Mechanicsburg, PA

Bill also buys pinball machines, other arcade equipment, and soda machines.

Call 717-350-5439 or EMAIL BILL HEATHERLY for more info.

Those of you that attend the Allentown and York pinball shows probably know Bill Heatherly, who by the way has an impressive background in pinball and other coin op restoration.  Here's a little information about Bill's background in his own words during a recent interview.

"I went to school for auto body repair and painting and worked in that field for over 10 years. I have painted over 20,000 cars. I was trained old school using a hand dolly and slappers and lead before we were ever allowed to use bondo. Also have a back ground in vintage car restoration. I have good experience in building construction and carpentry. This gives me a pretty rounded back ground that covers all faucets of what it takes to restore any era of game."

"I got started in the hobby after my brother Dan came to me to do some clear coating work on his pinball playfields. I would do some painting for him and he would show me some pinballs and how each one did something a little different based on it's theme. He would get so excited showing me and yelling now hit the ball here and see what happens. I would go home and tell my wife that he's so into those pinballs he reminds me of those Treky's that follow the movies dressed in character, but now here I am doing the same thing when people come over. I don't know how or when it happened it just did. I hated pinballs as a kid. I never could see the point of just trying not to lose the ball so I played the mechanical arcade games. Then one day I played a dot matrix game with a theme and rule of play and the light came on...I got it."

"I try to do everything in house from cab repair to playfield restoration and clear coating. This gives me good quality control, pricing and turn around. My games are restored by me. They are not mail order games that I just put together."

"The oldest game I've worked on I guess would be a 1947 Seeburg "Shoot The Bear". I have worked on every era of game up to the present."

 

In the summer of 2005, Pingeek stopped by "A Pinball Zone", and checked out the shop.  I enjoyed once again playing a William's Bonanza gun game for the first time since I was a kid back at Coney Island.  I also played a rare home use only Pharaoh, which I had never played or seen before.  Bill demonstrates on the dvd I have for sale, how a gun game works, shows it inside and out, and we get to see that home use only Pharaoh in auction. It was quite a treat.

I present to you some examples of Bill's work.  "A Pinball Zone" is in Mechanicsburg, PA, barely a half hour from York, PA, so if you find yourself in that area, bring that Ebay or warehouse nightmare by the shop and I think you'll be really impressed with your fully restored game.  

 

Mini Golf, Williams, 1964

(check out that cabinet!)

 

DETAILED RESTORATIONS:

click on a pic to see a game before and after

Space Pilot, Williams, 1968

 

Bonanza, Williams, 1970

 

Funhouse, Williams, 1990

 

PLAYFIELD RESTORATIONS:

Critical Mass, Gottlieb, 1983 

 

 

Playboy, Bally, 1978

Tales Of Arabian Nights, Williams, 1996

 

COMPLETE RESTORATIONS, DOWN TO THE LAST DETAIL!

 

 

THE FACILITIES:

CLICK ON ANY PIC TO ENLARGE

I took this pic on Saturday, June 18th, 2005.

The shop and the showroom are in the garage at this point.  

Flash forward to late September, 2005.  Notice the third story gameroom has now been added, which can hold about 30 games. As of February, 2007, the addition to the house is almost complete and the garage will soon be just the shop and storage area.

Quite a variety of games for sale.

 

Some rare items show up at "A Pinball Zone" sometimes, including this home use only Pharaoh.

Click on the pic to see more of this rarity.

 

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