This is a box!
It's also a tremendous lesson in how to pack retro equipment properly.
THIS is an auction I won (from an auction house), and inside are two piece of retro
computing, which are the most sought after (or some of the most sought after), in the
land.
I am not entirely sure of their condition, so let's delve in and find out!
It's always a risk when you get equipment through the post, but this is a LARGE box,
and it's very well packed.
Lots of paper.
Hahooooo, Ohhhhh yessss.
So, inside are numerous packages.
This is a Competition Pro 5000 Joystick; one of the finest in the world.
This is a Cheetah joystick, which says "use this joystick, you will be a big winner!".
I'm not joking when I said this was packaged well!
This is another Cheetah joystick.
This is a microswitched joystick.
A lot of these break, but I think this one is in quite good condition!
THIS is a box...
Just an empty box for a Konix Speedking.
Ahhhh, some Spectrum titles.
Durrell Big 4.
Computer Hits 10.
International Match Day and Action Countdown.... game pack?
What is this?
This is a deep fat fryer box.
I didn't even realise it came with all these!
So.
There's a lot of stuff I didn't realise I was getting, like this advert which was obviously
issued by Amstrad telling Sinclair users not to send their broken Spectrum 128k's to the
registration card address.
In stead they should send it to the dealer that they bought the machine from.
ANYWAY.
Enough of that, let's move on to the maaaaiiin prizes....
The main reason that I bought this lot in the first place.
LOOK at this!
This is a ZX Spectrum 128k... boxed!
Now these are incredibly hard to find, especially in this condition, this is in very nice condition.
Look at this box!
Look at that!
Look at it!
Look, look at this!
Boxaaaaaaaaaaag.
THIS is a Spectrum 128k.
One of my favourite home computers AND one of my first home computers.
Let's see if we can have a look at the condition of the *squeeeeeak*
ahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
It's not bad!
It's a bit dusty, but... now these often need new keyboard membranes, because that tends
to go first.
Looks alright!
Good condition... serial number 007-005795, and we've also got the free inside Ocean Games.
We've got the Never Ending Story and Daley Thompson's Supertest 128, which is an amazing
game but it takes so long to load!
Really!
It takes.... [fades out]
We've also got the Cheetah expansion joystick connector, which is nice!
The next item, which came with this lot is another boxed computer.
Urrrghhhh, my god.
Now, these machines, there was actually a run of these... new old stock available, I
think it was 2012, or 2013, which were discovered in a warehouse and they were sold off for
200 Euros each, and there's actually, on the site, there's people complaining about how
expensive 200 Euros is for one of these!
You try and find an Amiga 1200 brand new for um, 200 Euros nowdays!
Ain't gonna happen!
So here we are.
This is the Amiga 1200 Magic Pack.
Now this is the last Amiga 1200 pack.
This was the one released after Escom bought Amiga out, and it was run by Amiga Technologies
GmbH, and they issued the Amiga Magic Pack.
There's two versions of this.
There's one with a hard disk and one without a hard disk.
This one is the one without a hard disk, so this would have retailed for £399.
The hard disk model retailed for £499.
But, you get a whole swathe of software.
I have no idea what condition this thing is in.
The box looks pristine.
So, inside we've got gubbins.
We've got the actual pack itself.
Ohhhh, yes.
Look at the Amiga itself.
I love Amiga 1200s!
One of the Escom models....of course!
Look at it.
That is a work of art!
It's quite erm, quite white as well.
Which is nice.
Let's pop the Amiga 1200 out here.
So we've got a errr, batch code in here.
It says purchase date, 8th November 1995.
So this was one purchased back in the 90s.
It wasn't one of the new old stock.
Ahhh, there is our missing Konix Speed King!
Stowed away.
The power supply and an Amiga mouse.
Amiga Technologies 3 mouse.
So let's have a look and see if these machines actually work shall we?... because that would
be most helpful.
But first, a bit of cleaning.
Now this 1200 is in pretty good shape, however there is the odd tea splatter, so I'll give
it a quick going over with a fabric stain remover wipe.
I seriously recommend these for cleaning up equipment like this.
They take off stains easily, even those grubby ingrained areas, and you can slip them in
between keys to clean those awkward areas.
But I don't want this to sound too much like a shopping channel, so I'll use some scissors
to clean the grills.
Seriously they just scrape off coffee and tea stains, and then you can just shake them
out.
Incidentally, there's no expansion card in this one.
It's factory specification all the way, and I quite like that.
There we go, doesn't that look wondrous.
So clean, almost like its just rolled out of the factory.
The mouse & power supply were grubby as hell too, but once again, those wipes come to the
rescue.
Alright, lets power this beast on.
Power light on, floppy disk sounds sounding, but no composite picture.
OK, let's try RF.
Ahhh, yes, that seems better.
I imagine that's just a solder joint which needs re-flowing, but I'll take care of that
another time.
As long as Mortal Kombat loads, then frankly, I'm happy as a cucumber pie.
Which sounds revolting.
Oh, also all the manuals are present and the software is tucked away in these boxes, so
that's nice.
OK, how about the mighty ZX Spectrum 128.
I just love this box, it's just so damn red and boxy.
Now this machine is a little more grubby, but the stain removing wipes make light work
of this revolting detritus.
A rub here and a rub there and it's almost as good as new.
As I've got the TV already setup, I'll try it through RF, and there we go, beautiful.
A quick test of the keys confirms that although most are working, there are a few which fail
to respond.
Again, quick fix, a modern keyboard membrane replacement is about a tenner and they are
incredibly simple to fit.
I'll just plug a tape deck in for peace of mind, and as you can see, the Neverending
Story loads beautifully.
This loading sequence is almost never ending in itself.
Marvellous stuff!
So there we go.
Two systems which are pretty much working, and that is good enough for me.
I'll probably fix up the Amiga a little bit, put a new keyboard membrane in this 128.
Bit more cleaning and job is a good'un.
So, all in all, 100% successful bid!
Thanks for watching.