Expert: David Burritt - 4/14/2011

Question
QUESTION: I bought a 1947 evans races in need of restorationton. Any idea of how many of this model are there left.

ANSWER: Steve:

Those are really cool machines. Congratulations. I really don't know how many Evans Races are out there. They are virtually identical to the Paces Races. Both machines use player piano technology to make them work.

I see these machines come up fairly often so they are not what I would call rare. However, getting one that is restored and operating correctly is much more difficult. I see them at major slot auctions at least once a year. They typically bring around $7,000 - $8,000 (+ 10% in buyer's fees). However, the last several that I have seen sell all needed major work and there are not many people who know how to work on them. It has been a long time since I saw a Races machine at auction which didn't need a lot of work. When you do find someone who is competent it usually takes a long time (sometimes up to a year) for the restoration and the restorations are not cheap. Many thousands of dollars for a through restoration. Unless you find someone local you will also have to ship the machine to/from the restorer which will not be cheap.

I hope you got the unrestored machine at a good price.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the info! Belive it or not I bought it to restore myself. I have only been restoring machines for 5 or so years starting with ball bowlers and some mechanical slots.So far I have not worked on a machine I could not figure out or repair and and can't wait till I have the time to work on the Evans Races. I am currently restoring a United bowlarama and a United star slugger pitch and bat.If you would like to keep in touch I have provided my e-mail and would love to send along some pics of my projects.
Thanks
Steve Albert @

Answer
Steve:

Good luck on the restoration. FYI, I have access to an original Paces Races manual which has diagrams showing what bellows connects to what valves the things like that. It also talks about how much vacuum the machine needs to generate. I think I made a PDF version of it.

Your name sounds familiar. We may have talked, via email, in the past. My email is Dave AT IBuyOldSlots.com

I would like to see your projects.