..........and you must admit, none of the cabs pictured is likely anywhere near a "quite ok" state.....
At that point I do not admit at all....
The Portraits does look, the dirt and some splashers of wall point - which removes easily - aside, absolutely great.
And so are the
Asteroids Delxue
Tac/Scan
Afterburner
Indiana Jones
Hang-On Cabaret
SEGA Rally
Virtua Fighter
Assault
the 2 S.C.I.´s
Some of the Midway Cabs
the 4 Laser Disc-Games
and the 2 Space Invaders-clones
and thats only the ones I recall at the moment.
But I have to say that it is also always a question of what do I expect to find (and my first cab was such a pot of garbage that everything I found after it was a beauty) and what do I understand by restoration.
I saw guys with ripped Artwork who just took some Eddings and recreated the missing areas....thats not what I understand by restoration.
I am really a perfectionist as I am a passionated home-worker and I enjoy restoring old things.
I really have to admit, PunkRockCaveman, that restoring a cabinet CAN end up expensive....my Hang-On for example is the most horrible fucked-up arcade machine I ever came accross (it is the certain one I refered to as my first cab) and only a shadow of what it was back in the day.
As for a rule I say, restoration can become expensive as soon as you deal with special controls rather than with usual sticks and buttons.
Since I wanted to have my Hang-On looking brand new (which is exactly the opposite from what it was when I picked it) I took some months to find every single piece I needed as N.O.S.-part or in mint condition....which happened, but I have around 400€ in N.O.S.-Parts so far and still miss the brake-lever and needs to buy a pair of grips.
I dont drink and smoke, so spending some money in parts is ok

Also the sideart needs to be printed, so all in all that cab will end up pretty expensive and I am aware that many guys of you would say that Hang-On does not worth that kind of effort, but it does for me.
I started another cab at the same moment and I spent nearly nothing so far.....so every cab is different in restauration but I prepare my self for the SEGA simulator-line up I pick there like the
Enduro Racer (which will be the biggest pain in the ass as it got the most moving non-standard-parts)
The Hang-On ride on bike and the
Afterburner
All in all its also a question in how good you are at work, how much experience you have and how fast you are.
Compared with what I restored or build in my live, a wooden cabinet is just a joke.
If you ever have worked on an american classic car you know what I mean, you cannot even work alone as for nearly every piece you need two or three guys giving there helping hands.
While you can easily remove a door from a VW Golf by yourself you better dont try this on a mid 70´s fullsizer like an Electra or a Caprice/Impala..same for the bonnet, windshield, bumpers and what you have, we have´nt spoken here about things like a TH350 or even 400 transmission yet and for sure not about a V8!
Something like the Berzerk does not keep me from sleeping at night as if the PCB-search turns out as a nightmare I run a PC and its ok for me....and I think every serious arcade machine lover would aggree with M.A.M.E.-ing over dumping, right?