Williams (1987) F14 Tomcat Pinball

Williams (1987) F14 Tomcat Pinball

The F14 Tomcat pinball machine is one of the fastest, brutal and most rewarding pinball machines of the entire era.

Steve Ritchie and Williams really put a lot of effort in making the game unique, hard and high tech.  The theme, sound effects, music and most importantly, lighting, make this machine the adrenaline junkies go-to game of the 80's.  If you can find one in good condition, with current technology upgrades and a fresh coat of wax, this machine will compete with any current game for some of the fastest ball times.

The F14 Tomcat generally comes in two flavors - production and pre-production / prototype.   They are effectively the same machine, but the pre-production games have clear flasher lenses and overhead domes.  The proto models come with extra flashers populated in the upper playfield area.

During production, Williams felt that the original proto/pre-production clear lenses were too bright for general population so they were changed out for red lenses where possible.   Pre-production games are more rare and sought after, and thus are priced accordingly.

Restoration Process

  • Cabinet repainted and stenciled  (or touched up if original cabinet is in excellent condition)
  • Automotive clear coat final coat to protect and lock in the colors on the cabinet and backbox
  • New legs, hardware and cabinet protectors
  • Refinished coin door assembly with new locks
  • Replaced plastics that are broken or missing
  • Full play field tear down.  Mylar removed.  Polished and waxed
  • New standoffs
  • New rubber
  • New balls
  • All metal polished
  • Full LED replacement.
  • Full Flasher LED replacement.    System 11 games cannot just accept flasher LEDs without knowing how to install them in the circuit correctly.   Fortunately, with over 20 years of Electrical Engineering experience, we know how to do this correctly.
  • Full under cabinet LED light effects.  Even add further to the light show !
  • New flippers and mechanisms
  • New coil sleeves
  • All circuitry removed and rebuilt.  All prior electrical hacks removed and brought back to factory wiring specs
  • Original plasma displays if possible (or replaced with LED displays if required)

 

We have ONE early pre-production model available.  It has the original playfield in super condition AND is running the PROTO firmware code.  It still has the PROTO labels!    This model also has ALL NEW plastics which are no longer available!