[thrifty intro tunes] [computer buzzes, beeps]
Mm, it smells like leaves! [sniffs!] And thrifting finds, potentially. I don’t know,
there’s something about this season, this time of year that makes me wanna go thrifting more than
usual. And I’ve had some pretty lucky encounters out there recently, so. Let’s go thrifting!
[LGR Thrifts theme plays]
Mm, crispy fall thrifts, always a lovely time to go scrounging around through people’s old stuff.
Starting off with this store here that remodeled over the summer, with all the media now moved
towards the front of the store. Games, DVDs, CDs, tapes, records and so on.
Aas well as a shelf with some of their DVD players for some reason. I mean I guess
it makes sense to put the players with the discs, but the rest of the electronics are all still
towards the back of the store. On that note,
the back of the store held this lovely wooden beast. A vintage Zenith floor-standing console
radio, of some kind. I didn’t see a model number or anything so I’m unsure as to when it was made,
but it’s definitely got that mid-century look to it that I can’t help but enjoy somehow.
This one seems like a good project for something though, there was a note saying it needs repairs,
no doubt there’d be quite a bit of work getting this fully restored again. But still,
55 bucks for this seems like not the worst deal, in my entirely uninformed opinion. And around the
same era of vintage I saw these framed ads over on a nearby tabletop. One for a Philco refrigerator.
And a downright fascinating stovetop/refrigerator combo! Sounds like a great and terrible idea at
the same time, and now I kinda want one for no reason other than morbid curiosity. So yeah, the
back part of the store here still has the majority of the electronicals, including a substantial row
of mid-to-late 2000s LCD TVs and monitors. Mark my words, now’s the time to grab these things,
another five or six years and this is not a sight you’ll see so often. Cool rotating displays,
all sorts of 4:3, 5:4, and 16:10 panels that are really useful for pairing with certain systems.
And all kinds of handy inputs, resolutions and refresh rates on these. As with this Samsung
LT-P2045U, a 20-incher from 2005 doubling as a 4:3 TV and VGA monitor. Integrated power supply,
speakers, VGA, composite, component, s-video, RF, just really useful on a retro workbench.
I was interested in buying it and went to test it out, but unfortunately it didn’t receive power at
all. Not even so much as a status LED, no signs of life whatsoever adly. But yeah, constantly on
the lookout for decent mid-2000s displays right now. So here’s a fascinating box, it’s completely
filled with new blank jewel cases. They’re all those slimline ones but still, just hundreds of
the things all jammed in there to the point it’s overflowing. For five and a half dollars I mean,
that’s gotta be a deal to someone right? And over in the random junk section I found some random
junk, including these new old stock Nukote ink ribbons for IBM Wheelwriters, specifically the 3,
5, and 6 models. Among other IBM and Lexmark typewriters and printers. Nothing I’m needing but
hey whatever, new old stock! Ooh check out this sharp-looking doohickie. This is a Sharp RT-310,
a compact player of compact cassettes, with an overall look to it that I was immediately drawn
to. The color, the controls, the overlays and displays. And of course that all-caps METAL logo
printed on the bottom-left, indicating its support for that particular tape material. Honestly
in hindsight I wish I’d grabbed this, since my only deck capable of playing metal tapes
recently died. So it goes, dang it, but what can ya do? Ahh man, another thing I was really
close to grabbing. This beige Western Electric telephone! Normally I don’t go for push button
phones of this era but this is one with those additional switches along the bottom,
with red putting the line on hold and I believe the other five for switching between lines. Some
proper retro business stuff, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these thrifting before. Ooh,
toasty! Check out this chromed-out old toaster, looking like something straight outta Technology
Connections. I don’t know anything about it in terms of model number or manufacture dates,
but what I do know is its design looked amazing. Check out that chunky two-prong power cord,
that braided fabric and everything. What a beast of an old toaster,
I have no doubt it’d make amazing toast, provided it didn’t burn your house down along with it.
