Friday, March 6, 2015

How I came to own these “Small Pieces” of Commodore Computer History



Many of you have asked how I acquired the original molds that will be used in this project. I wish I tell you a grand tale or a even tell you about a well executed plan, but in truth it is neither. In my everyday life, I am just a man who owns a small business. I buy and sell almost anything I can find with value ranging from Barbie dolls to antiques.

Often, I search for local auctions to find equipment I can either use in my business or sell to someone else who can use. This is how I came across a newspaper ad (yes, newspaper ad) for a liquidation sale for a local plastics manufacture that was closing down. The item that initially caught my eye was a pallet wrapping machine, which was in nice used condition. I could use that! And, honestly, the last thing that interested me were the molds that weighed a ton (literally) and were made of hardened steel.

The preview day was nothing worth noting. To be honest, I really don’t even remember the day of the week it was held. I do remember walking into a large warehouse with large steel plastic injection molds lined up in rows as far as my eyes could see. The auctioneer for the company that was holding the preview, came over to me and asked if he could help me find anything. I told him I was there to look at the pallet machine; he pointed me in the right direction. His final words were to tell me that if I needed any additional information that I could ask the gentleman standing across the room. That gentleman was the person who had ran the machine and would know more about it. I said thank you and walked in the direction he pointed me. The pallet machine was just what I was looking for, so I asked the gentleman if he ever had any problems with it. He gave me a long answer giving me more information than I really wanted, but he was nice and I appreciated his thorough answer. I thanked the man for the information and headed for the door.

The auctioneer caught me just before I left. He asked me if I got all the information I needed and if I was interested in any molds. I said no I did not really have much use any molds, and he asked what I did. That one question is why we are here now.


I briefly explained what I do, and he said there was something that he thought was cool- the molds for some old computers. I asked if I could see them because I really had no idea what they were. We walked to the back of the warehouse. In this dark corner, I realized these were the molds for the Commodore 64C, Commodore 128, and Commodore Plus 4. He told me he had a friend who might bid, and that he was interested in turning them into coffee tables. We talked a little more about them. I thanked him for showing me and I left.

On the ride home, it started to bug me that someone was going to take these molds and turn them into furniture. To be honest, I thought it would be cool to have them. When I got home, I told my wife that I wanted to place a bid. She asked me all the question I should of been asking myself. How big are they? How are you going to pick them up? What are you going to do with them? All good questions, but I did not care. I had no idea what I was getting into.

As you know, I won the auction. This is where the story gets a little crazy. Do you have any idea how much these things weigh? I did not! I really thought I could just go pick them up with a truck or maybe a U-Haul if needed. Each molds weighs over 2500 pounds, that is as much as a car, but in a very compact production grade steel mold measuring less than a fraction of the size of that car! Let’s just say that it cost more to move the molds than I expected. And, at one point, I even thought about just cutting my losses and moving on!

However, the historical significance that these molds represented, even if they were never used again, was too great. I have had some really interesting historical items before, and I found them homes with people who love them. I didn’t know if I would find someone for these, but I knew I couldn’t give up. I wouldn’t allow these to go to the scrapyard to be melted down and gone forever.

So, they were moved to my shop. And, here we are.


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1670214687/original-commodore-64c-computer-housing-in-new-coo

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