What is a realistic price for a VIC 1001?

gungahlin · Post by **gungahlin** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:24 am

I'm trying to track down a VIC 1001 (working).

I've seen some crazy figures bounced around (most recently an eBay listing for a unit complete with box for about EUR799 - it apparently didn't sell).

I know pricing has been discussed in several previous threads, but not as far as I am aware in the context of what would constitute a fair and reasonable price.

So... What would be a fair price to offer someone for a VIC 1001, (say) without box in reasonable working condition?

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:12 pm

I'm biased because I have one for sale

I have been meaning to post it on here before hitting eBay.

I was hoping to get $1000 CDN for it, around $941 USD.

That's on the high side because it's 100% working and complete: Box, manual, setup card, power supply, RF modulator.

I'm not likely to sell it without the box though.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:00 am

I think a loose one should land around $300, or is that optimistically low? Despite the number of units, generally they are so rarely seen up for sale that all sorts of collectors will find them on an auction site and raise the bids. Personally I would find even $300 a bit too much for a computer that for most part is identical to a VIC-20.

Besides, there was a loose Japanese C64 on eBay last week. It ended at 334 Euros = $500. While you may see a handful VIC-1001's for sale every year, I think the Japanese C64 is posted once every third year or less. On the other hand true collectors would want an unit complete in box so maybe most of them would pass a loose computer.

Mikam73 · Post by **Mikam73** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:25 am

Even loose would be nice

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:04 am

Yeah, Vic-1001 is more common than the Japanese C64. Still looking for a complete one but it might have to wait for the moment. $300 probably sounds a good starting point for negotiation. I paid 625 Euros for my complete one from Dimitri's auction.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:23 am

I suppose it's almost the same as any regional VIC. I'm very interested in seeing a Swedish Vic someday... the extra character set is just as interesting to me.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 5:03 am

See or obtain? The Swedish modified VIC's aren't quite as rare, I have traded away at least 2-3 units in the past three years.

Going a bit off-topic, I saw an auction the other day for a boxed VIC-20 with SECAM modification for French use. Are those uncommon? I've seen one or two Commodore computers with SECAM modules before and have been told about those rare and horrendous RGB modified (!) C64's in which a bit of extra hardware splits the S-Video signal into a RGB signal that actually degrades picture quality. I don't know if the SECAM VIC would have a similar RGB mod?

Edit: Here is the link, unsold at 29 Euros:
http://cgi.ebay.fr/_W0QQitemZ370302304328QQ

It seems to say "NORME SECAM FRANCE. UHF Antenne et Pèritelevision" so probably just a bog standard PAL VIC-20, certified for use with French TV sets.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 7:49 pm

Do we have any pictures of a Swedish Keyboard or Character Set. I vaguely remember seeing it here. I tried to search for it in the forum, but found nothing. Seems like something that should be in the Wiki.

Centallica · Post by **Centallica** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 12:02 am

Mikam73 wrote:Even loose would be nice

Right about now in the dating scene, I would agree with that statement there Mikam

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:37 am

Jeff: Curiously there are no pics of the keyboard on SWoC. If you can live with a picture of a C64, the Swedish VIC-20 keyboard would look identical except the @ key has graphic symbols on the front side. The Swedish VIC-20 was mostly available as mask-programmed PROM. Recently I have seen C64 mods using PROMs too, although most of the latter were made out of EPROMs and adapters.

The character ROM images can be fetched here:
http://zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/firm ... index.html
http://zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/firm ... index.html

As you notice, Zimmers has the VIC-1001 character set and Kernal ROMs. I can't remember if it will work as intended if you insert those two into a standard NTSC VIC-20, if the Katakana switch mode works even with a US keyboard. Of course to a collector this kind of home made machine would be quite worthless. Fortunately it would be quite a bit of work to produce own keycaps which makes counterfeiting less attractive, but I'm sure it would be fully possible to produce fake VIC-1001's if you really put your effort into it.

Mikam73 · Post by **Mikam73** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:00 am

So how many different Vic20s there is ?

US
UK
Germany (VC20)
Swedish/Finnish
Japan

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:23 am

I'm not aware of any difference between US and UK. It is better to group them after video system. I can't be bothered to look, but it is probably covered in the Wiki somehow.

NTSC 6560
Japan: VIC-1001
US/Canada: VIC-20, VIC-20CR

PAL 6561
Europe: VIC-20, VIC-20CR
Germany: VC-20 (label variation only, also in Austria?)
Sweden/Finland: VIC-20, VIC-20CR (modified keyboard)

According to SWoC and Zimmers FTP there may be a Norwegian mod too, but it might be 3rd party or home made. For a second I thought there may exist an official French edition too, but it only seems to be a custom sticker on the box.

Also I didn't take the VIC-21 into account since it rather was a bundle than a hardware update.

English Invader · Post by **English Invader** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:15 am

carlsson wrote:I'm not aware of any difference between US and UK.

The badge in the left hand corner is different on the original two-prong VIC. I also recall seeing North American VIC 20s with a large VIC 20 logo in the middle.

http://sleepingelephant.com/denial/wiki ... tle=VIC-20

Mikam73 · Post by **Mikam73** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:31 am

Many Vic20 and C64 machines sold at Finland didnt have Swedish/Finnish keyboard. Are those UK models then..

VC20 would be nice, just because of different name

Panic strikes.. I did check both my Vic20/C64 machines at kitchen and A1000 and SX64 at livingroom. Only SX64 has special Swedish/Finnish letters and those are added with stickers. I have to check my other machines..

gungahlin · Post by **gungahlin** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:49 am

Mikam73 wrote:So how many different Vic20s there is ?

US
UK
Germany (VC20)
Swedish/Finnish
Japan

I recently wanted to bid on an original US VIC 20 (Revision E) with the metal Badge as against the "rainbow" plastic badge... unfortunately the seller wasn't interested in shipping overseas.

Perhaps there needs to be a definitive list of the various models and variants in terms of distinguishing features (PET vs newer style keyboards, badges), models, countries of manufacture, motherboards/chip revisions etc?