Cave Astrola - just how good?

Hey Folks,
First I want to say that I used to be a VERY active member of Astromart. I lost my vision for awhile due to MS, but have recovered a fair bit. I was in the top 20 users at one time, but I let my account lapse. I have only recently returned. I don't want you guys to think I ma just a newbie picking your brains for nothing.

Anyway, I have always heard that the Cave scopes were pretty good. I had seen pictures of the scopes but I have never actually seen or looked through one before. Today I was at a swap meet and stumbled onto a 10" f/6. I paid a little more than a song for it.

But, it needs a lot of TLC.

I am wondering what to do here. I could restore the mount(a magnusson 1.5" shaft with clock drive), restore the tube, get new coatings and so forth. I could get an astrosystems or other type truss kit. I could just fix the tube and put it on a dob box.

Can anyone share an opinion of what they would do with this scope? It at very least must have the coatings redone. This mirror was manufactured Oct. 18, 1968.

So what would you do? How good are the typical cave optics? Are they worth investing into a good truss kit? And finally, would anyone care to make a modern comparison, something g like cave compares to Pegasus,zambuto, Ostahauski(sp?), or...

I am just trying to get feel for what I have to work with here.

Thanks in advance.
Mark

Caves can be very good. Not all of 'em are. Many are--optically, anyway. Like many scopes of that era, the mounts, while they look big, tend to be shaky.

As for resources, I know some people around here don't much like the words "Cloudy Nights," but their Classic Scopes board is a tremendous resource, and there are many folks on there with much experience with every aspect of Caves and other scopes of this vintage who can guide you in restoration.

8)

I've seen a wide range in the quality of Cave optics. I'd start by star testing the scope as best you can, or getting the mirror to someone who can evaluate it. You could have a wonderful high-performance mirror, or a pyrex doorstop, or anywhere in between.