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Any other cases?

Stone said:
What did you base that statment on?

Here's some real-world, recent sales, just in case you're interested:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Vintage-Computing-/11189/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=ibm+5150&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc
Click to expand...

Apparently I based it on a faulty "rememberer". It says that the last time I shopped for one they were north of $1K for one that worked and didn't look like it had been in a shed for 20 years.

Perhaps the sky isn't falling after all ;-)

Nevertheless, around 1976 or so I visited a "Byte Shop" and saw an IMSAI 8080 selling for around $2000. Way out of my price range at the time. I swore that one day I would own one. A few years back I bought one for....... $2000.
 
frustrated said:
People could no longer justify the price of reconditioning 80-year old original parts suffering from too many wrecks, too many bent frames, too many bullet holes and too much rust. Original car bodies and frames were laser scanned then the resulting CAD/CAM files sent to Taiwan where dies were made, panels were stamped, shipped to the USA, and voila, 1932 Ford 3 Window Coupe bodies for sale that are better made than Henry could do it.

We're just not there yet. When will it happen? My crystal ball is still in the shop. ;-)
Click to expand...

The only problem I foresee is popularity and strength of scale. There are 10's to 100's of thousands of car enthusiasts who are interested in such things; this creates a market for parts (even the very expensive ones as per your example).

At the moment vintage computing doesn't have anywhere near as many enthusiasts. The percentage that are willing to fork out big $$$ for parts is almost zero. That being said the PC-Retro is basically a reverse engineered 5150 mainboard so I guess it's already happening to a point. It's just going to be a while away until someone starts building HDD's, FDD's, cases and the like due to the extreme costs involved.
 
frustrated said:
Nevertheless, around 1976 or so I visited a "Byte Shop" and saw an IMSAI 8080 selling for around $2000. Way out of my price range at the time. I swore that one day I would own one. A few years back I bought one for....... $2000.
Click to expand...
FWIW, a $2000 item in 1976 would be $8,321.12 in today's dollars. And, a, let's say, 1981 $4,000 IBM PC would cost $10,417.43 in today's money!!! So, in actuality, they're relatively cheap, today. :)
 
51** stuff is pretty common and cheap on Craigslist BTW. So there is no shortage nor great demand. Vintage computing is a very peripheral hobby at best.
 
PeterLI said:
51** stuff is pretty common and cheap on Craigslist BTW. So there is no shortage nor great demand. Vintage computing is a very peripheral hobby at best.
Click to expand...

That may be a regional thing -- that stuff almost never shows up here. All we tend to get here in New Hampshire or the adjoining commiewealth of taxachusetts are the jackasses who want two grand for blueberry G3 fishbowls. Maybe twice a year you'll see something relevant / actually vintage listed.

... like the 1000SX I got.

But 99% of the time? Wasteland of nothing of interest other than a bunch of ridiculous prices, or stuff so new it obviously "fell off the back of a truck"
 
deathshadow said:
That may be a regional thing -- that stuff almost never shows up here. All we tend to get here in New Hampshire or the adjoining commiewealth of taxachusetts are the jackasses who want two grand for blueberry G3 fishbowls. Maybe twice a year you'll see something relevant / actually vintage listed.

... like the 1000SX I got.

But 99% of the time? Wasteland of nothing of interest other than a bunch of ridiculous prices, or stuff so new it obviously "fell off the back of a truck"
Click to expand...

I picked up a 5150, 5152, 5153, & working 5161 in Dracut for $150, I DROVE from Plattsburgh, New York to get it.
 
My early 5150 was pretty cheap even with shipping, but its the only cheap one I could find since I started collecting in 2001 or so. Deals pop up every once in a while and collections can be built that way. If you want a specific model and want it now you will expect to pay the going rate.
 
deathshadow said:
That may be a regional thing -- that stuff almost never shows up here. All we tend to get here in New Hampshire or the adjoining commiewealth of taxachusetts are the jackasses who want two grand for blueberry G3 fishbowls. Maybe twice a year you'll see something relevant / actually vintage listed.

... like the 1000SX I got.

But 99% of the time? Wasteland of nothing of interest other than a bunch of ridiculous prices, or stuff so new it obviously "fell off the back of a truck"
Click to expand...

Ha! Try living in Eastern NC. :D

I did score a nice Tandy 1000 from a guy about ten minutes from me, though. I was shocked. It needed a bit of work, but was in great shape.
 
PeterLI said:
These 5150s are now $25 now (need some restoration but still a good deal probably): http://cgi.ebay.com/171649952140.
Click to expand...

They look really rough. The shipping is around another $40. It would depend if you're looking for a spare time project or something you could use. Getting one of these into working shape and condition where you could stand to look at it would involve the classic tradeoff of time vs patience vs money.

OTOH there's bound to be working parts in there.
 
I have cases here with 486 boards in them. Both have a power supply. Pretty sure the memory is there too
I'm not sure if they will fit your purpose. One is a horizontal desk top and the other is a mini tower.
They are going to get scrapped if someone doesn't claim them.
Pick them up in person or cover the shipping.
Yep. Free to a good home.
Dave
 
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There are enough 5150's on attick's and basements, but just to find them.
Keep asking arround friends and family.
Look at flee markets.(not internet)

Indeed the Discovery programs with those storage sells etc allway's "Ah a colleters Item, then it will turn up Lots of $$$$$$".
I never see one actually buy stuff for that creapy old stuff. Only a reseller, or just for the camera.
Also Ebay , those who firts look at selling items think ofcourse "Ahhh" lots of money And put up the $600,- range for a scrappy 30 year old Item.
I can't imagin some one with too much money in his pocket that will buy those in fact useless items.
It only has some fun to get one working again. A daily use they have not.

As seen my 5160 had lots of problems. Harddisk failure, Floppydrive Failure, Memory failure.
Also My 5150 had just an empty Mbord and a defect powersupply, Had to put it all together.
Luckely I did not pay mutch for them.
Had the luck of having some old 8-bit ISA cards laying arround that I never had thrown away.
So could manage to buildup again with my own stock.
Only the org IBM Keybord is still my wanted Item, I only have 1 for 2 systems.

A good idea is to build up a nice Home website.
Then maybe you get a phonecall/email from someone that just want an item to get a good home.

Remind for now those IBM's seems to be a hot item.
Also lots of old 8 bit systems out of the 70's-80's are hot at the moment.
Then it is a bad idea to buy at this top.
Maybe in 5 years they are worthless again.
Know that out of the old tube radio world.
10 years ago some models did the range of 2700,- and are now a 350,- at the most in the same
good condition. Why??
Because with the ebay's and other market places it is proven there are to many tuberadio's still around
than one ever could imagin.
That is they were mass produced products.
The IBM's also were mass produced.

I don't know people that have lots of money to spent on a hobby.
I also find 100-max 200 for an excelent old PC more than enough.
With the reminder that to spent more to get it up and running also.

A Museum Item those IBM's are totaly NOT.
There are still more than plenty of them still arround.
Musea are already stacked up with those old PCs.

Keep looking and you 100% find one for a nice price.
 
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