[Restoration] Gran Trak 10 - the first EVER driving game

[Superully]

let me start the thread by saying this



the christmas holidays have started today which gives me a lot of time to start new restorations (zoo keeper), continue with old ones (jungle king, rally) and finish off restorations which have been on hold for quite a while!

amongst them is gran trak 10, the first EVER driving game from 1974 - created by atari. i bought this cab on ebay a little more than three years ago (november 2008) for 12.50 euros. it was such a steal because it was listed in a totally wrong category (electronic toys). furthermore, it was listed as non-working because the seller said it was running on 110 volts and he had no step-down converter to test it. turned out that the game was set to run on 230 volts without a converter AND it was working - at least from what i could tell!

back in the days, i didn't take any roadtrip pictures and was very "economic" when it came to taking restoration pictures in general. therefore, the only photos of its exterior are the following ones



as you can see, the cab is in pretty good condition, it only needs a good clean and the sideart some touchups. control panel looks fine as well, just a few scratches here and there



identity stickers says 115 volts



however, there's another sticker inside which confirms the cab's shipment to the uk and its conversion to 220 volts



when i plugged in the game, this is what i got on the screen



much too bright and distorted! in order to (hopefully) fix the picture, i did a cap kit almost one year ago and the results almost blew my mind



up next i turned my attention to the coin door, because it had some scratches and a little rust. i removed it from the cab to have it powdercoated, but i was having a lot of trouble getting one of the coin reject levers off the cab!



why was it so difficult to remove? well, it turned out that obviously someone else had removed that lever before because there was a hole drilled into its side and a roll pin hammered in instead of a tiny headless screw. that construction only worked partially, because while the lever itself couldn't be removed it was pretty loose and dangling around. i tried my hardest to get it off! unfortunately, i obviously tried too hard, because it broke into three pieces (no picture, too frustrating) . damn!!!

for the last year i've been trying to find either a replacement coin door or a coin reject lever assembly like the one on the following picture (the intact one i still had), but everywhere i asked (videogameparts, quarterarcade etc.) i got the same answer: sorry, never seen anything like it!



the last weekend i sat down and thought, "you cannot let your beautiful gran trak 10 sit in the corner because of a stupid coin reject lever!", so i took out the 2-component glue and put the puzzle pieces together as good as it was possible



doesn't look too bad so far



took out the putty to fill the imperfections





sanded everything down with a very high grit (320) ...



... and shot everything with a couple of black layers! woho, looks almost perfect



after more than a (broken) year, i could finally re-install the levers on the (dusty, sorry) coin door! i don't know how durable my fix is, hopefully i won't have to use them at all



now that the restoration has been set into motion (again), i'm motivated enough to tackle the sideart next

[ataritoobin]

I love it!  Nice work  !

[PaulSwan]

Is your adjustment of the monitor correct? Many driving games of this era were black/white/grey, with the background grey, white for the track and black for other objects (e.g. oil slicks). Check the pictures on KLOV to see what I mean (not the last one taken with flash)

Great save for a very old game.

Paul.

[Superully]

Is your adjustment of the monitor correct? Many driving games of this era were black/white/grey, with the background grey, white for the track and black for other objects (e.g. oil slicks). Check the pictures on KLOV to see what I mean (not the last one taken with flash)

thx paul, i agree, probably too dark! once i'm done with the sideart i'll put the monitor back into the cab and try to adjust it a little bit. no matter what, the picture is now steady and crisp - which it wasn't before!

[Etienne MacGyver]

Love the way you repaired it, after all, you will probably never use the lever, so its just cosmetics that count in this case.

And 2 component glue is pretty sturdy, so i think you wont have problems with it.

[simplesi]

That is a beautiful cab... my taste in graphics, wood, simplicity... gorgeous and appealling!

[level42]

Yeah that is in gorgeous condition for such an old game !!! love the stylish bend on the front of the sides....
Interesting that it has the old Atari logo on the serial plate but the fuji everyewhere else...very cool...

[Superully]

in between stuffing christmas food into my belly, i continued working on the gran trak 10!

the game originally came without any leg levelers at all, because you can't lift the cabinet up too much from the ground, otherwise it would be difficult to operate the brake and the gas pedals. however, i wanted something "slideable" underneath the cab just to give it some protection during the usual "moving procedures". for reasons too complicated to explain (it has to do with the cab design itself) i couldn't just screw in normal levelers, instead i removed only the caps on four of them and grabbed some other tools for the operation



put in screws with washers ...



... and "super-glued" the levelers' caps onto them!



works like a charm: still flat enough to play the game effortlessly, but effective when moving the cabinet around!



i also replaced the marquee lights (don't you just love that old lamp stuff, no fluorescent tube in sight)



i wonder who "1" was?



perhaps this guy?



up next i started fixing the damages on the sideart. as you can see, there are some ugly scratches and color flaking on the sides!





out come the sharpie pens



let them work their magic!



nice!!!





the left side is worse - and there are some damages to the wood itself (not pictured) which someone has tried to fix / cover before. he also tried to cover some scratches within the red part of the artwork (also not pictured) with a much too dark red pen. i'll try to fix / hide this as good as possible, but it will be visible in the end for sure. for now, let's start with the black letters



as you can see i could re-create the letters completely, but under a certain viewing angle it is still visible. after all, the layer of paint is still missing, it has only been covered by thin colored pencil lines!



nevertheless, i'm extremely happy with the outcome, i'll show you some long distance shots later on - the cabinet looks kickass!!!

[level42]

Man that looks great ! I still haven't used my Sharpies and I want a reason to use them !!

I really like that basic side-art .....it screams 70's all over

i wonder who "1" was?

Who else can it be then Nolan Bushnell himself !!!!! COOOOOOLLL

[Etienne MacGyver]

Man that looks great ! I still haven't used my Sharpies and I want a reason to use them !!

I can "accidentely" scratch you SW if you deseprately need a reason 

[level42]

Man that looks great ! I still haven't used my Sharpies and I want a reason to use them !!

I can "accidentely" scratch you SW if you deseprately need a reason 

Better not if you want to remain friends

But......you did give me an idea !!!  THANKS !

[Superully]

i'm done with the cabinet restoration part of my gran trak 10, the pcb is having some issues though, but more on that later, first some money shots of that beautiful cab









the score card attached to the back of the plastic monitor bezel: you'd better get a nice score going or your license will be revoked



don't confuse the brakes with the gas pedal!



a closer look at the control panel





as you can see some wear around the shifter assembly, but nothing major. all in all great condition after more than 35 years!



some shots in the dark





as paul had suggested, i had to crank up the monitor brightness so that the oil slick(s) and the "score detection points" are visible. unfortunately, this also brought out some severe screen burn, but somehow it adds to the coolness & age factor of the cabinet



kudos to atari for creating the first EVER driving game!

[Etienne MacGyver]

It really looks great ! 

Its lovely !

[scr33n]

Fast resto Ully 

Nice cab and in great conditions  Love it !!! 

[Belike]

Looks awesome, congrats!