[Coco] [Color Computer] eBay: Sinclair ZX81 - Starting bid: US$35, 000.00

[KnudsenMJ at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/23/05 1:41:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time,  
tonym at compusource.net writes:

>Kit  would make no diff - there's a guy on eBay selling old-stock, 
never-touched  kits >for like $99. And I thought THAT was just a tad too much, for a  
sincy



Never-touched, un-assembled kits are very valuable in the  
radio-TV-electronics area.  An unbuilt Heathkit anything, even a piece of  test gear like a 
signal generator, is worth many times its retail price if it's  still in the 
original packaging.
 
The collectors' reasoning:  Old electronic equipment is a dime a  dozen, but 
a *kit* really is an artifact of that era, and an unbuilt kit with  its 
assembly manual and diagrams really shows what the kit-building experience  was like.
 
To open up and build one of those kits today would be like opening a  
drinking a prized vintage bottle of wine.  A good experience for a while,  but then 
gone forever.
 
If you want to buy a Sinclair kit for $99 and build it to get a working  
machine, buy a second one to stash away for a collector price down the  road.
--Mike K.