Needs must when the devil drives.... AKA opening a can of worms.

Hi Folks,
 
This will probably cause a bit of a ruckus and I apologise in advance but I
need some opinions.
 
I purchased an Upright Star Wars nearly 2 years a go now. It had been
containerised and shipped with a number of other cabs from Canada to England
however somewhere along the way it fell over or something fell on to it.
 
Long story short the top panels(everything above the monitor) where smashed
off, 1 side panel is nearly completely split in 2 the marquee was swept up
and put in the bin, the back was smashed and the front where the coin door
lives was split at the top corners down to the coin door in a 'V' shape.
 
Mercifully it didn't damage the monitor, pcb's or any of the control panel.
 
I picked this up for a song (sight unseen) as in the UK these tend to go for
$1500 - £3000 depending on the condition.
 
My Dilemma....
 
1. Do I attempt to restore the cabinet to it's original condition or get a
complete new one made?
2. Do I try and get the original artwork reproduced or do I go for custom
artwork?
 
I'm not a competent carpenter though I have managed to re-fit all the
sheared off internal support batons so that reproduced panels could be
fitted and I'm fairly sure I'm capable of cutting up rectangular pieces of
chip board to roughly the correct size. But one way or another it's going to
need a new side and front and that means losing the artwork.
 
Once the broken front, side, back and top are replaced the only original
bits will be the bottom and the right side. Would this be classed as a
restoration or a reproduction?
 
I've come across a guy who does excellent air brush artwork and who could
probably copy the side art from the original.
However if it's a reproduction then I've seen some of his other Star Wars
artwork and I'm leaning towards getting him to do a custom art job on it.
 
I don't intend on selling this anytime soon but in these uncertain times I
may have to at some point in the future (especially if my wife gets a job in
New Zealand) and at that point I want to get somewhere near what it cost me
to restore it rather than someone saying 'well it's not a real starwars is
it' I'll give you fifty quid'.
 
Comment please.
 
I'm donning my flame retardant underwear now
 
Thanks
 
 
Chris
 
  www.muppzlab.co.uk <http://www.muppzlab.co.uk>

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Received on Mon Feb 24 08:56:51 2003