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Were 5155's ever sold in Australia?

G

generic486

Experienced Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2012
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290
Location
Australia
I assume they were its just that I have not seen one in 5 years on eBay. I know they were not "popular" but I assume that IBM must of sold at least some. If someone does have an Australian bought 5155, could you tell me if it is made in Australia or the USA. I have seen many 5150's and 5160's and on much rarer occasions, some 5170's along with 5151's and sometimes 5153's and once, a 5154. However I have never seen any 5155, 5161, 5162's. Were these sold here at all or am I not looking hard enough? Im still looking for a 5160 so that will at least delay my wanting of a 5155.
 
Of the 51xx machines that I have acquired (all well after first purchased by someone in the 80s), I have 5150, a 5160, and a 5170 that are marked as having been made in Australia (specifically Wangaratta).

My only 5155 was made in the US, but that of course does not mean that they all were.

News clippings related to the Wangaratta plant:
Wangaratta - starts producing PCs in 1984.jpg
Wangaratta - closure in 1996.jpg
 
Were the GE Workmaster luggables ever marketed to the Fanuc customers in Australia? The Workmaster is pretty much a repackaged 5155 with 3.5" drives.
 
I'm in NZ, which doesn't quite count, but of my four 51x0 machines, only one was made in the Australia plant - but all have 220V power supplies and sold here new in the mid-1980's.
That suggested to me that it wasn't a problem to order in units for Aus/NZ from the US - so can't see any reason why a 5155 wouldn't have been available (although maybe not stocked on store shelves)

A 5155 has popped up on trademe here in the last year but a very rare sight indeed.
 
modem7 said:
Of the 51xx machines that I have acquired (all well after first purchased by someone in the 80s), I have 5150, a 5160, and a 5170 that are marked as having been made in Australia (specifically Wangaratta).

My only 5155 was made in the US, but that of course does not mean that they all were.

News clippings related to the Wangaratta plant:
Wangaratta - starts producing PCs in 1984.jpg
Wangaratta - closure in 1996.jpg
Click to expand...

That's rather odd. My 5150 which has all original IBM parts has a date in the power supply and the date is Dec 22 1982. The rest of my 5150 is dated around Jan 1984 and is made in Wangaratta. So what I now understand is that my PSU must have come from the US when the rest of the PC was from Australia. However the PSU is a 220V one. I suprised that they didn't make the PSU's here.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Were the GE Workmaster luggables ever marketed to the Fanuc customers in Australia? The Workmaster is pretty much a repackaged 5155 with 3.5" drives.
Click to expand...

Never heard or seen one so I assume not. I see a lot of Compaq and Osbornes luggables (who had a very successful Australian branch that carried into the mid 90's) so I suppose that they had either the best product for price or were marketed alot better.
 
SpidersWeb said:
I'm in NZ, which doesn't quite count, but of my four 51x0 machines, only one was made in the Australia plant - but all have 220V power supplies and sold here new in the mid-1980's.
That suggested to me that it wasn't a problem to order in units for Aus/NZ from the US - so can't see any reason why a 5155 wouldn't have been available (although maybe not stocked on store shelves)

A 5155 has popped up on trademe here in the last year but a very rare sight indeed.
Click to expand...

I know for sure that 5140's were made in Australia but 5155's are so rare and even rarer in Australia that I don't think anyone has documented one that was made in Australia.
Do you remember how much it went for (the 5155)? I assume about $400+.
 
generic486 said:
I know for sure that 5140's were made in Australia but 5155's are so rare and even rarer in Australia that I don't think anyone has documented one that was made in Australia.
Do you remember how much it went for (the 5155)? I assume about $400+.
Click to expand...

Not that much, from memory it wasn't working. Working or not I'd expect the price range to be 150-400.
I know of a second one locally which isn't working too - but both are held by collectors already.
 
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