Hard Drivin'

[brock.sampson]

I found this on my local craigslist http://omaha.craigslist.org/ele/553538705.html.  I'm thinking the cabinet itself is worth $20.  I always liked this game and I was thinking about trying to keep it dedicated but I'm not sure if I can keep it running.  A couple questions

1. I'm going to try and take a look at this in the next couple days.  How hard would it be to reconnect the monitor while I'm there to see if it works at all?  I built a mame cabinet but haven't done anything with dedicated machines.

2. Is it worth trying to restore or just mame it.  I have a driving pedestal I'm working on now that I can slide in front of my current cab that I could steal controls from.

3. Ask the wife permission or beg forgiveness?  Space is a little tight so this will have to stay in the garage for a while but I might be able to squeeze it in the basement with some rearranging.

[missioncontrol]

looks like a great restore project...

Hard Drivin is one of my wish list cabs

[Daniel B.]

1. definitely buy it for $20. If I had the free time I would drive up and get it if you passed - It should be fairly easy to plug the monitor back in and give it a shot on site, just bring a wide variety of screwdriver bits to make sure you've got what it takes to get in.

2. IMO, the game sucks quite a bit - but there maybe people looking for this cab for a restoration. I think overall, on byoac, people will say "mame it" but you should post it on the klov.com forums to see if there is any "collectors" locally that may want it for restoration purposes.

3. I would beg forgiveness. This isn't your generic 19" standup. This is definitely a "keeper".

[cw]

I have a cockpit and I love it... just wish I had another to link them. 

[melarky]

I had a hard drivin' sit down cockpit, it was fun, but the cabinet had some water damage, and the game was not as fun as my other sit down racer I have (San Francisco Rush the Rock Alcatraz).  I was thinking about turning it into an Xbox racer cab, but when I started stripping the cab parts to see what it would take to fix the water damage on the side, it became apparent that I would pretty much have to destroy the whole cabinet to get the side off (it's glued and stapled everywhere).

It worked out in the end though, we got it all put back together and working nicely, and traded it to our local arcade for a Crystal Castles arcade + $300 store credit at his video game store (he runs an arcade and video trade in store).  I was able to get my Xbox 360 with that trade-in money (I don't think I would have every bought one for full price, but it was definately worth the trade).

Sadly, I went in the arcade the other day, and the Hard Drivin' is just sitting in a corner out of commission.  He never installed his locks on the coin door and I think some kids monkeyed with the insides and broke it.  It will probably take quite a bit to get it up and running again.  Oh well, not my machine anymore (still hurts ).

[RayB]

It's an excellent "driving simulator" if the controls are all fixed up tight.
The cab is tall and VERY HEAVY.
You've been warned.

[brock.sampson]

Any estimates on the dimensions?  Can I get it through a standard door?  Can you split the seat section from the rest?  I found on a site indicating the weight at over 600 pounds.  I'll have to see if I can sucker a few friends and family to help me move it. 

[Sidgoop]

That's the "compact" version in that ad - that's the one I have.   That thing is EXTREMELY top heavy, and a royal pain in the butt to move.  It's a little over 6 feet high, about 30 inches wide, and a little over 4 feet from the back of the cabinet to the rear of the seat.   The monitor is on the top mounted facing down.  You're actually looking into an angled mirror when playing the screen.  If you were to mame it, you'd have to reverse all the images so that it would appear normal in the mirror. 

[TPB]

Hi Brock,

I noticed the ad. has been taken down.

Were you the lucky buyer ?

How'd you go about introducing your new cab. to your wife ?   

[brock.sampson]

Nope somebody got there before me.  Probably a good thing my list of projects just keeps growing and it's been way to cold to sleep in the garage.