ok didnt get back till 10pm last night so i left it in the van till today..
heres the story... got an email alert about a VENTURE popping up on ebay with a starting bid of 200.00. They were located in harrington DE. Not more then 2 hrs from me..
So i wrote the seller an email saying that i placed a bid for the machine, and that i would give them the 200 in cash and i can come tonight and pick it up. They wouldnt have to worry about ebay fees and tring to ship it.
Later that day i got an email from the woman saying that she will take my offer. I asked whats the condition of the machine and she said it works just no sound (which is ok cause i have a fully working board set anyways). She also said the cab is in ok condition. She said she would text me some pics of the machine. Heres the pics she sent me:
So as you can see it really doesnt look that bad in the pics.. I can see that the first pic the right side is coming apart but still isnt that bad. Anyways i said you have a deal and ill be down to get it tommorrow night (meaning wednesday)
So i get down there last night after driving 2 1/2 hrs. Its already dark out and the people live like out in no where. a house with farm land as far as i can see.. I had to get there with my high beams on cause there was no street lights, just the light of the moon.
So i get there and its in a shed as pictured in the pics. They have the thing already turned on and playing. I played a game of it which the joystick was in awesome condition. I never played a venture with such a responsive original joysitck. Was even better then the prestine one i owned like a year ago.. Played great and look great except no sound. So i looked the cab over with what flashlight i had, and noticed it looked alittle WORSE then what it was in the pics that she sent me. That 3rd pic i show you with the back of the cab, the whole bottom back panel is rotted and they have like 10 wood screws holding the thing together from both sides. It definitly had some water damage cause there is swelling at bottom back.
Anyways i said ill take it, paid them the 200 and said we have to spin the machine around and lift it down to the ground cause the shed is about a foor in the air and i wont be able to get my hand truck under it. After i said that he said, ok we can try, i just dont want it falling apart.. I was like what do you mean falling apart. So once i started to move the machine i noticed the bottom and right side seperating from the cab. Almost like the bottom was gonna fall right out. I took the flash light and looked inside and pretty much told them, i cant take this cab. i think its gonna fall apart just taking it off the truck.. So before i asked for my 200 back, they said well can you use any of it for parts i said yeah i can, so they said would you take it for 100 bucks? i said sure ill take it for that.
So to make a long story short, i got it home and today i took it off the van to get it in the storage shed. As i was doing that the bottom back panel and the back door fell right off..
So i dont know what im gonna do yet. Either restore this cab, or buy a reproduction one. I can rebulid it and make it look new, i just dont know if its worth saving, or if it can be saved. Like i said its got some swelling at the bottom. But the main thing is, i got a VENTURE BACK. I now have the PS, harness, bezel, marquee, and populated CP with original stick...