Hi all,
Some of you may remember that I (Adam) and another chap (Chris) rescued two
IBM 360/20 systems out of an abandoned building in Nuremberg back in 2019
and brought them to the UK (our blog is here:
https://www.ibm360.co.uk/).
We have since basically found ourselves unable to effectively progress the
project due to personal & professional commitments. For various reasons
(explained in our latest blog post) we are testing the waters for making
the machines available to the right sort of people.
We are therefore inviting proposals or offers focused around one of the
following core ideas:
1. A museum or preservation organisation takes the machines on permanent
loan or possibly as a donation depending upon exactly what the terms look
like
2. A private entity takes the machines on loan for display for a fix
period
3. A foreign museum takes the machines, with negotiation around coverage
of our costs
4. A private collector purchases the machines from us for a sum to be
negotiated at the time
If you have an alternate proposal we would also be open to hearing it.
We have three main systems in the collection, as detailed below:
*Red IBM 360 Model 20 System*
1 x IBM 360 Model 20 CPU in Red
1x 2203 System Printer
2x 2311 Disk Drives
1x 2152 System Console (possibly the last remaining example of this in the
world, though in poor condition)
1x 2560 Punched Card Reader/Punch/Sorter
1x 2501 Punched Card Reader
2x 2415 II Tape Drives (One master, one slave) (Possibly only remaining
examples of this model globally)
25x IBM Disc Packs
*Blue IBM 360 Model 20 System*
1 x IBM 360 Model 20 CPU in Blue
1x 2501 Punched Card Reader
1x 1403 Printer
*System 370/125*
1x 370/125 CPU – Unknown condition
1x 3504 Punched card reader (incomplete)
*Miscellaneous*
1x 029 Card Punch
1x 5471 System Console
Assorted other spares and unknown/incomplete components
Around 12 full boxes of brand new IBM punched cards
-----------
In an ideal world we would like to see everything go together, but we
understand that this is an enormous amount of kit and that might not be
possible. We are not willing to split up individual systems, but we are
willing to split things by the groupings above. For instance if there was
interest in only the red system due to its complete set of peripherals, we
would be willing to negotiate on that basis.
It is extremely rare that systems such as this become available, and these
are two of only a handful of privately held IBM 360’s in the world.
If you have an idea or a proposal, please email me directly at this
address. Please do NOT email me to suggest I contact X museum unless you
are a representative of that museum or hold a direct relationship with them
and know they are interested.
We are genuinely sad that we’ve been unable to work on this project and
take it where we wanted it to go. We set out with strong intentions, but
alas, as is often the case life took over and we were unable to push
forward in the way we wanted to. We hope that someone comes along who will
be able to keep the systems safe for future generations.
Kind Regards,
Adam Bradley