Commodore 65 = $5,000

Teo Zenios wrote: I try to never spend money on the hobby other than fuel costs (I much prefer meeting people face to face when I can, so I've driven halfway across the country lots of times to pick stuff up or drop stuff off...) Despite that, I've had an awful lot of rare things, prototypes, 'internal' documentation for machines etc. pass through my hands. There's a whole world out there beyond the likes of Ebay and the interesting stuff is still out there and needing homes - it just takes effort in talking to people and chasing up leads to find it, rather than waiting for it to fall into your lap via a web query. Personally I like that 'detective work' side of things anyway, so I'd still be doing it even if I did want to throw serious cash at the hobby. Plus you get to meet and chat with some pretty interesting characters along the way, which is half the fun :-) Would I pay $5k for a machine? Not when there will still be others around lurking in basements, or which can be traded for other items of equal interest (I do like a good bit of bartering once in a while :-) If it were the last one left of its kind? Maybe, but only if I raised the $5k by selling other bits of my collection. There are more interesting things in life to lose $5k on. (I'm not sure why I'm like this with computers - I used to pour silly amounts of money into classic cars. Maybe I see vintage computing as a zero-cost hobby just because it *can* be, with a little effort; it's much harder to buy, restore and run an old car on no budget) cheers Jules