Right so, quick detour! I didn’t get much footage here since I was only passing by on
a road trip over the summer, but I simply had to show y’all. Check out this electronics section,
dude! I haven’t seen this many computers in a normal Goodwill store in ages, and never have
I seen so many Apple iMacs at one. All those iMac G5s, wow. I know they’re super prone to
failure but just look at ‘em, what a sight. Also tons of laptops, including some MacBooks, all for
$15 each, only missing the hard drives that I could tell. They even had one of these Motorola
Zebra hand scanner things I used to use working retail. A lotta these run Windows Mobile, you can
straight-up run Doom on some of these. Rarely ever see them thrifting. But yeah, all those computers,
again no hard drives, they were sold as “desktop shells.” But 20, 40, or 60 dollars each? Yeah
there’s gotta be some good finds here for someone, either as a project box, restoration, or spare
parts if nothing else. What really grabbed my attention though were these mechanical keyboards,
ohh yeah, obviously I bought both. This Dell AT101 Alps Bigfoot on the right, and an awesome
terminal-looking thing on the left I had no idea what it was but it looked and felt amazing.
Turns out it’s a Fujitsu N860-2500-T111, using third generation Fujitsu leaf spring switches.
[typing sounds]
What a cool find!
Well anyway, back to our regularly-scheduled autumn endeavors, at the Lucky Rock Goodwill.
With our rock friend being completely covered in plant life these days. Poor thing needs a trim,
though I guess winter will take care of that soon. Inside was an enlightening sight indeed,
with a whole slew of lightbulbs taking up this entire shelving unit up front. And good grief,
what’s that? It’s the great yard inflatables, Charlie Brown! Featuring the classic characters
of Snoopy, Woodstock, and... bat. And it looks like they’ve remodeled this store too since that last
time I was here, with a new, smaller electronics wall next to the glass display cases. A pretty
disappointing sight to be honest, they usually have a decently broad selection of electronic
goodies but it seems they’ve consolidated down to basic A/V gear. Though the more I looked around,
the more I found. I think they’re in the middle of organizing still, since things were scattered all
across the store on random shelves, carts, and endcaps. That being said, the half of the store
that used to be nothing but clothes now has much more. Like this whole wall filled with sporting
goods, outdoor gear, neckties, suitcases and so on. And the toys, puzzles, and board games are now
found over past the children’s clothing section. Including an unusually-curated selection of books,
games, and movies aimed at kids I guess? Normally these are all mixed in with the other books,
games, and movies, so having it divided up means you have to look twice. There’s still a whole
shelf’s worth of media up front, just now some of them are over here. Like this copy of Luxor
3 for PC and Madden 05 for Xbox. Rather arbitrary choices. Anyway, over at the front media section I
noticed this Pink Floyd thing straight away. This is part of the Shine On box set from 1992, with
8 utterly classic albums – A Saucerful Of Secrets on through to Momentary Lapse Of Reason and more.
Certainly would’ve taken this home if it had the rest of the stuff that came in the box, but alas.
It’s only the discs, and I don’t actively collect CDs, so I left it for someone else.
Across from there were a handful of titles for PC, with some edition of Guild Wars 2,
The Sims 3+University Life combo pack, and The Elder Scrolls Online. All stuff I have,
a very late twenty-teens selection indeed. Over on the end I noticed this copy of Civ IV Warlords,
which is not unusual. Except for the fact it was a European release with a PEGI 12+ rating
on there. Always wonder how these things end up in a random thrift store in the North Carolina
mountains. Down below that was a fascinating find as well, it was a copy of the movie Vice.
But the packaging was bizarre so I had to take a look, and yeah. Turns out this was
a “For Your Consideration” copy of the movie, one of those sent out to movie industry folks for uh,
their consideration. Basically a promo copy sent out on loan to those voting in awards ceremonies,
with instructions on the disc to destroy when they were done. Guess that didn’t happen. Again,
how does this end up in a mountain Goodwill? No idea but it’s kinda neat. Then over in the back
corner of the store is yet another media section, where amongst the audiobooks I noticed this MPC
CD-ROM sticker. This is something called The Big Green Disc, The Interactive Guide to Saving the
World. Circa 1994. Still sealed! Apparently the previous owner didn’t care for any world-saving,
but I was intrigued enough to grab this weirdness for myself. Especially since I didn’t see much
about it online at all, not even a single photo of the big box itself. Speaking of big boxes, over in
the holiday crap area I found this unused copy of PC-cillin Internet Security... 2006? Dang that’s a
late release for a big box program. Nothing I care to own whatsoever but still – big boxes are big.
