Hey TinkerDifferent! It's the last day or #MARCHintosh2020, which seems like a good time to share this!

Something happened.

Something big.

This is what my garage looked like about two weeks ago.




If you want to hear the whole story, I recorded a YouTube video describing what happened, and what I plan to do with this collection! You can find it here:

YouTube: Massive Vintage Apple Haul

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What Happened?!

The story began a few weeks ago (maybe six?) when someone posted "some Macs" on Facebook Marketplace. He posted 6-10 Macs, mostly laptops, but said he didn't know what they were worth. I responded to the ad, asking if I could come take a look and help assess what he had, and he replied with, "I'll sell you the whole lot for $2,500."

I had no idea what he had, and thought he had visited eBay and thought his 10 Macs were worth way more than they are, so I didn't bother responding.

A few weeks later, he sent me another message: "Still interested?"

I replied asking if he had a photo of everything, to which he replied with a video of him panning around a cargo trailer. It was pretty mind-boggling! Then, he offered me the whole thing for $1,000. I hemmed and hawed about it for awhile, noting that even getting them home would be a massive challenge.

He asked where I lived, and then said, "$1,000 and I will deliver them to you."

That was it. I drove to his location to make sure the offer was real (and it was), and then helped him rearrange the trailer for transport. We brought some moving blankets, and tried to pack things tightly for the 30+ minute drive across town. Here's what it looked like before he followed me back to my house:



We have a third bay in our garage that my wife uses for upholstery, so we cleared that out as fast as possible and helped him unload the trailer. The photos at the beginning of the thread are a few minutes after that happened - we just piled everything in there as fast as possible. He wrote up a bill of sale, and it was done!

I now have 60+ Macs in my garage.

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What am I going to do with them?

The whole point of this project is to get these machines into the hands of retro Macintosh enthusiasts. I'm going to hang on to a few (like the LCIII, LC475, external CD-ROM drive, and 12" PowerBook G4), but the rest I intend to sell off at nominal prices.

Local pickup is a bit of a problem, as I am in Boise, Idaho. Salt Lake City is 6 hours East, and Portland is 6 hours West. If anyone wants to come and grab a bunch to haul to a major city, I'd welcome that! We might also need to consider some creative alternatives, like palletizing a bunch and shipping them to VCF.

Or maybe nobody wants these machines at all, and now I have a billion Macs on my hands that nobody wants! I'm interested in hearing what people think, and if there are any creative ideas for getting these into people's hands.

As for the money... obviously, I want to make my money back, but I'm going to try to keep these as affordable as possible, especially if we need to ship stuff. The only "Beige Whale" I have left is a Color Classic... so maybe there's a big trade in here somewhere? I don't know.

Several friends, on seeing the photos, immediately send me money to help fund the whole thing! They've claimed a handful of machines already, but the majority will be made available soon. I would ask that you refrain from asking for machines for a bit - I need to set up a good system for that.

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The Project So Far

I've tested some of them, and I've been pulling batteries at every opportunity! I'll post an update video about where things are at soon.

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What I (Probably) Have

I'll post a complete list when I'm ready to start moving them out, but it looks something like this:

• 6 Blue and White G4's
• 8 Power Mac G4's
• 5 Power Macintosh 6000's and 7000's
• 1 Power Macintosh G3
• 1 Performa 5215CD
• 1 Power Macintosh G3
• 1 Power Macintosh 52160/100
• 4 iMac G3's
• 1 iMac G4
• 6 Power Macintosh 8000's
• 1 LCIII (actually not part of this haul but procured same day)
• 1 LC475
• 6 Macintosh IIsi's
• 2 iBooks
• 2 PowerBook G4 12"
• 4 Multiple Scan 15 Displays
• 1 Oddball display
• About 6 laser printers
• A couple of other printers
• 2 milk crates of hard drives, brackets, and sleds
• 1 SE/30
• 1 PowerBook G3
• 40-50 keyboards
• About 3 AirPort Base Stations
• 2 or 3 third party hard drive enclosures
• Gobs of SCSI cables
• Gobs of ADB cables
• Gobs of power cables
• A few manuals
• Several accessory boxes
• Toner cartridges

Hold off on asking for stuff - let's wait until I can post a more complete list, and after I've heard some ideas about how to distribute these.

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That's it for now! I'm looking forward to hearing what you think!

Nice haul. Makes my 2012 Conquest seem rather paltry in the amount of items... lol

I'd be interested in a few things when you've gone through everything.

