I felt really low. The chap himself was nice enough, despite not being too honest with
his description. He did allow us to play on his own personal collection of old penny
machines, which were located in a different room. After that, I politely said no
thank.you and we set off for the long journey home.
About six months later an email arrived stating that Carters were holding an
auction and there was a Derby Day included in the sale. Maybe another bit of hope
there. I rushed onto the pennymachines website to check out the catalogue, and guess
what? It was the front glass only! That sinking feeling was there again - talk about
banging your head against a brick wall!
As time went on, nothing really happened in my quest to find my machine. Jerry
was kind enough to advertise for a Derby Day in his free ads. Column each month in
MMM. The world kept turning, I heard nothing and the postman kept bringing the bills.
Also, my cash was running out, so I reluctantly decided that it was time to part
company with my beloved Rotolite. So off it went onto Ebay to be sold, ten days later it
was sold. The buyer arrived to claim his win, and upon exchanging cash and chat, he
says," I have a Derby Day." What? "I have a Derby Day, it's in full working order. I
won't sell it, but I would swap it."
I have a fellow collector friend who has quite a few old penny machines, so I
decided to ask him if he could possibly help me out. He was kind enough to say yes,
and after a month of negotiating, refusing this and that, the chap accepted a Cadbury's
chocolate allwin (which needed quite a bit ofrestoration) in exchange for the Derby Day.
The day of the planned exchange, I couldn't sit still, I was up and down like a blue-
arsed fly. I kept going to the window and looking out for a glimpse of his large saloon
car. Eventually, at ten past seven at night, he was here. I had nothing to eat that day, as I
was too excited, and also wound up. He carried it in, wow, it did look nice and
appeared to be all there inside. I started to play it, little faults appeared, the uniselector
was sticking and needed a sharp tap to complete its cycle. The payout tube seemed to
jam on odd occasions, but this was probably my only chance of ever owning a Derby
Day, so I shook hands and did the swap. Gotcha! The search was over.
Four months later, and I am happy. The uniselector has settled down and the
payout system seems to have sorted itself out. Surprising what a bit of play can do, it's
now 90% working order, and I am very pleased with it. No major problems to report,
just little things which must be tolerated on any old slot machine nearly fifty years old.
Most people who have viewed my Derby Day are not that impressed ( can't think
why) and they wonder what all the fuss was about. It means the world to me, and here
the search ends.
Robert Rowland
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