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Modern day "tulip mania" with 1200XLs on eBay today


ACML

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The number of times I have seen such 'winning' high bid numbers and then found out it was sold to oneself to bend the curve.... or the buyer simply doesn't complete the purchase has been astounding... but I have seen an awful amount of 'sucker' and 'stupid' in my day as well :)

 

Last 1200XL I bought was 3 weeks ago for 6.95 at American Family Services Thrift stores..... It appears to have come from one town away.... and it works... they also had a crap ton of tube tv's

 

I've wondered this myself as I adopted Atari hardware over the past year or so. Just an occasional, nagging hunch from the patterns I was seeing from daily scanning of the listings.

 

A remarkable find, too, with the 1200XLs! :!: They're out there. Waiting.

 

--Tim

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Glad to have two in the basement, still wondering whether upgrading them for compatibility makes sense or if "never tinkered with" condition will be all the rage with collectors should I ever decide to part with one of them ;).

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There are no "cheap" Atari 8-bits available online any longer.

 

Considering The_Doctor found 3 1200XLs for what most would consider "cheap," and even on GreedBay I picked up a 1200XL about 3 weeks back for under $100 shipped, it's my opinion that saying "no" "cheap" Atari 8-bits are available online anymore is still premature.

 

However, given that there is a finite remaining number of systems out there, what's required is attentive diligence. Heck, 1200XLs have been showing up even on the Goodwill online store at prices far below GreedBay's.

 

We're not at the "none" point yet. Are sellers enjoying the current trend of unusually high payments for what was once a much-aligned system? Evidently they are. I'll see where things stand, trend-wise, as we exit the tax refund season and that "disposable" income dries up.

 

--Tim

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I picked up the three 1200xl units each with a different keyboard key or keys missing from a thrift store in Dayton Ohio a few years ago (along with 2 600xl, okimate printer and a box load of SIO cables) each unit was $5

 

So occasionally it comes up in the wild, usually from a less well known thrift store.

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I have been out of the loop for a few months. I was, just the other day, amazed at what standard 800XLs are selling for on eBay!! Considering the amount of hardware I have shelved in the garage, I must be sitting on a goldmine!! My favorite being the 1200XL, I have collected a few of those. At those prices, I may have to think about thinning the herd.

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Best is sold out of pretty much all 1200XL spares:

 

1) There are no more spare 1200XL keyboards at Best. There were a bunch sold at Radio Shack as a hobbyist part and they do show up on eBay from time to time.

 

2) There are no more spare 1200XL motherboards at Best. That means if the board is truly bad, one machine must die to save another. If its just an IC or capacitor, you now have to do the leg work and find and fix the errant part. No more easy R&R of the mobo.

 

3) 34 years after they flopped becoming Atari's "Edsel", the community has finally discovered what an exceptional machine they are. I imagine that the majority of 1200XLs we are seeing, were someone's everyday machine. I can only imagine how many 1200XLs just got thrown away back when they were literally giving them away. I remember that time shares would give you a free 1200XL in the mid 80's if you heard their sales pitch. In 1986 and 87', most people still had no idea what a computer could do. So many of those never got used more than 10 minutes and got tossed in the trash while saying "what the hell am I going to do with this"?

 

4) Only thing to do is stay vigilant, there will be those garage, estate sale and thrift store offerings that do not understand what they have. For those occasions I listen to Abe Lincoln, "Good things may come to those who wait, but only those things left by those who hustle."

 

 

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AtariGeezer,

 

You're in Santee. Where you there in the mid 80's. I also lived in San Diego County back then. Do you remember Warner Engineering downtown by the Sports Arena and Sea World? He sold a lot of surplus Atari equipment. He was doing a lot of 1200XL OS conversions on 1200XLs. he was putting OSB ROMs in place of the 1200XL rev 10.

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I joined the Air Force in 1978 and came back to San Diego in 1994, so I missed out on some local stuff except when I returned for vacation time. That maybe where I bought my Casio CZ-101 or some other Atari Shop. There was also an Atari store that was selling off their Atari Stock in 1994 where I bought a Falcon 030, Mega 4 and a bunch of A8 carts including most of my OSS collection. I think that's where I bought the 1040 STE too...

 

Warner Engineering might be where I bought my first 1200XL on one of the vacations.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Even if I had the money knowing I have always wanted one of those I'd still NOT pay that sort of money and as its been pointed out that there's very little if no retail spares around now its more of a worry to have one (except for Tim K :) ). I could not reconcile the notion of that much money bar if I had won the lottery. Great for sellers but utter lunacy...

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Heh, you should see the Apple scene. Some early serial# consoles going for $3000 and up. Standard-issue accelerator boards and certain sound cards $600 or more. Individual (truly rare disks) in the hundreds or even thousands.. Lisa computers for $50,000 and up. Drive assemblies for those, $40,000.

Edited by Keatah
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Last 1200XL I bought was 3 weeks ago for 6.95 at American Family Services Thrift stores..... It appears to have come from one town away.... and it works... they also had a crap ton of tube tv's

 

Hmm. Competition. Thought I was the only one in these here parts.

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:) are you the one that scoops MY Atari stuff from time to time? :)

 

Very glad someone else is rescuing this stuff.... as I have been of ill health... I have gone long period without checking... and no one bought some stuff.... they put disk drives a printer and an 800XL (all working) in the crusher/dumpster

Edited by _The Doctor__
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If they were from the 1800's I'd accept the prices but from 1980 and achieving prices comparable to antiques made of gold...Shocking..

 

This as we say in the UK is a saying similar to "extracting the urine" or "taking the p*iss" to be exact..

Edited by Mclaneinc
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At these prices the XEL is starting to look cheap by comparison icon_wink.gif

 

- Michael

In a way, knowing that there is a functionally-alike system, using a new, more reliable motherboard, using stock chips, but with easily-done upgrades, RE-empathizes the value and collectability of the original, especially untouched, hardware and to some extent eases the fear of plunging in and purchasing. The 1200XL is socketed. If worst came to worst, the main chips could be salvaged and transferred to something like the 1088XEL, while the original machine remains an iconic, beautiful, aesthetic piece. Many of these folks will be in the same market.

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:) are you the one that scoops MY Atari stuff from time to time? :)

 

Very glad someone else is rescuing this stuff.... as I have been of ill health... I have gone long period without checking... and no one bought some stuff.... they put disk drives a printer and an 800XL (all working) in the crusher/dumpster

 

Doesn't that mean that you are responsible for said crushing... not having rescued ALL the cheap Atari gear? :grin:

 

Typically, places think the bigger the box or higher the model number the more expensive something should be. By that reasoning, 130XE's should be at the dollar store if you can find a 1200XL in the wild for 7 bucks. I get out maybe once a month to a place or two but always come away discouraged: Either there is nothing there, or someone wants $100 for a 800XL that looks like it was left on a deserted island, on the shoreline. My offer of $100 for all the Atari stuff gets turned down, but then its not my problem they don't actually make any money on product sitting on a shelf for 4 years.

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