Atari 2600 point of sale cabinet

[Jfrik84]

I found and purchased this cabinet at a garage sale over the weekend which I plan to refurbish and incorporate into my collection. The man I purchased it from said he used to work for Atari in their coin operation division and said he believed it was called a "point of sale cabinet" I am having trouble tracking down any information on it such as images of similar cabinets for reference. If anyone has any information at all or even pictures to share, either recent or pictures of how they were used/ presented in stores, I'd love to see them and learn as much as I can about it so I can get it looking as accurate as possible. Thanks!

[Atari_Bill]

Wow, that’s a new one for me.   Very cool!

[Jason_Atari]

Awesome, never seen that before.

[mclemore]

@Jfrik84 Congrats on a nice find.

 

Impressive.  That's the 3rd one of these that have popped up in the last 2 weeks, and the second in the last week.  The first showed up quietly.  The second on Facebook last Wednesday, and now this one.  The one on FB might have been for sale, but then it seems the owner might have changed their mind.  Photos of the FB one: 

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by mclemore

[+MrZarniwoop]

Is this the same? The marquee and side looks similar.

 

http://www.atarimuseum.com/otherprojects/dealerdisplay/2600displaydemo.html

[mclemore]

10 minutes ago, MrZarniwoop said:

Is this the same? The marquee and side looks similar.

 

http://www.atarimuseum.com/otherprojects/dealerdisplay/2600displaydemo.html

They seem different, though they sure look like they were built about the same time.  The marque looks very similar as does the sides.  Obviously the ones above are display locking cabinets.  The ones on the page you liked to are playable kiosks.  I don't think the cabinets ever started off as kiosks, but who knows.

 

I've had a 5200 kiosk for years as seen on the '2600displaydemo' page you linked to.  I've never even heard of the 2600 version actually (still) existing.  When I get a chance I'll take a closer look at the 5200 kiosk to see if it is designed to pull the 'kiosk' part out.  If so, probably not intentionally, but a side effect of how it was assembled in the first place. 

[Jfrik84]

15 hours ago, MrZarniwoop said:

Is this the same? The marquee and side looks similar.

 

http://www.atarimuseum.com/otherprojects/dealerdisplay/2600displaydemo.html

Wow, that really does look like it. I wonder if they had different incarnations of this cabinet. The one I found has plexiglas doors on it and the hinges for the doors look original to the cabinet and definitely not something that had been added later on. I wish the one I found was set up like that, but I'm not going to complain. 

One thing I will note is there is about 6 or 7 inches of dead space behind the rear panel inside the cabinet to the back of the cabinet so maybe that was for models that required extra space to hide the wiring.

[Dravensth]

Niiiiice congrats on the find, this gives me hope that one day I can find one in a garage sale too lol

[Jfrik84]

Below are some photos of my completed project. Thank you to those that helped fill in some information. I am still going to be on the lookout for an original advertisement to mount in the right side acrylic although the poster size is slightly larger than the typical Atari post I have seen at approximately 20" X 30" so the 'reach for the stars' poster also seems to be somewhat rare from what I've found. I did replace the acrylic doors on the front of the cabinet due to them being scratched and damaged beyond repair, but other than that, the cabinet is all original. A little degreaser cleaned up the filthy surfaces and a little black paint for touch ups on the base and inside the cabinet. The biggest challenge was reconnecting the right side panel that came loose from being hit by a car (that's what I was told). I also used some very fine sandpaper to clean up the brushed look of the aluminum channel and the plates on the doors that help secure the doors. I do have two extra shelves that are not in place right now. This was a fun project and I'm happy to bring it new life. My plan for the cabinet is to display any original boxed Atari items I can gather and keep it looking like a retail display. I am more than happy to share and help out with info if anyone is working on a similar project and have any questions.

Photo after refurbishing 

Photo after refurbishing 

Photo after refurbishing.

Photo after refurbishing 

Photo after refurbishing 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Jfrik84

[Jfrik84]

15 hours ago, Dravensth said:

Niiiiice congrats on the find, this gives me hope that one day I can find one in a garage sale too lol

Thank you and good luck! I didn't expect it at all so if it can happen to me, it can happen to you. I just posted some pictures of it after the restoration. It came very clean and looks almost new again. 

[Atari_Bill]

That is nice!   Congrats!