Is it an heresy not to do eaestetical restore?

[Bluedeath]

I friend of mine gave me his old cab (a Sidam  bosconian converted to generic jamma) with 7 cards (moistly sports games that I don't like). I'm going to restore it to full functionality and "structural integrity", clean it and convert it to a SF2 stile control panel and put a MAME pc in it.
One idea however came up to my mind: not do any repaint or side art/marquee  change  because i'd like the cabinet to show the ages and the story it went trough.
This cabinet has been made by sidam that was a company located in the city where i was born and propably played it when i used to skip classes as kid  .
I'm against the "relicing" practice for example ravaging brand new musical instruments to make them look old, and i keep my guitars mainacally serviced. but i found that want my cab to show how old it is (maybe because it can remember me at the same time how it was to be a kid and where I am now).
I'm saying this with all the respect to the people around here who have done a wonderful work in restoring cabs as they seems to be built just yeterday.
Is there anyone esle whoi shares my point of view?

[Fozzy The Bear]

Is there anyone esle whoi shares my point of view?

Absolutely.... nothing wrong with that at all. It's not original and has already been converted (a number of times by the sound of it) and in preserving it as it is you're not actually doing any further damage whatsoever. Things can be over restored, just as much as they can be destroyed by mameing them. In this case this cab is an ideal mame candidate anyway.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)