Wall Machines

[coppinpr]

The Corteen factory was built in 1963 by R&W and owned outright by them. It was built during their 1963 major expansion program which included the re-build of the South London showrooms.

Aeros are still very much going, Bandits have disappeared (the chocolate covered ones at least). Would be a great machine to return to Aeros.

[nvmos2]

Thanks for the info!

[arrgee]

The Corteen factory was built in 1963 by R&W and owned outright by them

Interesting PC, wonder why they used the name Corteen instead of R & W. Were they a separate entity prior to R & W owning them?

[coppinpr]

were they a separate entity prior to R & W owning them

Quite possibly. Although the Erith factory was built in 1963 they may well have bought Corteen and their old facility, knocked it down and built the new one.

More evidence in this direction is that B.M Corteen (also known as Advanced Amusements) were struck off the business registry list on the 1st Jan 1970 having been inactive for at least 5 years.

[JC]

The Corteen factory was built in 1963

I would be interested to know where exactly this new factory was. According to Paul Braithwaite, Corteen traded in Church Road, Erith - an area I've known for most of my life. I don't recall anything so modern - the industrial area at the bottom of Church Road was more 1863.
Anyway, it's all gone now - demolished about twenty years ago for housing. Interestingly,
because the existing houses started half way up Church Road and were numbered from 1 onward, rather than give the new houses negative numbers or renumber the whole road, they just renamed that half of the Road. So the area where Corteen were is now Wheatstone Road.

[JC]

Right......... I may have cracked it. Maybe Corteen weren't situated in the old industrial part of Church Road. I forgot about Mechanical and Ferrous, who have been in Church Road for over four decades - the house next door is number 3, so presumably they are number 1 (the industrial part of Church Road was the other side of Sandcliff Road - look on Google maps and you'll see what I mean. It is that part of Church Road that is now named Wheatstone Road). Incidentally, I've done subcontract work for M&F in the past.
Anyway, look at the picture of M&F - could well be 1960s.

[pennymachines]

It would be cool if we could confirm that was originally the Corteen factory.
Meantime, the other two games are surprisingly unfamiliar. Assuming they're not German (don't think I've seen them in the books), I would guess these dropcase, coin-flick or fingerschläger games are Scandinavian... but could be Czechoslovakian! There won't be much to see inside - the 'mechanisms' are in the playfields.

[coppinpr]

Plenty of references to Corteen on the web but never the actual address,

An issue of Billboard dated 1963 announced Len Cullum as "manager of Ruffler & Walkers factory.
I also found this interesting photo of Len taken at Erith or Lavender Hill.

[daveslot]

were they not made by treff

[coppinpr]

machine number 3 could well be a later version of the 1949 "Treff" (of which the cascade seems to be and almost exact copy). The unusual coin cup is very like the Treff,the other machine has so many differences I think perhaps not a Treff.

While looking through photos of Treff machines I found what has to be one of the most politically incorrect machines ever made,especially for those of us old enough to remember the context of the name let alone the "lets machine gun some rare animals" theme

[greg]

What is the link to the "US Forum"?

[badpenny]

Do you mean ...
http://www.coinopcollectorforum.com/
or .....
http://www.coinoperatedgroup.com/forum/ ... m.php?f=52

I suspect the former.
BP