First Game of 2012

Ok maybe the second pickup, but the WWF doesn't really count.  Anyway, since I saw this nice looking Sega Turbo on Craigslist, not far from work, I couldn't resist.  Here are a few shots after a whole lot of the usual elbow grease, Simple Green and Magic Eraser.  The cabinet is in really nice shape.  The original blue t-molding is looking pretty nice, and the side art is not bad at all.

And, bonus! This one actually had the back door.  I'm so tired of making and replacing cabinet back doors, I  felt like if this one were missing it would've been a deal breaker.

So, it's not like I needed another project, but ever since I played Mick's Turbo, I've wanted my own.  This one is in almost working order, and I'm guessing with a few tweaks it should be up and running smoothly.

I started by replacing the missing lights and tracking down any simple issues that I could fix.  The marquee light was dead and needed a starter too.

 I disassembled the entire control panel, then cleaned and lubed the steering wheel and shifter.  The steering wheel had been painted black, so I stripped the paint off and polished up the chrome wheel with a little steel wool.  I wanted to brighten up the tired old steering wheel a bit, so I opted to paint the center cap a bright red.

The previous owner,Paul, was nice enough to throw in a working board set.  This game would boot up fine, and play for about 5 minutes. Then suddenly it would crash, and display garbage on the screen.  After swapping in the extra board, it plays and sounds great.  

I'll still need to replace the 12" woofer on this game, its responsible for playing the engine rumble.  I also ordered LED bulb replacements for the various 12volt lights.  The bulbs in the control panel that light up the faux dials get pretty hot, so I'm thinking the LED's will be a good idea there.

You have to admire the attention to detail that Sega put into this cabinet.  The top five scores are displayed to the left of the monitor in red digital panels, it's a nice touch.  Also they went to the trouble to add a push button start, and a 12" woofer for added bass.  The cabinet design is wicked cool too.  So that's it for now, I'm totally happy to add this one to the collection, but there is plenty more work to be done on this beauty.