Nightmare? That's actually not so bad for a game that age. Most of them are so much worse if they haven't been saved by now.

So you see them but you don't buy them. That doesn't make you lucky. It makes you choosy. People who buy games to restore them don't pick and choose based on condition. At least I don't. I'm more likely to buy the game that needs real love than I am to buy a nice clean game that only needs to be wiped and rubbered.

Yep, everyone has different motivations. I have always had a tendency to pass on the super nice games. Price is too high for me but I also feel more motivation to save that game the seller might end up parting out. 40 hours sounds about right to do a good strong electronic/electrical rehab and shop job. By the time you're done repinning all of the connectors, doing whatever ground mods or board rebuilds are necessary, and pulling apart all the playfield mechs the hours can really get up there. Then once you throw artwork touchup into there the clock may as well get tossed out the window.

Ideally, if you have the ability to scan the whole glass, you should do that every time anyway. Why wouldn't you want the ability to archive the artwork even if you do the touchups by hand? Maybe there's someone else out there looking to inkjet print like Greatwich does.