About 4 years ago, when I was still living in (far) northern California with my folks, my Dad and I borrowed a friend's truck and took a trip south to Redding to waste some time at the thrift stores there. Anyway, we ended up at one store on the outskirts of town (the Opportunity Villiage store, if I remember correctly), out by the old train freight loading/unloading place- it looked like no one'd been there in years...
Anyway, I was digging around through the piles of junk in the store, and I struck up a conversation with an elderly guy who was standing nearby. Turned out he was the manager of the store. Anyway, I found a few neat 2-button ADB mouses in the junk piles, and the older fellow noticed that I was going to buy them.
"Hey, kid", he says to me, "you like computers?"
"Definately!" I replied. He looked me in the eye for a long moment- a strange, penetrating stare. Finally, he asks me, "what kinda car are you in?" I thought it was a rather odd question, but I answered honestly, "A friend's little pickup truck".
"A pickup, huh? That might do... here, come with me!" He replied, as he grabbed a huge black police-type flashlight and walked out of the store. Intrigued, I followed him out and down the railroad tracks for about 1/4 of a mile, until we ended at this massive old metal train warehouse- the place looked like a WWII-era aircraft hanger, with more rust then I'd ever seen in one place.
The manager-guy took out a big key-ring and unlocked a little door on the side of the building. I have to admit, I was getting a little worried... here I am, a skinny 16 year old, about to go into a huge, pitch-black train-hanger with a complete stranger! Anyway, my curiosity got the better of me, and I followed him inside. It took a few long moments for my eyes to ajust from the bright sunlight outside to the complete blackness of the hanger's interior. With a loud click, the manager turned on the massive flashlight he'd carried with us, and the slender beam of light shot out into the darkness, illuminating what appeared to be mountains of.... something that I couldn't quite make out. He handed me the light, and I took a step foreward, only to sink to my shins in something very wet and very cold! Undaunted, I slogged ahead, to the first mountain of stangely angular shapes... when, out from the darkness I spotted the friendly face of a Mac Classic, staring at me from the blackness! All in a rush, I realized that the mountains were massive piles of Macintosh computers!
The piles streched off into the darkness as far as the flashlight beam would go, one after another, each one huge and ghostly in the dim, flickering light.
Just as I realized what I was looking at, there was a tremendous SKREEEETCH sound behind me! Startled, I turned around, only to be blinded by the sunlight now streaming in through the huge sliding door that the manager had rolled open.
Turning back to the piles, I discovered that not only were the mountains Macs, but at my conservative count, there were nearly 50 of these piles, all taller then I was! I felt like I'd just walked into that last shot from "Raiders of the Lost Ark", when the camera pans over the rows and rows of crates, each containing untold treasure. For a long moment I was completely speechless.
Finally, I gathered my wits back and asked the old guy what was going on! He told me that several companies in the U.S. and Canada had donated all these computers at around the same time, and they were being stored here until they could find someone to tell them what they were all worth (so the companies could get the proper tax write-off), but in the mean time, he was allowed to sell them in small amounts.
The completely tragic part of the story is that, up until a week or so before I got there, part of the roof in this ancient hanger had been collapsed, so nearly all these computers were completely drenched in the winter rains and snows! Oh, the horror!
Anyway, to end a long story, the old guy told me that I could have as much as I was able to carry out in one load! After digging around for nearly an hour, I found a small pile that was under a ratty old tarp, but seemed to have escaped most of the water. I managed (through much pain and suffering) to make off with a couple of LC's, a IIfx, an SE/30 and a PowerMac 6100/66 (you have no idea how hard that was...), and the old guy was nice enough to let me make a second trip for some screens and keyboards. In the end, I ended up paying $20 for the whole load, but the experience was worth so much more then that...

Anyway, I'll leave you all alone now.
Thanks for reading through all this!

SpaceBoy

AppleBASIC FOREVER!
As of 4/8/02:
TiBook G4/500, "Difference Engine"
PB 1400/133, "KayPro II"
PB 180/33, "Osbourne 1"
PMac 7100/G3-266, "DEC Rainbow" and "Altair 8800"
Quadra 950, "HAL 9000"
iMac Rev.A/333mHz, "Deep Blue"
Newton 120, "PADD"

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Hey guys-
I'd love to see a section on the site dedicated to cool experiences with old Macs- aside from the (always cool and fun!) hardware hacking stuff, I really get a kick out of swapping stories about interesting things that people've done with old Macs, or stuff like that. I've got neat stories along these lines by the dozen, so if anyone in power is interested, I'd be more then happy to write some stuff up... hint hint...

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Edited by - Trash80toG-4 on 10 Apr 2002 20:11:31

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Nice story!!! When we finally get some webstie action happening, I'll be sure to add it there.

~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit
00014 Macs liberated

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Graphic Propaganda Manager

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Nice story!!! When we finally get some webstie action happening, I'll be sure to add it there.

~Coxy - Leader, Tactical Operations Unit
00014 Macs liberated

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and when is that?

-raWr

Fleet Covert Ops

Graphic Propaganda Manager

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-raWr

Fleet Covert Ops

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