Williams Mystery Cabinet???

[ArtMAME]

I got this Williams cabinet off of death row at the Griffin GA auction in February, which housed a non-working Street Fighter II.

Kinda wierd, at first I thought it was a Robotron in an alternate cabinet style per KLOV.  But the sides come down to the control panel like a Bubbles or Sinistar...    I have a Robotron cabinet, and both are the same exact width.

Could have been a Joust but the sides just below the CP are sharper than a Joust or MP...

To further confuse things... The control panel (which has SFII controls) looks like it used to be a Defender or Stargate because it has a filled in 2-way up/down joystick slot on the left side and several other filled-in holes that look like a Defender/SG layout.

Have not been able to peek under the wood-grained formica siding to see if there is any original artwork...

Not a big deal, but just wondering if anybody had ever seen a cabinet like this one... My best guess would be that it is an alternate Williams cabinet style, or it was either a Joust or Bubbles and some joker cut the bottom sides this way when he installed the crappy wood-grained formica siding on it.  Plus it was a Defender or Stargate at one time...

[Crowquill]

Do you know for sure it's a Williams cab?

Some of the bootleg cabs came in copies of popular cabs. That might explain the slight differences and the cheesy woodgrain sides too. Most operators wouldn't have taken the time and expense of covering the sides with anything more than black paint.  But then again, maybe your machine was really loved 

The control panel could just be transplanted from a different cab. My Crazy Kong cab is close enough to a Sega cab that a Frogger control panel fits on it. I'm not that familiar with the Williams cabs, but I'd imagine swapping panels between them is possible (with a bit of work).

[ArtMAME]

It is definitely a Williams cabinet.

I have a Robotron cabinet that I restored, was a Capcom game when I got it:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=63639.0

This mystery cab is identical in dimensions and hardware scheme as my Robotron.  It has the same type of coin box with the tubes sticking out of it, same coin doors, same handle in the back, same rear doors, same bezel, same Williams monitor shelf, same construction throughout.  The only exception is that the bottom front part of the mystery cab is made from MDF, while the rest of the cabinet is plywood.  The Robotron bottom front is plywood.

I actually got this cab for spare parts to my Robotron restoration.

They had about 100+ dead cabs at this auction, and about 40% or them were Williams cabs... Robotrons, Jousts, Defenders, Stargates, etc... All but 2 or 3 had wood-grain formica sides... such a shame I could not take them all... They also had lots of other cabs with wood-grain formica... not just Williams cabs, but many other types. I got a Track and Field cab with the same wood-grain formica that same day.

From what I gather, most or all of these converted cabs came from the same op somewhere in Texas... most had the same generic CPO, marquee scheme, tax tags, and siding... must have been a huge operation.

[SirPeale]

Show us the front.

[ArtMAME]

Show us the front.

[ArtMAME]

Show us the front.

Haha... just kidding...

[ArtMAME]

How about the back...

[Encryptor]

Looks very similar to the Konami cab I have with Rush N Attack that was originally a Congo Bongo.

Encryptor

[SirPeale]

Williams all right.  Moon Patrol.

[patrickl]

Thought Moon Patrol too, but (as ArtMAMA says) the underside of the CP looks different.

[ArtMAME]

The inside measurement for this cab is 24.5" instead of the 23" for a Moon Patrol according to Jakobud's plans. 

Does anybody have a Moon Patrol they could measure on the inside so we can confirm this?

[Crowquill]

I just went through all the Williams flyers on TAFA. Didn't find anything too revealing. I did find two trivial things:

1. Blaster and Mystic Marathon were sold as kits including complete control panels that are supposed to convert ALL horizontal-monitor Williams games. Examples given are Defender, Stargate, Robotron,Joust, and Bubbles. I would think this means they all are the same width to be able to take the same replacement control panel. Moon Patrol isn't listed, but I thought it's cab was supposed to be identical to Joust.

Blaster Kit: http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&id=2576
MM Kit: http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&id=710

2. One of the Robotron flyers has some crazy side-art.
http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&id=2428

EDIT: fixed link.

[TOK]

I just went through all the Williams flyers on TAFA. Didn't find anything too revealing. I did find two trivial things:

1. Blaster and Mystic Marathon were sold as kits including complete control panels that are supposed to convert ALL horizontal-monitor Williams games. Examples given are Defender, Stargate, Robotron,Joust, and Bubbles. I would think this means they all are the same width to be able to take the same replacement control panel. Moon Patrol isn't listed, but I thought it's cab was supposed to be identical to Joust.

Blaster Kit: http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&id=2576
MM Kit: http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&id=710

2. One of the Robotron flyers has some crazy side-art.
http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=thumbs&id=2428

EDIT: fixed link.

Defender is a completely unique cab, and doesn't have the rounded style CP that other Williams games have. I can't imagine how a complete control panel swap would work for both types. Very odd.

[Crowquill]

I was just looking at the Mystic Marathon manual over at crazykong.com.
Apparently the conversion kits came in 3 varieties:

Kit K1 was for converting Defender
Kit K2 was for converting Joust, Robotron, and Stargate
Kit K3 was for Bubbles.

Still no mention of Moon Patrol. I wonder if maybe it's because Moon Patrol was a licensed game (from Irem).

Well...there ooes that theory. Although I guess it confirms that it's possible to swap a Stargate panel onto a Robotron or Joust.

[nostrebor]

It's not a moon patrol. At least not the typical cabinet for MP. Mine is at 1984 arcade now, but it was cut just like a Joust, and was under 24".