Opinions on cabinets for sale

[DP Louie]

I just got off the phone with a local lady that had advertised some arcade cabinets for sale - she told me that they are in great shape, with everything in them (boards, monitors, marquees, everything) but that none of them work.  Here is what she has:

Defender
Mr. Do's Castle (2 of these)
Super Bug
Vs. Super Mario Bros.

She wants $100 each.  I am going to look at them tomorrow.  Is this a good price for any of these?  I was thinking that I could convert the Vs. cab into a mamed Donkey Kong, or is that a big no-no?  I'd like to pick up the Defender just to restore it, but she told me that it may already be sold (nothing definate though).  Are these cabs difficult to troubleshoot and repair?  She couldn't tell me anything beyond "they don't work".  If anyone wants any pictures, I'll try and get some.  Thanks,

Greg Williams

[GAtekwriter]

That Defender would be a nice project if it's in decent shape.. will she haggle? 

I'm not familiar with the other cabs, but I sure would love a Defender in my gameroom. 

Jim

[Turnarcades]

If nothing else, pick them up to clean and re-sell. If you can get hold of some replacement boards on ebay you may be on to a raise...

[Jack Burton]

Depending on what's wrong with them it could be an easy fix.  Then the money is definitely right.  Is it possible she will let you examine the guts before you buy?

[DP Louie]

Thanks for the replys -  I went and looked at the cabs after work today (forgot my camera - doh!).  They are all in decent shape.  The seller had told me over the phone that she had a Super Mario, but it was actually a narrow body Mario Bros.  I bought the Mario Bros cab and told her I might buy the Defender as well.  I'm going back on Satuday when I can borrow my brothers truck.  The Defender cab had some water damage on the upper rear portion of the cab, and someone had put a hasp style lock on front of the coin door.  The right side of the cp had some damage as well, but the sideart was complete on both sides.  All the cabs looked to be complete - nothing missing on the outside or inside as far as I could tell.  The Super Bug cab was the best looking, very very good shape - even the t molding was still nice.  There are 2 Mr. Do's Castle, both in different style cabs, one was clean but very plain with no art other than the marquee, the other was in a different style of cab with side art and cp art.  The Mario Bros that I got is baby blue, great shape.  I'll post some pics this weekend after I pick it up.  These all had a TON of dust on them from sitting in this warehouse for awhile.  They had no extension cords available, so I wasn't able to plug any of them in, but hey, $100 for a cab in very good shape seemed like a good deal to me. 
  They also have a Bally Eight Ball Deluxe pinball machine that looked to be in excellant condition under about an inch of dust.  They have the original manual for this pinball as well, AND she told me that it works.  I don't know squat about pb machines, is this a nice one?  The front has cowboys playing pool.  $100 for this pb. 

Greg Williams

[leapinlew]

I would've bought all of them.

[padstack]

I would've bought all of them.

agreed.  you wouldn't happen to be in Cleveland, OH would you? 

[CheffoJeffo]

Yeah, they were all a good deal complete at that price.

When you get that Defender, be sure to check in with BYOAC member RETROActive -- he's to be the premiere Williams troubleshooter/board fixer around here.

* CheffoJeffo remembers that he has a Joust boardset that needs going over

[DP Louie]

LOL  I wanted to buy all of them!  Besides the fact that I couldn't afford $500 right now, my wife would kill me if I did that.  I offered the seller $400 for all of them, but she was very firm on $100 each.  I might be able to talk my brother into partnering with me on the others.  I'll post pics this weekend when I actually take possesion of them.

