[cctalk] Re: Two IBM 360's available in the UK

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