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Road Trip (dialup beware - pix galore!)

Erik

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Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Messages
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Location
San Jose, CA
Well, I just got back from a 900 mile round trip whirlwind - down to San Diego and back in one day - on a Vintage Computing mission.

There's a garage full of stuff down there that needed clearing and I was the designated victim.

Anyway, I'm more than trashed from the drive, load, drive, unload so this may all be gibberish.

But here's what the car looked like:

backseat1.jpg


backseat2.jpg


trunk.jpg
 
Once I unloaded everything it became somewhat organized into a shelfload of items (my wife cleared the shelf during my drive)

shelf.jpg


And a couple of boxes. One filled with S-100 boards for the various S-100 systems:

s100boards.jpg


Other boxes (not pictured) contain some components, piles of manuals, 8" disks and the like.

There is some very interesting stuff tucked in there. . .

From the items pictured on the shelf I'm probably keeping the IMSAI Turnkey system unless someone makes me an offer I can't refuse. . . but the bulk of the other stuff is for sale (2 IMSAI systems - yes, both have the front panel board and switches, etc. - two PET 2001s, Ithaca Intersystems DPS-1 (sadly missing the front trim panel,) S-100 cards and docs as appropriate for the systems, 8" dual floppy system.)

There are also 10 boxes of new, still in shrink-wrap, 8" floppies (10 per box) - also for sale (I'm thinking $30 a box. Sound fair?)

I don't particularly care how they get sold so feel free to drop me offers I can't refuse, but don't be offended if I put the items on the Marketplace anyway. . . :)

And yes, I did pay for this stuff so I have expenses to recoup beyond travel. . .



The reason I made the trip was for a few keepers:

An IMSAI VIO Board kit (complete and unopened)

vio.jpg


A Sym-1 and a Kim expansion bus:

sym1.jpg


A Kim-1 and memory/ROM card:

kim1.jpg



And a MITS Altair 680B with a Tarbell controller:

mits680.jpg


Note, these items are mine, mine, mine! (SYM, KIM, MITS, VIO)

(more next post)
 
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Although I packed the car well beyond what I'd planned, I also left a huge pile of stuff behind.

All of this stuff is also for sale:

leftbehind1.jpg


leftbehind2.jpg


leftbehind3.jpg


leftbehind4.jpg


leftbehind5.jpg


leftbehind6.jpg


In addition to the pictured items there is at least one PEB for the TI-99/4a, one Lobo Dual 8" drive system, a Burnouli dual drive (supposedly for the Ithaca above) and lots of 10 and 20 MB drives. There are also lots of magazines (early issues of Byte, SCCS Interface, Microcomputing, Compute! etc.

The deal with this stuff is simple: I'm going back to SD in mid-February with my family. I won't have much time or space, but if someone wants something pictured let me know what it is and what you're offering. If the owner accepts the offer then you will be committed to buying it and paying for shipping from SF.

Please remember, though, if you ask me to fetch something for you and then bail then I will petition the Vintage Computer Gods* and ask them to smite you! :D

If anyone is interested in this guy's contact info I'll be happy to pass that along (y'all are welcome to deal with him directly but don't expect him to ship stuff. . . but if you're in the area you're golden.)

Anyway, I haven't been this tired or garbled in a long time. I have to crash.

Hasta!
 
Nice haul! I believe the PET 2001 with blue labels is a bit older than the otherwise identical one with black labels? A lot of goods left too, reminds me a bit from where I've picked up PET stuff in the last two years. I presume all those 1541 drives on the shelf really are 1541, no 2031LP or SFD-1001 drives.
 
Egad! A menagerie of PETs!!

..and those IMSAIs!!

Good haul Erik.

I wish there wasn't 1/2 a world between me and the West Coast of America. But then...that room above the garage is getting pretty crowded :)

Tez
 
good find! What is the commodore labeled "select edition", an amiga?

I'm unlikely to make you an offer, but I'm curious what the going rate of an IMSAI is these days. Maybe you could post the winning offer after you get them sold?
 
How much did you pay for all that... I'd have thought you where kidding if you told you got it all for free... If you could get anything of that working, and cleaned, I'm sure people would gladly pay $$$$ for it.
 
I would have driven 900 miles for that load. I would have rented a uhaul though and cleaned out everything, even if it meant going without food for a few weeks. Finds like that are very rare.
 
Nice haul. Oddly enough I like the stack of PC cases you didn't snag, would be nice to find a stack like that in Ohio.

900 miles is one long trip, the most I ever did was 70 miles one way.
 
I passed up an hours drive (one way) for an Apple IIe a week ago and several huge boxes of Atari computer stuff two hours (each way) away this last week. Wish I had gone now. I haven't had a good load since summer. Both were freecycle finds too.
 
good find! What is the commodore labeled "select edition", an amiga?

I'm pretty sure it was a Commodore PC clone which makes it pretty "rare" for C= gear, albeit no Apple I.

I'm unlikely to make you an offer, but I'm curious what the going rate of an IMSAI is these days. Maybe you could post the winning offer after you get them sold?

From what I remember the IMSAI on the ACCRC sealed bid list (untested, a couple of boards, no docs) went for close to $900. Once I sort the boards, clean and reassemble I expect these to be in pretty much the same shape. . .
 
Nice haul! I believe the PET 2001 with blue labels is a bit older than the otherwise identical one with black labels?

I'm pretty sure that's correct.

As of right now I've got two of each here. . . One of my black-label ones is pretty beat up (shipping incident previously posted here) but works. These two are untested. My current blue one is nearly 100% pristine. I suspect that I'll be able to make 2 good ones out of the remaining 3. . .

If you'd have told me a few years ago that I'd have 4 chicklet PETs I'd have called you nuts. . .

A lot of goods left too, reminds me a bit from where I've picked up PET stuff in the last two years. I presume all those 1541 drives on the shelf really are 1541, no 2031LP or SFD-1001 drives.

No idea. . . :)
 
I would have driven 900 miles for that load. I would have rented a uhaul though and cleaned out everything, even if it meant going without food for a few weeks. Finds like that are very rare.

I was lucky to get out alive with what I did. My target was one PET, one IMSAI, the KIM, the SYM and the MITS.

My biggest problem these days is space. The shelf I filled is supposed to be family stuff (strollers, kids toys, etc.) and now it's more computers. . .

I'm not going to be able to keep the stuff or the space. ;)
 
We're having the same 'issue' here with space...I was delegated a hobby room when we bought and moved into our house several years ago :) I now have that room (full enough I have trouble really getting work done in it, sigh), a couple closets, and part of the garage.

I'd love an IMSAI, but no way I could afford one, lol.

Pets are hard to come by here for some reason, not sure just why. I had my hands on one many many years ago and let it go, and have regretted it. Thats something I'd like to procure. Kaypro and I were toying with the idea of a roadtrip to a VCF this coming year...
 
Pics & VCF

Pics & VCF

I had to turn my head. The thought of all those CBM's sitting there, unloved...wish I had time for drive up there.

Does anyone know of a decent VCF coming up in the midwest somewhere ? I'm in central Wisconsin.

patscc
 
I passed up an hours drive (one way) for an Apple IIe a week ago and several huge boxes of Atari computer stuff two hours (each way) away this last week. Wish I had gone now. I haven't had a good load since summer. Both were freecycle finds too.

One can only imagine how many vintage computers in great condition went into the slaughter house over the years.. :(
 
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