I went on a road trip today, my first one ever to fetch a classic game cab. And this first one was for nothing more than an original Donkey Kong cabinet. A game I have loved since my childhood, and I wanted to own one for more quite some years now. I occasionally searched for it, mostly on the internet, but in Europe you hardly find any. Until this cab came along. Abouth six months ago someone mentioned to me that his brother had one, but unfortunately at that time he wasn’t interested in selling it. But I knew one day it would be mine.
Then about 6 weeks ago I sold him a Japanese cab and he mentioned that Donkey Kong was available if I wanted it. Of course I did!!
He did send me some pictures, and I was in love. She was beautiful. But a price was not set yet, and we discussed this several times. I knew he would give me first choice, so we both were not in a hurry. However, two weeks ago, during the famous SHMUP Party at rklok we met again, and from that moment it went pretty fast. We closed the deal last Friday and we planned a pickup for today.
So here we go, it’s Sunday morning 9.40 AM, and I have a trip of 209 km’s ahead of me.
I prepared the car with a soft blanket (she is fragile and sensitive you know)
And a little help to prevent my back from hurting too much.
I set my intraday distance counter to zero and pushed the magic button, the gate opened and it was time to put the pedal to the metal. Although the weather was not so nice, the scenery was.
First stop was a gas station and I fuelled up my car with some diesel.
After 25 minutes or so I finally reached the motorway, and I didn’t hesitate to speed things up.
Now some dull pictures of the motorway part, but they are obligatory. There was a bit of road work, but no delay fortunately. The weather was clearing up while I was nearing the destination. There was even a lot of blue sky which must have been a sign. Mario was with me.
Almost there, just a few kilometers more (in this desolated part of Holland)
After exactly two hours I reached my destination. I rang the doorbell, walked into the living room and there she was, in all of her beauty. I touched her, gently of course, I don’t want to offend her. But her reaction made me feel good, I knew instantly that this couldn’t go wrong. I mean, look at here.
I did do a quick round of gameplay, but I was so nervous that I didn’t make a lot of it. Then of course I had to go through the usual chitchat and offered coffee (not really, it was very nice to talk with the seller, he and I both love Cave gaming), but I took the first opportunity to get here outside and in the car. She fitted perfectly, slim as she is.
After having dealt with the financial part of this transaction I headed home. I drove very carefully to avoid too much bumping. After a while I got hungry and I stopped at a gas station. Shall I take these?
No, let’s be smart, this is better for me.
I went further with the journey home, went through the Dutch St. Gothard tunnel and frequently checked the position of my precious cab.
Almost home. I now had driven very carefully for about 175 kilometers, and I don’t want the car to become lazy. So I increased speed a little. Not too much though, I already had some speeding tickets this year.
Finally, after 436 kilometers (I drove 20 kilometers more than necessary because I missed a junction in Amsterdam, were where my thoughts?) and 5.5 hour later I was at home again.
It goes without saying that I am very happy with the cab, and after the little restoration work which she will get, mostly paintwork, she will almost be like new, but not too new. I want to thank ElPancho and his brother again for this opportunity.
Oh, I could have make pics of the unloading, but she will stay in my car overnight. Why? You can read about that in a few days in my restoration topic.
