Death of a Commodore 64
The of the images on this page are quite graphic and disturbing. This is especially true of those who truly love the Commodore 64. The images are known to cause stress, anxiety, rage, and in severe cases, heart attacks, and spontaneous combustion. The images contain graphic scenes of a destroyed C64.
In retrospect, I wish I never had done what I did, especially after all the negative feedback, death threats, and other messages on other web sites from angry C64 fans who wanted to do to me what I did to my old C64. Looking back, I wish I never had done it, because only recently I was looking for a spare SID chip, only to remember trashing one with a baseball bat several years back. That's when my remorse set in... ESPECIALLY because SID chips are now really hard to find, expensive, and are yet still incredibly wonderful sound chips.
Let's keep things in perspective here... I went and completely finished the job of trashing this machine LONG ago when the C64 was worth next to nothing... a time when the C64 was considered a dead machine and not yet a collectable vintage computer. Also around that time, the internet was only really taking off and I had no idea that C64 parts were as valuable and as rare as they are becoming today. Moreover, I didn't have any knowledge of Ebay or usenet so I had no idea who to give it to.
Needless to say... DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME... in fact.... DO NOT TRY THIS AT ALL because Commodore 64's are becoming vintage machines... harder and harder to find... especially the version which I trashed. I was lucky when I chanced upon a similar fully working version of this C64C machine at a junk market, and you can bet that I take good care of it now! In fact, I have a spare model of this C64 lying around (minus a SID chip. Will give to good home)
My story is not the only horror story. I have heard stories of C64 collectors who cleaned their garage out by taking roughly 15 Breadbox C64s to the tip. My crime is next to nothing compared to this other guy's.
If you don't quite feel sick yet, and wish to see the awful truth.... read on...
Well, now for a bit of outright stupidity on my page, because I think it needs some to boost it out of mediocrity.
Since I moved to another country, I was consigned to the fact that I could not take all my Commodore's with me. Yes, one of them had to go.....
But no, the Commodore 64 that I had since 1987, the one my folks gave me for my birthday all that time ago with dreams of me using educational software, that had gone through 2 repair jobs, a paint job (When I thought the keyboard had packed it in about 3 years ago, I thought it could use some art), and had already suffered the loss of a missing space bar (but a working space button type thingy underneath it), that now also suffering a long run-on sentence - was not going to go out quietly.
There was no way this machine was going to be involved in any corruption scandals and be bought out (The machine was too far gone and outdated for that). It was going to commit assisted suicide, so I introduced it to mister happy slugger.
It actually took a while to die. It was a long and painful death. Even the wooden baseball bat took a few dents in the process. Yes, the C64 was definitely made to a quality and a price. The metal shielding protecting much of the circuitry. I had fun smashing the keys off, and generally thumping the machine several times. I think the pictures tell the rest of the ugly story.....
This is what it looked like even before I did anything to it!
A quick swipe across the keyboard....
And thar she blows! Off with the cover...
The keyboard's seen it's last days. The metal shield takes a few blows.
The murderer and the victim - captured on jpeg.
The C64 meets it's final resting place, but the soul of the machine rises up to silicon heaven. A place where all good computers go. Somehow I don't think Windows platform machines will ever get there... Windows machines will all find themselves in silicon HELL!