1993 Classic with a Classic II bucket - unusual?

[genie_mac]

I got this Classic off a friend last week and have been spending the last few days trying to get it going. Definitely the worst condition Mac that I ever got, both technically and cosmetically. Both logic and analogue board problems, but that's for another thread

Well when I took off the rear bucket I noticed that the boys in Cork used a Classic II bucket and put a plug into the hole for the microphone input!





What's even stranger is that the date of manufacture is week 10 (March) of 1993, when the Classic was supposed to be discontinued in September 1992 (according to http://www.apple-history.com/compare/classic/classic_ii).

So what's that all about? I suppose they had some Classic bits still lying around and made a few more (this one was sold on the Irish market and there were at least 5 others). Also this one had 2Mb of RAM and a 80Mb hard disk as standard.

Unusual?

 

[uniserver]

interesting

man those guys in cork i tell ya, like.

 

[genie_mac]

man those guys in cork i tell ya, like.

Are you sure you're not from Cork yourself

 

[uniserver]

Naw, I'm From TEXAS Yeeeeee Hawwwwww haha

seriously though… i am a big hunk irish. I never asked what part of ireland my great great grandparents were from.

 

[unity]

That cover reminds me of the Portable's modem port cover, yet smaller.

 

[Macdrone]

It was a deplete internal hardware saving money deal. I read about this somewhere just can't remember.

 

[Ike]

Yes. Also have that exact rear bucket on my one classic, including the little plug for the mic-in port!

 

[uniserver]

Two Classics,

One Bucket.

lol.

well, the only other exception would be the "enhanced sound" Classic II

with the holes in the side.

 

[bibilit]

The Classic is easily upgradable to Classic II (i have done it myself) the only difference is the small hole in the rear bucket and the logic Board.

Maybe Apple made the same bucket for both of them at the end of production (i made a hole in my Classic to accomodate a Classic II board)

 

[MinerAl]

Does it have the "sound enhancing" starburst of holes on the left side?

 

[Mac128]

What's even stranger is that the date of manufacture is week 10 (March) of 1993, when the Classic was supposed to be discontinued in September 1992 (according to http://www.apple-history.com/compare/classic/classic_ii).

I don't put a lot of stock in the discontinuation dates of many Macintosh products. While a product may have officially been discontinued from general retail sales, that doesn't mean they didn't still continue to manufacture them for special markets, such as foreign and educational markets. I mean where do these dates come from anyway? It's not like Apple puts out a press release when they discontinue a product.

 

[genie_mac]

Does it have the "sound enhancing" starburst of holes on the left side?

No, it doesn't. The least of my worries though

 

[MinerAl]

That makes sense then. The Classic II buckets with the speed holes were later in the production of CIIs, so your bucket would be from the beginning of the CII period/end of the Classic era.

Schools were buying Classics right up until Apple said "we literally don't have any more." If they had more logic boards than buckets there at the end of production it would make way more sense to order some little plastic plugs than to order a whole new run of Classic buckets.

 

[TheMacGuy]

What I don't understand is the Classic label says "Made in Singapore" yet the serial number starts with CK (Cork, Ireland). Where was it made then?

 

[unity]

What I don't understand is the Classic label says "Made in Singapore" yet the serial number starts with CK (Cork, Ireland). Where was it made then?

Maybe the label has slide down leaving lighter unexposed plastic in its wake, but the serial label seems like its a top another label.

 

[TheMacGuy]

The label has probably shrunk with age because it looks like un-yellowed plastic. The serial number sticker never quite filled up the entire box on the Classics.

It could also be the sticker was off center from the factory, and the computer was in a room with a skylight or overhead fluorescent lighting causing that small piece of plastic to be left un-yellowed as a result of being shaded by the indention.

That's another question, did Apple ever offer refurbished Macs back in the early/mid 1990's? I ask because that might be the cause of the Classic in a CII bucket and an early 1993 manu date. Could also be what MinerAl said, Apple had surplus LoBos after discontinuation and the Classic was only offered to the schools after that like Mac128 said. Look what happened to the white MacBook; Apple discontinued it to the consumer in July 2011 but schools could still buy them until February of 2012.

 

[Scott Baret]

Keep in mind Apple was still making SEs in early 1991, despite having "discontinued" the model in October 1990. I've seen more than a few from early 1991, all of the SuperDrive variety (as opposed to the FDHD badge).

I know some markets also had certain models for longer periods of time. The LCII was discontinued in February 1993 in the States, but it was possible to still buy them in overseas markets. I think they were in either a British or Australian catalog as late as Fall 1993. (If someone from either country could confirm that, please do!)

 

[LCGuy]

I have an Apple Australia catalog from around late 1993 that has the Classic II, Colour Classic, LCII and LCIII.

That said, I seem to recall that the LCII may have even been available to schools up until sometime in 1994, hence all the manual inject LCIIs that ended up in schools.