Kick Him in the Panzas

[mei-mei]

Hi, I would copy the whole thing into your photos section then use the edit and crop option to trim the pic to the size you want. You can then paste it into where ever you want or print straight from the page.

[mei-mei]

Thanks to all the contributors of the great hitler machines, I had not idea he was such a great hit!

[mei-mei]

Home earlier than expected so as promised I have attached pics of the front and back of the damaged original. Pic one is the top part with the pin holes in it and you can just make out the image. A soldiers cap just right of top centre and a hand out to the right. Pic 2 the reverse of pic one. Pic 3 lower half of the board with part of the wording just about visible. Pic 4 the reverse of pic 3. I must have thrown the money catchers away as I can't find them anywhere, but they were pretty mangled. I have put feelers out to my uncle who spent as many hours in the pub as my father did, mainly because his memory is better than my fathers. I will post anything of interest. Glad to hear any more thoughts you have on this.

[gameswat]

Thanks for that Mei, and wow, amazing for you to have rebuilt the machine from so little! What made your father salvage such a small part of the game? Or was this just part of a lot of other items?

[mei-mei]

Yeah this is part of the reason I am going to see my uncle. Following a short conversation on the phone, he mentioned that there was some controversy surrounding this machine, and dad had pulled it from the pub to try to resolve this. Unfortunately my father has dementure and only remembers certain aspects about those times and even the ones he remembers are a bit muddled. This weekend I am taking the original bits and what I have produced down to see my uncle and hopefully it will become clearer.

[pennymachines]

One thing that strikes me is it seem to be made of pine which makes me wonder if it was a one-off scratch-built machine, perhaps the work of clever individual, rather than factory made.

[mei-mei]

Hi, just got back from my uncles and it would look as though you might be right. As I understand it, the machine appeared in the pub sometime around Feb 46 and not 41 as I had first thought. For the first week it was a great success as it paid out sometimes as many as 5 x pennys at a time. By the end of the following week it had almost dried up and was only paying out 1 at a time but because of the early windfall people still were flocking to it. The regulars made a complaint to the landlord who just laughed it off. This went on for a while until a gas exolosion, not an air raid, partially demolished the pub and it had to be pulled down. My father got that bit muddled also, getting it confused with something else. He did however find the bits in the wreckage and told my uncle later that he had found several pennys glued or welded to the metal payout cups thus reducing the amount of any payout. My uncle said that the overall layout of the machine is about right although the colour scheme is wrong. He also thought that the machine had been put together by the landlord as a scam and also added that if the landlord had not moved away, he might have felt the wrath (my words, his were unprintable) of half of London!

[badpenny]

Good strewthness!
Do you mean to say the machine was being operated by unscrupulousness.
Heavens to Murgatroyd, who'd have thought such a thing could occur?

[mei-mei]

He he, nod nod wink wink If that was the worst crime being commited during war time, I would be very surprised!