Life is unfair... :'(

Holy cow!

That is the BIGGEST haul I've ever seen. Best of luck moving it all. Lots of cool boxes & peripherals in there for sure. :)

I've posted a short update video!

YouTube: Massive Vintage Apple Haul Update 1

Basically, a friend of mine came over (the guy who gave me the water-damaged Macintosh SE) and helped me go through a bunch of machines. We started to pull random machines out, opened them up to remove the PRAM battery, and tried to boot them up. Each tested machine got a post-it note describing their status and specifications (if they booted).



A few days later, I went out to the garage and organized a bit - basically, I got machines grouped and numbers, and started to compile a list of machines in a spreadsheet. On machines that I know how to take apart easily, I pulled batteries out of.



Sadly, I did find one IIsi with a sort-of bombed battery, but I think this one might be fixable.



There is one SE/30 in the pile, and to be honest, I waited longer than I should have to get the battery out for fear of what I would find. I finally decided to face reality, and...

Whew! The battery is okay (and removed). This SE/30 looks like a good candidate for restoration, but there is some burn-in on the display.



Here's what things looked like after organizing and tagging with post-it notes! Much better.



I was a bit leery of bringing my 2020 MacBook Pro out to the garage to take inventory... but then I realized that I was surrounded by computers! This PowerBook G4 12" worked great for cataloging all of the machines, printers, and displays.



I'm getting closer to posting a list of what is available. I can say for sure that I am keeping:

• Blue and White G3
• PowerBook G4 12"
• LCIII (not actually part of this haul, but received on the same day)
• LC475 (I have an LC476 that is fully restored, but my retrobrite job didn't go flawlessly on... I'll probably sell that one)

I'll keep working towards the goal of making a complete list of what I have! Keep an eye on this thread if you're interested. The goal of this project is to liquidate!

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>> Volvo242GT said:

Nice haul. Makes my 2012 Conquest seem rather paltry in the amount of items... lol I'd be interested in a few things when you've gone through everything. Click to expand...

Great! I'll be posting the list on this thread, so you're in the right place!

>> lilliputian said:

Holy cow! Click to expand...

Right?! I still can hardly believe it.

>> Certificate of Excellence said:

That is the BIGGEST haul I've ever seen. Best of luck moving it all. Lots of cool boxes & peripherals in there for sure. Click to expand...

Thanks! And yeah... same. I've never seen this many Macs from these eras in one place before. It's a bit overwhelming!

May have caught that IIsi in the nick of time for it to be saved. Will obviously need new crystal cans, and those QFPs may need replacing looking at some of those legs, but looks doable at a glance...

>> PotatoFi said:

We have a third bay in our garage that my wife uses for upholstery, so we cleared that out as fast as possible and helped him unload the trailer. The photos at the beginning of the thread are a few minutes after that happened - we just piled everything in there as fast as possible. He wrote up a bill of sale, and it was done! Click to expand...

Not only did you repurpose part of your wife's workspace, the fact that she actually helped you organize tells me you've got a true keeper! If I came home with all this, I'd be sleeping in the garage with the computers... HA

Hey everyone, I've received several inquiries about items this evening. As previously requested, please hold off on inquiries about items for now. I'm not ready yet, and I don't expect to be ready for a little while. I'll let you know here when I'm ready to begin offering items - just watch the thread for updates. Thanks!

>> PotatoFi said:

Hey everyone, I've received several inquiries about items this evening. As previously requested, please hold off on inquiries about items for now. I'm not ready yet, and I don't expect to be ready for a little while. I'll let you know here when I'm ready to begin offering items - just watch the thread for updates. Thanks! Click to expand...

Ok Sorry just very excited for your great find

>> Garrett said:

Not only did you repurpose part of your wife's workspace, the fact that she actually helped you organize tells me you've got a true keeper! Click to expand...

She totally is. In fact, she grew up with a Performa 6210CD, and is a lot more familiar with vintage Mac games than I am! Last week, she even made me a custom carry case for my Toshiba Libretto 50CT (complete with little pouches for PCMCIA cards). So yeah... she's awesome. :)

>> Dave'sVintageAppleTech said:

Ok Sorry just very excited for your great find Click to expand...

Totally understandable my friend! Keep a close eye on the thread - I can't wait to start getting some of this stuff into everyone's hands! That's the whole point of... *gestures to massive pile of Macs* :)

Very nice haul. One of the best ones I've seen for sure!!