As are these, what are these! I didn’t know but I had to take a look at these OGs. OG meaning ‘Our
Generation’ it seems, these ice cream trucks being part of a 130-piece accessory set for 18-inch
dolls from 2016. Rich kid toys. Over in one of the glass cases were a bunch more Xbox games,
an increasingly rare sight these days. Some good stuff, but a lotta sports titles too. Why weren’t
these over in the kids section with Madden 05? The world may never know. Over in this other
case were some nifty doodads, vintage Ansco and Polaroid film cameras. And this surprising sight,
a Seeburg Wall-o-matic. One of those wallbox remote controller things for jukeboxes from
the 1940s and 50s. I’m not sure this was an original or not but it sure looked the part,
and they’d certainly priced it that way at $350. Regardless, it’s neat to see. Heh, what the heck,
“CLAM BROTH?” Mm, brothed clam on tap. Although the prominent lobster has me confused,
is it lobster or clam? Maybe it’s lobster AND clam, ooh, I can only imagine this brothy luxury!
All right now this is some tripod weirdness, what have we here? Looks like four car stereo
speakers crammed in a box, I am intrigued. So this is a Hilton Audio Wide Angle Speaker system,
apparently made for square dancing parties? I guess, that’s what came up online. Honestly not
much comes up about this model in particular, but hey, that is one funky-looking design and
seems like it’d be pretty useful for filling a dance hall. I approve. Got an interesting stack
of hi-fi gear down here, all by Kenwood and I can only assume it all came in together. Always fun
to see what was most likely someone’s setup from back in the day, especially one with a dedicated
equalizer and amplifier components like this. I quite like the look of these too, this is from
the era of black plastic that I actually don’t mind, it’s more chunky and squared-off, with
less of the rounded edges and blobby appearance of certain things from the late 90s/early 2000s.
That 6-disc CD changer is pretty sweet as well, man. And that remote control with the LCD screen
on it? Yeah someone had a neat little setup. Oh and hey! It’s one of those 60s/70s folding
portable turntable setups, this one from Zenith. I love that off-white platter, and of course
that tasteful woodgrain accenting the control panel. Ooh and “integrated circuits.” There’s
also something about the way those speakers look ah I dunno why, it’s just kinda cool.
As was this setup, where I noticed the speakers first and then saw that the player was still
attached. Yeah check out this Panasonic SE-2070 stack, a combination record player, receiver,
and speaker set. Still has the documentation even, that’s always awesome. And dang, despite needing a
cleaning, this looks pretty spiffy. Very plasticky but very appealing regardless. Especially
paired with the receiver, which was up above on another shelf. This piece alone would be fun to
have, dang. Every time I see a matching set like this I wish I had a whole dedicated hi-fi room.
And speaking of wishes, we’ve gotta see what this Aladdin device is! Because I see beige and I see
a CRT, you see, so let’s see here. Well what we have here is a ​​Telesensory Aladdin Rainbow, a
low vision magnifying color display. Effectively a monitor, camera, and lighting system helping folks
with ailing vision see things larger on a 14-inch CRT. And of course I had to plug it in and test it
out, and maaaaaan, how cool is this?! I truly have no need for it, I don’t have anywhere to put it,
but... Stick anything underneath there and it magnifies it several times with surprisingly
good results after using the focus knob... and ahh dang it! I was struggling here, I really was.
-”I don’t need this. I don’t need it!”
-“But I doooo... Augh, that’s super cool.”
-Somehow, some way, I managed to say no and not take it home. Because I
REALLY didn’t need it. And yet this footage gives me some tinge of regret.
Anyway, yeah! That’s all for Episode 49 of LGR Thrifts! Didn’t take home much this time
but honestly rarely do I anymore. Thrifting ain’t what it used to be. But there’s still
great stuff if you go often enough and get lucky. Like with these two excellent keyboards and that
weird mid 90s software I’d never heard of. Fun stuff, at least in my view. Especially
those keyboards! The Dell works great, but I haven’t been able to test the Fujitsu due
to its unusual 8-pin DIN connection. If anyone watching has the skills to create an adapter,
please get in touch! Seriously! I wanna use this thing! But even if I don't, ah it was
just fun finding stuff out thrifting once again. And it seems y'all are still having fun as well,
sending in thrifting find photos on the LGR socials, and email, and all that. So thanks
for that, and continuing to support Thrifts and LGR in general! I can't believe we are
approaching Episode 50 of Thrifts! Don't know when that'll happen, as usual it takes time put
these together. And it really does rely on luck so we'll see when that happens,
but yeah. Looking forward to that! And as always, thanks for watching this episode of Thrifts.
[downtempo outro tunes play]