your tour of the machine and what it looks like basically from in pieces cosmetically One thing I forgot to show you was the back glass, but I will show that to you when I assemble it. So the back glass is actually really, really in great condition. So I'm going to do something a little bit out of the ordinary here. I'm actually going to be cleaning this up while I put it together. So that's going to be a little change of what I usually do. I usually get everything together, get it working 100%, and then get it clean. But let's change it up. Thank you. Okay, so we've got the cabinet up on all fours. Now it's time to get this back box all cleaned up and set it back up here where home plate's at. And then we're going to start tinkering around and see what we got. But one thing I highly recommend that you do whenever you're dealing with these old machines like this, and even on some of the 80s models games is always remember to pull this damn power cable through and then just feed it right here where it goes there's a little slot right here remember to put that in there because if you get your back box all on here and get it all bolted down and then when you want to plug your machine in you realize you can't because you brilliantly didn't do this trust me you're gonna kick yourself but I had a dollar for every time I've kicked myself be a lot of ass kicking
8:01
It even still has the staple in here from where the manual could be clipped on here by this vanilla folder clamping. Wow.
8:31
You know, I hate to say it, and I also hate to do it, but chances are I'm going to end up using a magic eraser up here to get this looking a lot better. Because this just ain't
8:55
cutting it. All right Alright let get this back box opened up Luckily he had the keys four of them to be exact Let me just find the right one or put the key in the right direction. There we go. Woo hoo! That could have been bad. Alright, so now I need to line up these holes. Alright, so this head is on here, good now. So now I need to connect the cabinet to the back box. Luckily there's only one way this could go. So get this one. That connects with that one. one that connects with that one. And now the machine is back together again. All right so I'd say we're almost ready to fire up to see what we get. So I'm going to keep the back of this off because I can probably guarantee you that I'm going to have to get back here again at some point.
11:30
But how about we get the plate filled up and see if we got any issues in there. Aha. Hmm. All right.
11:55
I just noticed that there's no flippers on my slingshots. But all the plastics look in really good shape and the plate field is in pretty damn good shape too. I mean, use a good cleaning. You can see where the ball is worn in certain areas repeatedly over the years.
12:38
Man, this looks pretty damn clean. Found the tilt ball and I found the pin ball. So we'll throw that down there and we'll take a gander inside. Now you other electrical mechanical aficionados take a gander at this and you let me know what you think about the condition of this game is. as I'm going over it I've got to say it looks pretty damn good There the brains of it all right there One of the main components of this game makes it do what it does
14:33
I know a lot of you modern-day pinball guys are looking at this going what a mess and I'm right there with you guys but uh the three chimes system see where the smokes been rising up from the flipper right there and a little bit on that side.
15:11
The knocker. Now the time is where I'm going to go over the machine very closely to see if I can find any obvious broken wires, loose solder joints, or anything like that.
15:31
I'm not gonna worry about whether or not all my contacts are clean, which is a very priority on systems like these. That will be the next objective after powering things on to see how it acts.
15:44
All right, so going over the machine, I have discovered a couple of things. One of them that really I feel like is gonna be an issue, and that is that this is not connected to the solenoid.
16:01
Is it the solenoid? It is the switch that goes to the solenoid that activates that reel. So that's gonna keep it from working,
16:16
or at least detect that it's been working. So I've gotta re-solder that back onto that leaf. good thing this isn't a really screwed up angle that I've got to go in otherwise this This will be difficult.
17:09
Alright. And that is on there. The other issue, I don't even want to say it's an issue, but the other obvious rig job that we've got going on right here is this right here.
17:26
This looks like just a mere ability to activate or deactivate free play mode. So it's not really an issue, but it's one of those, that's not your standard setup for these machines kind of thing so just something to note uh let's check the fuses and then uh let's say let's power this baby on for a smoke test that's going to wrap up the first of two episodes of this electromechanical machine so what's your thoughts on the old school em machines do you have some do you enjoy them more than you do modern machines just give me some feedback on what i know one thing that i will say that i do enjoy about ems that they have a particular odor or scent to them. I don't know, something about that. You open the coin door and just, I guess it's the smell of 1975. I don't know. But that is a weird thing that I like about those old machines, the smell of them. If you like what you've seen here, please give me that thumbs up to let me know. And if you haven't already, do not forget to hit that subscribe button down below. That way you can be notified whenever we upload something for your viewing pleasure. until next time guys peace out