So I found a discount electronics shop/surplus shop, with a huge selection of old and new stuff. This place is amazing, the people are nice, the prices are fair, and it is somewhat clean. The recycler I previously tried to get old hardware from employed a bunch of rude hillbillys, saying they would rather take a hammer to the stuff than deal with me, simply because I told them their Mac SE isn't worth $350, keyboard or not. This will NOT be the only time I will visit this place (not the recycler, the surplus shop)! I left today with a Color Classic and some other stuff I will tell about later. First up, I started browsing, amazed at the sheer quantity of stuff in this store. They have a museum area in the front of the store, as well as some other places, displaying the "Old Victrola", reel to reel tape recorders, and vintage computers. It was my lucky day today, as they had duplicate Color Classics in the collection, so he said they had no need for two, and said he felt generous today. It didn't power up, however, and he was asking $30. I started pulling stuff off shelves looking for more stuff, and found everything from a boatload of Mac Pluses (about 10, which is still a lot), to a Compaq portable, to a Macintosh II, which you don't really see surfacing on eBay much.
I got him to get up on the ladder and pull down the Color Classic, and we went to the counter to fire it up..... nothing. It was missing the L/B port cover, and the case had no screws. $30? Fair enough. Not bad for it even if I can't fix it and just put it up for display. Great condition BTW, just a lot of dust from being up there a while.
It's in GREAT condition, with very little yellowing.
What's this I see? An ethernet upgrade? Awesome!
I didn't leave with just the CC, I got more stuff too! Me and the salesman got the 7 LCs they had and began popping the covers looking for leaky batteries. I found one with a leaked battery, and the other had badly leaked capacitors, even the contacts on some chips were rusted out. I got back with 4 LCs, an LCII, the Color Classic, and a IIcx. I paid $95 for everything, including the Color Classic. I paid $10 each for the LCs, $30 for the CC, and $15 for the IIci.
They all need PSU recappings (what LC doesn't?) and L/B recappings. I was expecting this of course, but the yellowing isn't too mild. Marked on the units is what needs to be replaced. One says L/B because it fired right up but the sound was raspy. Even if it seems to work, I will still recap the PSU
I will keep the LC, LCII, CC, and IIfx, but will sell the other three LCs as refurbished units, may be willing to sell the IIfx for a trade of some sort. I will recap L/Bs and PSUs on everything, as well as clean the L/B, case, PSU, HDs (where applicable) and lubricate floppy drives. Where is the best place to get capacitors for the LCs, and what should I do about the CC since it does nothing, even when powering it up from the keyboard. The only thing you can hear when you plug it in is the capacitors charging up.
I got him to get up on the ladder and pull down the Color Classic, and we went to the counter to fire it up..... nothing. It was missing the L/B port cover, and the case had no screws. $30? Fair enough. Not bad for it even if I can't fix it and just put it up for display. Great condition BTW, just a lot of dust from being up there a while.
It's in GREAT condition, with very little yellowing.
What's this I see? An ethernet upgrade? Awesome!
I didn't leave with just the CC, I got more stuff too! Me and the salesman got the 7 LCs they had and began popping the covers looking for leaky batteries. I found one with a leaked battery, and the other had badly leaked capacitors, even the contacts on some chips were rusted out. I got back with 4 LCs, an LCII, the Color Classic, and a IIcx. I paid $95 for everything, including the Color Classic. I paid $10 each for the LCs, $30 for the CC, and $15 for the IIci.
They all need PSU recappings (what LC doesn't?) and L/B recappings. I was expecting this of course, but the yellowing isn't too mild. Marked on the units is what needs to be replaced. One says L/B because it fired right up but the sound was raspy. Even if it seems to work, I will still recap the PSU
I will keep the LC, LCII, CC, and IIfx, but will sell the other three LCs as refurbished units, may be willing to sell the IIfx for a trade of some sort. I will recap L/Bs and PSUs on everything, as well as clean the L/B, case, PSU, HDs (where applicable) and lubricate floppy drives. Where is the best place to get capacitors for the LCs, and what should I do about the CC since it does nothing, even when powering it up from the keyboard. The only thing you can hear when you plug it in is the capacitors charging up.
