Ok, so After I got finished with my stand up machine, I wanted to play some racing games, but noticed that they were a real pain in the ass with out a steering wheel, and pedals. I was going to make a different control panel, but that would suck having to change it out if I wanted to play a non racing or a racing game. I always loved going to the arcade and playing Pole Position in the sit down cabinet form. Those were the days! Now a days you play a sit down game, its a fiberglass racing seat in front of a big screen tv. Sure it has 5.1 surround sound, and WAY better graphics, but you lose the personal feel factor of an actual game cabinet you sit INSIDE of!

These are examples of what I had in mind. I was going to do what I did before - Find a cabinet with a working monitor, and gut it and build a pc for MAME and be good! Unfortunately there wasn't ease of availability of cabinets on eBay at the time. So I went in the alt.rec.arcade.collecting newsgroup and put a post looking for a good sit down cabinet within 100 miles of Rockford. I had a few replies, but I selected 2 to actually go and look at. One was in Rockford, the other in Milwaukee. I ended up buying both, but im getting ahead of myself. Lets take it one by one.

The First cabinet was a 1979 Monaco GP by Sega. This cabinet was a 2 piece, plywood construction, and all components there. I went and looked, and the seat cover was missing - yes it actually had a cushioned seat! It seemed to power up, but didn't display anything or play. It did make some sounds though. This seemed like a good candidate, so I bought it. The real down side to this cab is that the seat is a "single" seat, and the shifter was actually built in a "console" on the left hand side instead of the right. Maybe cause it was made in Japan? I was pretty set in using this cabinet.....at least until the next day.

The next day it was off to Milwaukee for the other cabinet. I know I just bought one, but I really liked the style of the next one, and the price was right on both. This cabinet was a 1990 game called Continental Circuit. It was actually featured in 3d on the sit downs, and featured glasses in a compartment in the ceiling. None of the electronics, monitor or glasses came with this. I was able to deal for the controls to be included though. This cabinet was more of a traditional style I was looking for - as far as the seat went, but  I still didn't like the coin door position taking up some important leg room from the driver. That wasn't the worst part. After arriving home with the cabinet, I found it to be in a lot worse shape than I thought. 90% of the cab was made from particle board. some of which had signs of water damage and rot. I was just going to go with the other cab, but then I had a thought!

I decided to systematically disassemble the machine, change what I don't like about it, and reassemble it with 3/4" plywood. Sure it was a costly investment, but I thought it would be a neat challenge. So I put the Monaco in the corner, bought wood, glue, and some screws, and started tearing the old one down. it took a better part of a week after work to get it all down, and some pieces cut out, and about another week to get it "mocked up".

I had added a rear viewing area and moved the coin mechanism to the rear. I also determined I was going to use a joystick for the shifter and mount it on the dash so you didn't get any surprises while getting in!!  At the same time I did all this, I had bought a 25" WG monitor that was used in those poular "video walls" in the 90s. I did the same this to this monitor, and system that I did to my stand up. This time, I mocked it up on the bench while I waited to get the cabinet finished. This time I used a different type of UTILIMARC control interface that allowed the use of optical devices as well. I also designed the cabinet and subsequently all of the electronics to come apart in sections for easier moving, so special extension harnesses and plugs were made.  I also used a creative labs 5.1 blaster setup with subwoofer for the audio. Its driving 7 - yes 7 speakers 2 front - 2 rear  2 seat, and a sub under the seat - it DOES rock!!

After all the preliminary assembles and disassembles were made, I had Home depot match the paint color to my Camaro in latex semi gloss. I also Ordered 250 feet of 3/4" T Molding in orange as a nod to the Camaro once again. I used the rest on the stand up cabinet and other stuff. So as of this writing, it is playable but with only the gas - I have new pedals waiting to go in, and I have to finish setting up the front end and games. I also have to finish the 4 panels for the front and rear. This is all details, but its really cool to be playing Pole Position again - the way it was MEANT to be played!

More to Come!!!