Tempest Cocktail Score

Went to an antiques auction locally. They deal mostly in furniture, art, collectibles, etc. and not really in arcade equipment, but they had a few pins and vids at this one. So I pack a picnic and take my wife and make a day out of it. We had a great time, and I got what I went there for... Here it is:



In addition to the Tempest cocktail, they had a couple of multicades, a non-working Turbo upright, barely working Galaga cocktail, and about 5 pins in various working conditions. Anyway they plug up the machines as they put them on the auction block. But they could not get the Tempest working. So I bid anyway. I am thinking these are rare, so I need to get it at any price even if it is not working.

So I get it home, examine it a little closer, the access door on the bottom is pushed in, and the interrupt switch is not actuated. The auctioneer said these games were in somebody's active game room, so I plug it up, pull the switch, and hear the fans going, Player 1 and 2 buttons flashing, could it be on free play? I press Player 1 and then fire and move the knob and I hear the game playing, then the display comes on!!! Holy crap, this thing is working!!!

The cabinet is in good shape, but it looks like some kid painted the whole thing black and then tried to mimic the Tempest nebuli motif using a sponge and some purple, white, and pink paint. It is looks like latex paint so it should strip off pretty easily. Well me wife actually likes the custom paint job, and it may be going in her computer room, so I will leave it as is for now.