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The red Mac Plus

I don't remember the plus but I do recall a red painted 128/512 sold recently for a significant sum, but you could see a DB25 plug on the back so there was something special inside.
 
It was this one. The seller claims the shell was molded in red. What caught my attention at the time was the little æ symbol next to the power plug. I have one in black with the very same symbol, but it was painted (which makes me suspect the red mac is painted, not molded.) I recall seeing another one in some other colour with the very same symbol some years back.
The unit I have has a very interesting Dove simm expander installed; it is in itself a 256k simm, but has a 30pin simm socket onboard to piggyback old 256k simm with. With four of these Dove simms fitted with old 256k simms expands the RAM to 2MB total (the resistor for 256k simm is left intact on the logic board.)
 

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You'd think there'd be some documented folklore about a red Mac.

That said, someone posted some photos of their collection, and it included a transparent Mac (I think), curious about the history of that one.
 
Transparent machines were a thing used in the QA process for FCC certification, ventilation analysis or press kits. SGI was pretty good about making transparent prototypes as well.
That said, there's been several runs of aftermarket transparent mac cases in recent years, so I don't think it's as easy to tell weather someone is showing off one of those reproduction cases or a genuine apple prototype case.
 
Before molds were machined for our cases, the model shop did prototypes in clear acrylic--it was easy (relatively) to machine and very stable dimensionally. Solvent cement was used to stick the individual bits together. But the finish that was sent to the die makers was matte, so you couldn't actually see through the case. Our final product was painted high-density foam that has survived very well.
 
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