History research on Bally 809, need info!

[Bergin]

Its a nickel machine.  The large glass belly says "Sands" and I think its missing the tower or red light column I see on others.  In one location it says "809-9ZG-5c" (the c is the cent symbol) and close by that the numbers "2927".  Would never sell it but Just to satisfy my curiosity I would like to know its history.  Please see attached picture.  Thanks to anyone that can help. 

[dja681]

Hi, I also have a 809 but mine is a 809-9ZZ9, it's a dime and has the woodgrain look on all three pieces of glass and says Harrahs on belly glass. I was wondering how rare the dime machines are and how rare is the woodgrain glass?
I have only seen a couple of the woodgrain glass in my lifetime going to the casinos.
Thanks, Doug

[Op-Bell]

Both of these are fairly standard Bally EMs. The 809 came out in the late 1960s, so these may be any age from 1968 to about 1978. The "Sands" machine is the more desirable fruit plus three kinds of bar, plus the kudos of the Sands name. I would guess the "Harrahs" jackpot-only machine - these are really common, much more than the fruits - is a bit younger but gets a value bonus from being an unusual dime model. The glass is whatever the casino interior designer ordered, and woodgrain is not uncommon in machines from those years. Are the cabinets wood or metal? Almost certainly wood with a thick metal liner, I expect. Very early 809s don't have the metal liner inside. Wooden cabinets were quickly phased out after the MGM and Hilton fires of 1980/81.

[slotsteve]

The 809 jpo were our best sellers, also  We never saw a em bally without a metal inside even 742 were metal under the wood as far as the belly mame glass we used to mix them  for our home sales , we bought a ton of games from reno  back them they had some nice belly glass

[Op-Bell]

I have a Bally 783 with no metal lining.

[cp]

If you look very closely at the Bally tag ....  you should see stamped in the metal,   the  manufactured  year of the machine.  It's not in any particular place on the tag... just look for a  "dated"  indentation  somewhere on the tag.   Flashlight may help.

[shortrackskater]

Here's my Bally 809-5ZB
I'm currently posting on the EM area trying to figure out issues like contact cleaning, payouts, lights. It's slowly coming back alive...mostly working now with the exception of some wrong number of coin payouts. I bought it off Craigslist about three months ago and am now finally working on it. It's in remarkable clean condition - someone took very good care of it and the original stand as well. I have no idea what the "5ZB" means though, on the ID plate.
WEIRD thing about this machine is that is hits the three watermelon constantly! It seems to have a lot of watermelon symbols and I have no idea why. I hit cherries once in a while and, after a lot of play I hit three bells. But I've hit the watermelons probably 20 times while I've been working on the machine. I wonder if Bally designed the reels strips like that on purpose or if, for some odd reason, something's worn out or misaligned in the reel mechanism?
Update: Just hit three watermelons again...for about the fourth time in the last hour of off and on play!