Hey everyone! Sorry about the radio silence. Between family and work (including a job change), it's been hard to find time to get out to the garage to work on "the pile". I do have a couple of quick updates to share!

First, I found some time last week to get the batteries out of the all-in-one's, including the Power Macintosh 5260/100, Macintosh Perfoma 5215CD, and Molar Mac. I was thrilled to find that they all booted right up! Nice!

While I haven't yet opened up "the pile" to the public, I have a small group of friends who encouraged me to "go for it", and even sent me money via PayPal as it was happening for encouragement. They have picked out a few pieces, and last week, I finally shipped or delivered the first couple of items to them.

First, I shipped out this PowerBook G3 Wallstreet. The inside is nice, but has some damage around the IR port and the outside is pretty scratched up. Rest assured that this is going to one of our favorite vintage Mac hardware developers, for the specific purpose of developing something new. Exciting!





I dug around and found some accessories for it, too!



Next, I was heading to Nashville, TN for a conference (Extreme Connect for those of you in IT), and took the opportunity to hand-deliver a couple of items to a friend there. For my free checked bag, I packed this Personal LaserWriter 320.



At my friend's recommendation, I removed the toner cartridge and wrapped it in plastic wrap SUPER well. Then, I double-boxed the whole thing and packed it very tightly. I used some tape to make a little handle to make it easy to carry to baggage check at the airport.



I'm happy to report that it made it safely!

In my carry-on, I also took this lovely PowerBook 540 with a black-and-white display. I didn't really know what this was until my friend explained it to me, and I gotta admit, I'm a tiny bit jealous! But, back to reality, I have over 65 Macs. I don't need this one!

We tested it over FaceTime several months ago, and found that it booted and worked perfectly. It even has the rare RAM upgrade - I think 32 mb, making for 38 mb in total? I may be off on this one... too many Macs to keep up with!

Sadly, I tested it when taking this photo, and immediately before packing it in my carry-on, and it no longer powers on. If you have any insight into what might be going on, DM me.

I have 4-5 500 series and I feel like the reason they don't power up is because the solder on the power connector is flaky. Sometimes if you put pressure on the power connector, you'll hear the power supply relay click and the machine will power up. Try that. If the connector is really flaky, it will randomly power off as well. It would be a good idea to reflow the power connector on the logic board.

>> nottomhanks said:

I have 4-5 500 series and I feel like the reason they don't power up is because the solder on the power connector is flaky. Sometimes if you put pressure on the power connector, you'll hear the power supply relay click and the machine will power up. Try that. If the connector is really flaky, it will randomly power off as well. It would be a good idea to reflow the power connector on the logic board. Click to expand...

Yeah, I've heard the power connector on these is prone to losing its connection. I'd start there.

>> wottle said:

Yeah, I've heard the power connector on these is prone to losing its connection. I'd start there. Click to expand...

I can confirm this. I picked one up for a tenner a few years back as not working and this was the issue. Pulled it apart and re soldered the jack and all was well- easy, straight forward fix.

Hi, @PotatoFi! Is this event still going on?

Somehow i missed this thread the first time. What a haul!

Besides the complete madness that is this haul (how, seriously...), you got a PowerBook 540??!?
The regular non-c 540 was only sold for a few months and seems to be one of Apple's rarest laptops, and yet you've gone and found one! You've got the haul of the century there.

>> wottle said:

Yeah, I've heard the power connector on these is prone to losing its connection. I'd start there. Click to expand...

>> Certificate of Excellence said:

I can confirm this. I picked one up for a tenner a few years back as not working and this was the issue. Pulled it apart and re soldered the jack and all was well- easy, straight forward fix. Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! I'll have my friend who received the 540 check on this.

>> retr01 said:

Hi, @PotatoFi ! Is this event still going on? Click to expand...

It is! I am still creating an inventory, removing batteries, and testing machines. I hope to make them available soon. As for timelines... I'm just not sure, as I've been super busy with work, going to conferences, family stuff, and this week, COVID!

>> KnobsNSwitches said:

Somehow i missed this thread the first time. What a haul! Click to expand...

Thank you!

>> 3lectr1c said:

Besides the complete madness that is this haul (how, seriously...), you got a PowerBook 540??!? The regular non-c 540 was only sold for a few months and seems to be one of Apple's rarest laptops, and yet you've gone and found one! You've got the haul of the century there. Click to expand...

That's great to know! I had no idea of the rarity/desirability of PowerBook 540 B&W, but I am happy to report that it has gone to a very, very good home.