Padstack - sorry, not in Ohio.  Central CA (smog capital of the US) 

[DP Louie]

Sorry for the delay - better late than never right?    Anyhow, here's a few pics of what I got - the Defender is pretty rough, but complete, except for a piece of the coin door.  I plugged it in and the monitor turns on, but nothing else happens.  The leds on the pcb light up.  I am going to restore this cab, but first I'm going to work on the Mario Bros cab.  It is a converted DK jr (I thought it was a baby blue cab, but it is orange - I had looked at another MB earlier that was blue, must have got them confused!).  It's pretty rough as well.  It looked to be complete, but after I got them home and examined them closely, I discovered that there were no pcb's in the "cage"!  Oh well, my fault.  The monitor has really bad screen burn as well.  I've decided to convert this cab to a mamed Donkey Kong ala Buckethead's thread:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=79183.0

I'll post my progress in the Project Announcements area.  I also bought the Eight Ball Deluxe pinball machine.   Well, actually my brother bought it, but it's in my garage at the moment - it's really clean, although it's not working.  I think that the mpu is bad due to corrosion.  We paid $100 each for these, now that I have them I think they were overpriced based on there condition, but it's still really cool to have have a Defender cab, and most of my enjoyment comes from building/restoring anyway. 

[leapinlew]

Sorry for the delay - better late than never right?    Anyhow, here's a few pics of what I got - the Defender is pretty rough, but complete, except for a piece of the coin door.  I plugged it in and the monitor turns on, but nothing else happens.  The leds on the pcb light up.  I am going to restore this cab, but first I'm going to work on the Mario Bros cab.  It is a converted DK jr (I thought it was a baby blue cab, but it is orange - I had looked at another MB earlier that was blue, must have got them confused!).  It's pretty rough as well.  It looked to be complete, but after I got them home and examined them closely, I discovered that there were no pcb's in the "cage"!  Oh well, my fault.  The monitor has really bad screen burn as well.  I've decided to convert this cab to a mamed Donkey Kong ala Buckethead's thread:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=79183.0

I'll post my progress in the Project Announcements area.  I also bought the Eight Ball Deluxe pinball machine.   Well, actually my brother bought it, but it's in my garage at the moment - it's really clean, although it's not working.  I think that the mpu is bad due to corrosion.  We paid $100 each for these, now that I have them I think they were overpriced based on there condition, but it's still really cool to have have a Defender cab, and most of my enjoyment comes from building/restoring anyway. 

$100 is pretty strong. Looks well worth it to me. I'll pay that for a good shell.

[WunderCade]

Nice score DP!

I'm in the CA Valley as well - near Modesto. If you're close and plan on getting rid of that burned in MB monitor and go with a Mame instead. Let me know, my MB needs a monitor....perhaps I can buy it from ya and pick it up. Depending on how far away you are.

Congrats.

[Mauzy]

THOSE are your version of rough? That Defender still has full sideart! Id say you got a great deal. They both look pretty solid too.

[SavannahLion]

Padstack - sorry, not in Ohio.  Central CA (smog capital of the US) 

I have never heard of anyone refer to any portion of CA as simply "Central CA." The valley stretches too far South and North to be meaningful to anyone but farmers and politicians I guess.  Of course, I hail from the Sierras, so what do I know? 

[DP Louie]

Thanks guys, I feel better about the $ I spent now.  I'm pretty picky, so I guess my definition of "rough" is strict.  The cabs do look better in the photos though.  I'm actually in Visalia, CA, which is about 40 miles south of Fresno.  Lived here my whole life, and I've always referred to it as "central CA" I guess because most of the time when I tell someone that I'm from Visalia, they give me a puzzled look and say "where's that"?   Actually, Visalia has grown alot in the last 5-10 years, so it may not be so unheard of now.  You're right Mauzy, the valley is huge.  Wundercade, I'll let you know about the monitor - a friend from work has first dibs on it, but if he passes, it's all yours.  It's cool to see some local (to me) people in this great hobby.  I know that Circo (from Emumovies) lives in Fresno (at least he did last year when I ordered a DVD set from him).

Definitely going to mame the Mario cab, I already have some ideas that I'll post in the Projects section.  The Defender I want to completely restore to original condition, but one thing at a time...   

[WunderCade]

No problem DP. You're a little far to travel to. Do you know I picked up my Galaga, Ms. Pac, from Visalia, and my Mario Bros. Widebody and Centipede from Fresno. Great deals on all four. You got some steals in your neck of the woods apparently.

Nice to know you're in the area. Take care.

Donnie