Sour Lake, TX
This thread has been a pleasure to follow. Great job so far, Sky.
(Topic ID: 96540)
1 month later
Way to step it up man ! Shop , games all look fantastic! I really enjoy people that push the envelope ! 
Quoted from electricsquirrel:Beautiful!
How many hours did it take you to get to this point?
I really like the black trim!
E
This project has been on and off all winter so its difficult to say.
Quoted from Deez:You get this thing working yet
Quoted from Deez:You get this thing working yet
Not yet , sitting on the beach trying to decide what drink to order next. When I get home and sober up I'm hopefull
.
Quoted from cal50:If the taxi is broke do you call Uber?
I might need an Uber from the beach. 
1 month later
So the Taxi project has come to an end. I traded my finished product off to pick up a MB restoration after playing only five games on it. The Black Taxi left today and went back to its original owners. They seem to be very happy with it.
I can conclude that it was great fun but a difficult task for me. Ive decided against doing this Frankenstein monster approach again for a bit. The fact of the matter is it became slightly overwhelming dealing with all the board issues. As it stands John at Cadillac has taken back a beautiful " not completely functioning" pin . His staff will diagnose the few remaining board issues and save me the headache. They will be bringing it to the Cleveland show in September, Thanks John. I have vowed to make my future project follow the guideline of complete and working first.
The project machine that was left now belongs to Matt (Fatdirk). He will also be bringing it to the show as his Lab Specimen for his seminar.
Thank you all for the help,guidance and fun.
Although I did not take pictures of the first Taxi ,I did take a few of Black Taxi. Enjoy!
Thanks for the thread Keith and parts along the way. My taxi is going for clear coat and touch up by a fellow pinsider Ina week. Can't wait. One of the best pins of all time. Taxi!
Beautiful Taxi and likely one if not the nicest one in the state of Ohio.
System 11 issues you need to step back in time and really get an understanding of how Williams did things with the A,B,C boards and on the PF for switching . relays , etc. A blown transistor & per-driver is an easy fix, trying to find out what caused it either on the PF or the board set can take time and frustration. My limited experience on system 11 boards has been positive but burned up many hours and beers trouble shooting. You did the harder part and heavy lifting......
VERY nice work!
Wow, that looks absolutely incredible! Most beautiful Taxi I've ever seen! Amazing work, hope I can get a chance to see it in person some time!
Quoted from tdiddy:Happened to be at cadillac when Keith dropped off the game. The game is truly awesome to look at
Pleasure to meet you!
Hi Skypilot - As I am the new, proud owner of your Taxi restore (stainless steel version, bought from Teekee) I just wanted to comment on how well your restoration work is. While the pictures in your thread speak volumes, seeing your work in person really shows the level of detail & craftsmanship that you put into this piece of art!
This machine looks as new as the NIB's that I have previously purchased and looks fantastic sitting right next to them. Excellent work!!! I don't know if you plan to perform more restorations in the future, but if you do, this is my personal endorsement of your skills to any potential buyers! 
Skypilot, it sounds like it was almost more of a headache than it was worth, but congratulations on reaching the finish line. Board issues aside, that black trim on the Taxi might be one of the most eye catching things I've seen in a while. It really pops with black, and to me looks like that's how the machine was meant to be in the first place (taxis being mostly yellow and black, traditionally; chrome bumpers notwithstanding).
Quoted from KrustyBurger:I am the new, proud owner of your Taxi restore
I'm jealous.
I saw a little bit of both the before and after in person, and I've seen and played some of Keith's other restores.
His work is pretty ridiculous. (Ridiculously good.)
Quoted from mot:His work is pretty ridiculous. (Ridiculously good.)
You're not kidding - the man has mad skills... 
No need to be jealous - rather, if you're ever in the Chicagoland area, come out and play a few games!
thumbs up for the offer and your avatar (devil's crush is still the best pinball simulation on a videogame system and the one reason that I'll never sell my turbo express!
Quoted from KrustyBurger:Hi Skypilot - As I am the new, proud owner of your Taxi restore (stainless steel version, bought from Teekee) I just wanted to comment on how well your restoration work is. While the pictures in your thread speak volumes, seeing your work in person really shows the level of detail & craftsmanship that you put into this piece of art!
This machine looks as new as the NIB's that I have previously purchased and looks fantastic sitting right next to them. Excellent work!!! I don't know if you plan to perform more restorations in the future, but if you do, this is my personal endorsement of your skills to any potential buyers!
Krustyburger,
Thanks for the very nice endorsement! I'm thrilled that you are pleased and also happy to see Taxi go to a good home. Send a picture of it in your line up. As far as restorations go I have a long list of them and plan to do as many as I can in years to come. The only reason Taxi left so quick was TeeKee's offer of a Monster Bash restoration in our deal. I enjoy playing but I live for restorations.
Quoted from Nullpunkt:Skypilot, it sounds like it was almost more of a headache than it was worth, but congratulations on reaching the finish line. Board issues aside, that black trim on the Taxi might be one of the most eye catching things I've seen in a while. It really pops with black, and to me looks like that's how the machine was meant to be in the first place (taxis being mostly yellow and black, traditionally; chrome bumpers notwithstanding).
I think the problem was in the and when I was close to being finished the board troubles just became too much. There were multiple issues on both games. At one point I even put in a rotten dog board and one of the speech ROMs cooked.luckily at that point I had FatDirk there to help me get through the problems. Once one game was complete it became much easier to go back and work on the second game. So was it worth it?yes.The black really looks interesting and I like the look but I also love how the other game went back to its original and popped.
Melbourne
Quoted from Skypilot:I think the problem was in the and when I was close to being finished the board troubles just became too much. There were multiple issues on both games. At one point I even put in a rotten dog board and one of the speech ROMs cooked.luckily at that point I had FatDirk there to help me get through the problems. Once one game was complete it became much easier to go back and work on the second game. So was it worth it?yes.The black really looks interesting and I like the look but I also love how the other game went back to its original and popped.
So glad to see I wasn't the only one that needed a "push" to get over the top at the end of a restoration. I thought it was just because I was a moron. I still am, but I'm glad to see it happens to everyone.
They came out fantastic and board issues are a PITA. Always enjoy following along your restorations. The amount of work you put into these machines (Not just Taxi's!) is truly breathtaking. Congrats to the new owners. You lucky people! 
4 months later
I've been stopping by Cadillac Music a lot in the last few months buying games off Nick and John some days or bugging Lisa for help fixing something. Inevitably I spend a lot of time staring at the Taxi in their show room. The game looks so pretty but one piece has been bugging the crap out of me. The repro backglass is so blown out it is amazing to me they actually sold them.
As a thank you for all the help they've given me I started making a new backglass for their game. I still need to screenprint the light mask but Marilyn and Gorbie actually have definition now rather than hazy white figures.
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Quoted from Deez:CPR pedals a lot of junk. Better than nothing I guess.
Somewhere Stu became suddenly angry and he doesn't know why.
Quoted from lordloss:Somewhere Stu became suddenly angry and he doesn't know why.
Surprised he hasn't come in here to talk about how the originals were just like that and I know nothing lol.
Quoted from davideokills:I spend a lot of time staring at the Taxi in their show room. The game looks so pretty but one piece has been bugging the crap out of me. The repro backglass is so blown out it is amazing to me they actually sold them.
Did you get to play it?
Quoted from Skypilot:Did you get to play it?
I'll wait until I finish the backglass before I start harassing them about it not working. Plus I have been asking Lisa for system 11 boards so bugging her about Taxi might backfire on me.
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