This game required a fair amount of work.
Including:
Replace damaged translite
Replace damaged translite light board with lamp sockets and lamps.
Replace broken "miniature" traffic light
Replace damaged side rail
Replace "gassed" display -ouch!
Touch-up playfield
Repair lockbar holes and cabinet artwork
Repair power supply for ball accelerator

PLUS
Normal Rubbers,lamps,remove ramps and polish, etc, etc.
 

The "Project" part of this got started after discovering a page on the net where  Scott Weiland had taken  a real traffic light and connected it to The Getaway. I thought, that's a great idea!. Instead of a  "real" traffic light which was just too big and heavy for my use,  I  started a search for a suitable substitute. I found one. An importer has been marketing a plastic traffic light that is sold for "party" use.
I assumed that dc lamps were used and interfacing the light from the game would be a bit easier than what Scott had done on his "real" traffic light mod.  I created a "mockup" drawing of what I thought it would look like, before ordering them. Here it is:

I was happy with the way it looked so I ordered the lights. When they showed I dismantled them and found they had used xmas style bulbs and sockets (7 1/2 watt). Since the lights were already wired for AC and modifying them would be fairly easy I decided to go with the Opto isolator/triac approach Scott had used on his "real" traffic light.

Here are some pictures of the project.

 

 Click here for additional pictures of the mod

Check Scott's page for the Schematic and parts listing for the driver board needed to interface with the game.

Here is a Link to Scott's Page!

The first step was to alter the "New" traffic lights for my use.
This was done by opening each light and removing the pressed on wire cap connecting one wire to each lamp and one cap for the common side of the circuit.
The reason for this is the lights as sold use "twinkling" lamps and are connected in parallel.
Which means basically that the different colors (red,yellow,green) randomly light after power is applied and the filaments warm up. This gives the appearance that the lights are changing.
After each lamp is disconnected from the other an additional wire was connecting to them which will be used as the control for each individual color. Since both traffic lights light together for a specific color the lights in the traffic lights are wired and then to each other in parallel.
The harness for the lights was connected to the control board using wire nuts as were the wires inside the traffic lights. Connectors could be used instead.
The control board on the other hand (see link to Scott's page above) was connected to the game using a molex connector, so it can be removed from the game bottom easily when transporting the game. Also the harness that connects the control board to the game itself at the miniature traffic light side is connected with a molex also so the entire additional harness can be removed if desired for whatever reason. I did not have the correct connector to make an adapter to connect the miniature traffic light directly to the new harness so I connected a socket directly to the playfield light (this is also color coded -red to red on minature light etc). This socket is what is used to connect the new harness to the game.
This mod also winds up with an additional AC plug used to drive it. So it requires use of an additional wall outlet. Color coded wire was used to make all connections so that any errors or problems could be easily traced. (red for red light etc etc)
I wanted to make the mounting to the game as simple as possible as well as cause as little "damage" as possible. I chose to mount them to the back surface of the backbox. I cut two pieces of Plexiglas and drilled holes on one edge to match the holes used to put the backs on the lights. A second set of holes were made on the other side to allow the traffic lights to be attached to the game. (see picture) The smallest screws that would work were used (2ea side). This allows the lights to be mounted flush with the back surface of the game head and does not damage any art on the game.