The machine was too large and heavy for my restorer at
the time, "Fabulous Frank" Reynolds. The sheer size of
the Aero Ball made it difficult for me to explore other
restoration alternatives.
The next chapter of this story took place at the memo-
rable Dr. Smith Auction at Sotheby's in New York City,
when I ran into friend and dealer Steve Cafferata, who
had traveled from California in search of his dream,
the cast iron Beverly Arcade Machine being offered at
the auction. Both of us then experienced the sad reality
that some of our "dream machines" were beyond our
financial reach. I attempted to cheer Steve up after his
beloved Beverly had slipped through his fingers with
an offer to buy him a milkshake. As we talked and en-
joyed our shakes, he pulled out a fist full of pictures of
items in his inventory back in California that he had for
sale. Among these pictures suddenly appeared the top
half of an Aero Bal 1, minus some of its knobs and the
play floor. A closer inspection revealed that the bottom
half of the machine that was missing was actually the
stand that came with it. Most important, the spectacu-
lar graphic paper was all intact. I recognized Soldier's
Field, Goodyear Blimps and other background features
that were nothing less than fantastic. When I asked
Steve what was up with the picture, he told me he was
planning to turn this into a terrarium. I knew at that
point that he was not going to defile what was soon to
become my Aero Ball! We started to barter and eventu-
ally agreed on a package of three machines, the Aero
Ball being the center of my interest. I can honestly say
that the anticipation I felt about getting this machine
put me on a cloud for the remainder of the auction.
Fortunately, I had one thing none of these restorers had
- my ad. Another thing I had was a great friend, "Back
Door Bob" May. My local friend and collector allowed
me through his front door with this logistic monstrosity.
I will never forget the look of horror on his face when I
asked him to "lend me a hand" getting it into this base-
ment. He promised me to "give it his best shot." What
followed was over six months of a labor of love. His
labor and his love for a friend.
Although it was easy to determine from the ad how this
elaborate machine was designed to work, the floor of
the machine had to be totally reconstructed along with
the ramps and a delivery mechanism for the balls. As I
stated in my book, old "Back Door" must have thrown
away over four hundred dollars of sheet metal after trial
and error efforts to determine how to reconstruct the
floor and ramps. I went to his house every Thursday
evening to review this tedious process and lend him any
help that I could. At one point he called me in tears to
tell me he was "giving up". I asked that he wait until
Thursday at our next scheduled meeting to remove the
"monstrosity". But, when I arrived, there was "Back-
door Bob", telling me of one last idea that just might
work.
This three piece package was to be delivered to me at
Chicagoland when I caught up with Steve. I'll never
forget the phone call I got from him about two weeks
before the show telling me there was a "problem"
now that he had discovered the true cost of shipping
this huge machine across country. This "problem" got
solved very quickly after I agreed to split the shipping
cost and Steve agreed to buy the next round of milk-
shakes in the Windy City.
Bob's perseverance finally prevailed! But we fell right
back into the depths of frustration when we discovered
that just the right size, weight and composition of ball
was required for the machine to work properly. For the
next month we went through more balls than the Chi-
cago Bears do quarterbacks.
There is no way I could properly pay or thank my friend
for the work and dedication he put into reviving my
Aero Ball, the only known example of perhaps the larg-
est indoor arcade game ever made. It is my most trea-
sured coin-operated machine.
Then the big day came. My Aero BAIi arrived, and I
was quickly greeted with both good news and bad news.
Three dealers converged on my prize as it was being
unpacked on the Megacenter floor with offers to buy
it. That was the good news. The bad news was that no
one wanted to help me restore it. Friend, Mike Gorski
said that he had no model to work with and not to even
think of bringing this machine up his driveway. Simi-
lar responses came from other well respected restorers.
Many who have seen this machine remark that it is the
most enjoyable arcade they have ever played. Mount-
ed lights atop the inside of the machine, illuminate a
stunning view of blimps, planes and a crowd at what
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