the roadtrip continues ...- DAY 2 -the next morning, we are greeted by a sweet visitor sitting on top of my car
saying goodbye to the family
the moment we've been waiting for!
here's where we're heading - a tiny village to the west of paris
the closer we get ...
... the more rural and the more deserted the landscape gets!
"you have reached your destination!"
before we start with the arcade part, let me introduce you to some of the protagonists of the story. first off, here's the seller's son who goes by the name of lino (or lineau / linault ?) - what a sweetie
up next: dogs! dogs? why dogs, you might be wondering. well, because the seller's wife is running some kind of business where people who are going on holidays can drop their dogs off so that they are being taken care of. here's just a small "selection"
you will meet the seller later, because i'd like to show you his gigantic gameroom first - here's a view from the outside
inside, a huge collection of pinballs ...
... and some modern videogames. charlotte, why are you looking at that OutRunners so joyfully?
ah, now i know
and here's something a little bit more interesting than those pinball rows (at least for me), not one, but
two F355
ladies and gentlemen, on the steering wheel: jean-philippe (the seller). he tells me he has been trying to link those two machines for over a year now - without success. of course i have to play some rounds, too, and while i have to admit that the game looks kickass and sounds great, it just is not my type of game. in short: too modern
enough played, JP is on a tight schedule (he has to work in the afternoon), so we better turn our attention to the gorf - or more accurately: the
GORFS
two gorfs? yes, the seller has a second one, but this is in horrible condition - especially when compared to the first one. but before i go into details, let's load gorf numero uno! and before
that i have to empty the back of the car under the watchful eyes of a pride of dogs!
in it goes!
and in it is!
let's turn our attention to the second gorf
the original joystick has been replaced by ... by ... by ... no idea what that is, but it's nasty!
inside, utter chaos
there are empty snail shells inside, the metal parts are rusted (away) and the lower part of the cabinet is swollen - this cabinet must have been out in the rain or at least in a very damp environment. because of that, i decide
not to take the cabinet apart (for a later reassembly), but only take the parts home with me - it can't hurt to have spares.
let's bring it out into the open for a salvage operation
the upper marquee: a very important part, because the one on the first machine is only in mediocre condition
let me check how to remove that lover marquee
ok, only a couple of (rusted) screws
more parts to be salvaged on the back. these are difficult to remove because the screws are rusted in
but see for yourselves
at the bottom of the cabinet ...
... i'm making a discovery!
lino is extremely curious
french coins aka money - one hamburger and a coke, please
let me kick that coin door open to see if there's more money inside the coin box (unfortunately not, but the coin box itself is a taker of course)
i also get a complete second board set
some of the parts i'm bringing home
loading time
everything's inside the car: the parts ...
... and the cabinet
everyone is happy now - even lino
oh, i almost forgot: jean-philippe had sent me pictures of other cabinets he has (had?) for sale and while there was nothing in there for me, i don't want to keep those back from you. first up, a smokey joe
rally race
super road champions
videoflipper
and the most interesting one (at least for me) paddle battle. unfortunately, this one has been converted to breakout (conversion from hell), otherwise i might have considered getting it!
saying goodbye to an almost empty gorf ...
... means also saying goodbye to jean-philippe, his wife, his lovely son and tons of dogs! goodbye, tiny french village, thx for having us!!!
from village to city (again)! on our way back we have to pass through paris
a looot of traffic and many traffic jams - it takes us forever to get "to the other side"
the counter is flipping over - 1000 kilometers down and counting ...
still many many more to go! charlotte, can you already see the light at the end of the tunnel?
after what seems to have been endless hours on the road, we arrive home safely with the following statistics
one continent, two countries, 1548 kilometers, 1 day 9 hours 58 minutes on the road - this roadtrip is OFFICIALLY OVER! i'm ending this report with a couple of pictures from the cab in storage
i'm ready to do battle with that Galactic Orbiting Robot Force aka G.O.R.F.
superully - signing off!!!
