I like the stuff I grew up with in the 80’s.
But I didn’t keep any of it.
At the time, it didn’t really hold a real emotional attachment to me, and I was a kid.
But now I wish I had kept a lot of the things I gave away as I got older.
Those things would be worth a small fortune now.
Live and learn.
Quite often see things for sale I’d like again (just for the memories) at astronomical pricing, and I just sigh and let it go.
I never come across great deals on retro things.
Or do I…
This past weekend I attended a car boot sale, and whilst wandering around, saw a box that bought back memories… initial thoughts as I walked towards it to get a closer look were, 1) Its faulty 2) Going to be priced out of my meager funds.
Grandstand Firefox F-7.
I received this game as a kid one Xmas, and fell in love with it. My parents however, who purchased it for me, had other feelings around it after I turned it on.
It was the loudest and noisiest game on the market, and my parents were forever yelling at me to turn off the sound when I played it. I loved it.
Mine eventually stopped working after a few years of love/abuse, and I had moved onto other things, so it soon got disposed of.
So here I am at the car boot sale looking at this box – I opened it and inside was the game. Looked it over. Few marks on it here and there (for 43, its doing well), missing battery cover, no sign of rust/leakage in the battery bay, but overall a complete unit. Box pretty beat up, no instructions or power adaptor (dont think they came with one).
I asked the seller if it worked, and he responded that he had no clue, it was in an abandoned storage unit he had purchased along with a bunch of other retro toys (Including an original Simon game on its own).
I asked the vital question.
The response surprised me – $40.00NZD. I had seen these going for $100NZD.
The seller also said that if I took it, he’d give me a refund if I found it was faulty.
Was so tempted to just throw my wallet at him and run off with the box in hand – but I didn’t
Said I’d have a think and wandered off…… I was back in 15mins.
Now, my wife has ALWAYS haggled over pricing on everything, and always encouraged me to do the same, so thought why not, let give it a go.
I offered $30NZD. The seller looked at me and got a look on his face, and said “This thing means something to you doesn’t it ?”
I grinned and said “Yup, memories of driving my folks up the wall because of how noisy it was”
“Done – $30”
He gave me his details in case it was faulty, but I said regardless, I’d hold on to it.
Walked back to the car with it, to be met by my youngest who was like “WTF is that”.
Got home, found my box of C sized batteries, threw some into the game….. sat there looking at it for a moment, thinking “what if this thing is broken, would I want my money back or just have it as a display piece that’s only going to be recognized by a few people.
I flicked the power switch.
It worked. I tested it all and everything appears to be operational. But dirty.
So I’ll be cleaning it up, getting a battery cover 3D printed (sourced the files already), and enjoy the memories the god damn awful sounds it makes, brings back.
