Looks like i could sure make it into a coat rack, and maybe use the bottom to store more crap in. Aside from that I'd be lost
I think there was one like that in the high school auto shop I took auto mechanics in in high school and then taught in several years later. That would have been in the early 60's and it was old then. The vacuum gauge probably still works as I have and Allen vacuum gauge that is older than that that I still use quite often. You see the bottom cabinets in shops fairly often but the electronic part is usually long gone.
Looks like quite the project. Worst case you can re-sell it as a time machine with a defective flux capacitor.