Today I became the proud owner of Computer Space #9392. This machine belonged to a man named Tim and his wife in Simi Valley, CA since at least 1991. And it seems the machine was in the area for some time before that. After I bought it today, Tim's wife told me the story of how she found it.
Back in the late 80s and into the early 90s she would make the rounds to various garage sales around the valley on the weekends. She would start the morning with $40 and keep hitting more sales until she was out of money. One day she came to a house which she described as having a dirt yard. As soon as she pulled up, she could see the red Computer Space and she immediately thought it was beautiful and she wanted it.
She had exactly $5 left of her original $40, so she offered the owner $5 and he accepted. When she got the game home she opened it up and found $5.25 in the coin box. So she literaly got paid a quarter to take the game. At the time, the game was complete and working.
Years later Tim opened the back door and a wire popped off the TV. The game stopped working and Tim wasn't sure how to fix it. He removed the TV and took it to a local repair shop. A couple days later he went by the shop to see if they'd made any progress. But the entire shop was empty and there was no sign of where the owner had gone. Tim never saw him or the TV again.
A few years ago, Tim sold the board and control panel to a collector in Canada. He couldn't remember who, but he got $1500 for the parts. And today he sold the fiberglass game to me. He and his wife were glad it was going to a collector who wanted to restore it:
As you can see, the paint is a bit rough in patches.
It looks to me as if this was sitting out in the sun for a long time at some point. The red is mostly gone on the top of the game:
More below.
Back in the late 80s and into the early 90s she would make the rounds to various garage sales around the valley on the weekends. She would start the morning with $40 and keep hitting more sales until she was out of money. One day she came to a house which she described as having a dirt yard. As soon as she pulled up, she could see the red Computer Space and she immediately thought it was beautiful and she wanted it.
She had exactly $5 left of her original $40, so she offered the owner $5 and he accepted. When she got the game home she opened it up and found $5.25 in the coin box. So she literaly got paid a quarter to take the game. At the time, the game was complete and working.
Years later Tim opened the back door and a wire popped off the TV. The game stopped working and Tim wasn't sure how to fix it. He removed the TV and took it to a local repair shop. A couple days later he went by the shop to see if they'd made any progress. But the entire shop was empty and there was no sign of where the owner had gone. Tim never saw him or the TV again.
A few years ago, Tim sold the board and control panel to a collector in Canada. He couldn't remember who, but he got $1500 for the parts. And today he sold the fiberglass game to me. He and his wife were glad it was going to a collector who wanted to restore it:
As you can see, the paint is a bit rough in patches.
It looks to me as if this was sitting out in the sun for a long time at some point. The red is mostly gone on the top of the game:
More below.
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