Shefras Shares allwin

[brigham]

Oh Lor'!
...As long as YOU are happy with it...

[burrows]

I'm sorry that it's not to your taste but I certainly wasn't happy with it as it was, having stripped the whole case of the very dark and damaged varnish it revealed a beautiful natural coloured Oakwood case with a pale plywood front door cover..!! The chrome door fittings had previously been polished through..!! So, I had to work with what I started with. Apart from the door fittings being brass in colour and the back board being tatty and messy from somebody's hapless attempt to stain the inside of the case, I am.

[JC]

There's nothing wrong with that, burrows. It's not uncommon, in fact probably usual, that these later style Shefras allwins have painted fronts (Time Limits are generally red). Looks a nice clean machine to me.

[badpenny]

Oh Lor'!
...As long as YOU are happy with it...

I'm puzzled.
It looks fine to me, well done burrows, that's what I say.

[pennymachines]

I probably wouldn't have painted it because I love the wood look, but as JC says, these often were painted and the blue sets off the flash effectively. Nice chrome-work. I've put it in the Museum.

[burrows]

Wow.. Thank you so much.
It's only the plywood door face that's painted, the rest of the case including the door itself is waxed bare Oakwood.
Because, believe it or not I too like to see beautiful woodwork.

[brigham]

I also like to see beautiful woodwork.
That's why I got such a shock when I saw it painted. But that's just me. It would be a dreadful thing if we ceased to be individuals.
Is it for sale, by the way?

[treefrog]

Looks great. These Shefras machines have the worst cases with their poor quality plywood fronts. You have given me ideas as I have one which looks terrible, might use bright Formica front also commonly used by operators in the day to brighten up the boring lines of wooden cartons on their walls.

One thing you can say for the sixties, they loved colour, the brighter the better.

I have had a few Allwins panted and think they look so much better, I have a great Giant wonders honest joe painted red, boy it looks so much more attractive

I can see Jerry brightening up his arcade with multi coloured machines, the Brighton crowds would love it

[brigham]

It's all a matter of opinion, but in mine, it looks like someone's 'trying to get a few more years out of it', before consigning it to the scrapheap.
It happens to old cars, too, which is why I'm possibly over-sensitive to it.

[burrows]

Thank you Brigham for your comments, I appreciate your point of view, as we all have our own personal tastes and it simply wouldn't do for us to be the same. Thought I had upset the traditionalists amusement machine collectors.
I have fell in love with this old classic and don't have any intention of parting with it.
Incidentally I'm interested to know, would you really be interested with a bright blue door..??

[brigham]

The gameplay is so unusual, and yet so simple. I'd be delighted to own something so different.
Add to that, the only Shefras product I've ever owned was an escalator, and I even swapped that for a Mills.
The blue door would be veneered. I would find that approach more satisfying, but, again, that's only my preference.

[burrows]

An escalator..?? I think you are absolutely right about person preference. My other wall machines already have lovely wooden doors so a little colour helps to add appeal and brightens up the collection. I'm not a big fan of Formica or veneers unless they are original and in extremely good condition. I like to see the earliest forms of slot machines but they are so dull in appearance.
Here's a picture of my favourite veneer covered machine.
I hope you appreciate this one Brigham.

[brigham]

THAT'S how I like them.
Ex. Parker's Automatics of Rhyl, at a guess.
Splendid.

[arrgee]

I think Parkers made the most attractive cases of all Allwins

[brigham]

You sometimes see detailed veneering like that on Gunther Wulff conversions. I wonder if Parker's did any of those?

[badpenny]

I can't say I know of any. Can you post any photos please?
We have a special thread running for GW conversions.

BP

[pennymachines]

You sometimes see detailed veneering like that on Gunther Wulff conversions.

I believe you're thinking of the factory-original Gunter Wulff wall machines (not the conversions), which had quite elaborate veneers. The British companies which specialized in converting and re-vamping them often replaced the wood veneer with plastic laminates.

[arrgee]

factory-original Gunter Wulff wall machines

As per photo: