Part of my going with the original doors is just me trying to be a little cheap.

I've been out of work for over 4 months now, and I try to spread money as thin as I can right now. I go back next Monday and finally will get paid again November 30th!

But, truth be told, I've got 2 brand new US 2 slot doors sitting in a box in the basement, so I guess I can't blame being cheap on this one :) However, I *did* locate a NOS door skin and coin entrance for the door I'm working on; downside is, it would cost more than a whole new door with shipping etc.

Another part of it is wanting the original door that was on the game to stay with it. Of course, you throw originality out the window when you use cabinet decals, clearcoat, etc.

Another aspect of it is the large contingent of people here in the US that claim a container game is not as good as a game that has never left the country. I've owned crap games that never left the state, let alone the country, and some of my nicest games came out of containers. Plenty of collectors over here throw a new 2 slot door on all their export games to try and hide the fact that it is not a domestic game. Some of them even scan the serial number stickers and print off new ones and change the part where it says 240v to 120v etc. Not me! Any time I've had new serial number labels printed up, I've left them 100% original.

Some people think a restoration is about buying up every NOS part for the game that they can find, and bolting them onto a NOS or new playfield etc. That's not restoring anything, that's just switching out parts.

So, I will stick the original 3 slot door back on the games many times, if it will clean up reasonably nice. Perfect isn't a requirement.

Sometimes, I do use new doors - my Safecracker had a single slot coin door with a comparator on it. I put a 2 slot door on it, so I can use my tokens and quarters. I don't really like most single slot doors. 2 and 3 slots don't bother me.

Regarding the restoration of the door, I hope I can make it look original. I've read a few articles and newsgroup posts on the procedure.

One from TreasureCove:

http://www.treasure-cove.net/coindoor.htm

One from Bryan Kelly
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.pinball/msg/3d9edb186b98d8c7

And the pics for Bryan's description
http://usergallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/Coin-door-restoration

In the past, I've had decent luck just cleaning the door and spraying over top of the old paint - seems to let the original speckled finish show through. The coin bezel I did all the sanding on wasn't speckled, so repainting it won't require the speckles.