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Commodore KIM-1 Value?

G

GaryJM

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Nov 5, 2014
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I have two original Commodore KIM-1's and I would like to know what they are worth?

Thanks,
Gary
 
It depends a lot on what revision and if it says Commodore on it or only MOS. Original MOS versions are more desirable.
Condition is the biggest factor of course, they'll be worth more if they are all original parts, clean and working.
That said, they would probably start around $1000 in unknown condition, based on what I've seen on EBay lately.

MOS sold them originally, then Commodore purchased MOS and put their name on them.
Serial numbers stamped on the back that start with an M would be an MOS number.
PA on the front is a Commodore board made in Pennsylvania
SC on the front is a Commodore board made in Santa Clara
 
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They are both Commodore MOS KIM-1's Rev G. One just recently sold on Ebay for $1324. with a power supply. I'm preparing to test them soon and then may sell them on Ebay or may keep one and sell one. My original KIM-1 (which I no longer have) I purchased direct from MOS Technology and I remember picking it up in 1976 with great excitement since it was my first real computer. I built a power supply from the provided schematic and directions. After powering the unit up it didn't work! So, I had to drive it back to MOS Tech and they fixed it while I waited. What service!!!
 
Heck, on top of shipping I'd even throw in my early 90's Motorola 68HC11 dev board in trade. It'll run rings around a KIM-1, you should definitely take that deal.
 
Chuck(G) said:
$1K? That's just plain silly, isn't it? Is $1K the asking price or the sale price?
Click to expand...
TBH, I think a lot of asking prices are way too high.
A quick EBay search finds the following recent sales ...
Sold for $1500, Commodore version in good condition, with 3rd party case.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274832244327
Sold for ~$1325, Original MOS Rev A, with power supply
https://www.ebay.com/itm/194231784131
Sold for $300, MOS Rev A, not working, with bodge wires
https://www.ebay.com/itm/255060502587
Sold for ~$626, Commodore version, untested
https://www.ebay.com/itm/174824201275
 
How much does a SYM-1 go for, then? $5K? It was way more capable (and less common) than the KIM-1. How about the AIM-65?

Or are we talking "ghosts" here--you know, the ghost of Chuck Peddle or something like that?
 
Chuck(G) said:
Or are we talking "ghosts" here--you know, the ghost of Chuck Peddle or something like that?
Click to expand...

In the case of Commodore I'm not even sure it's about a particular human name (L@@K Sh33P B0g5!), it might just be "OMG, First Commodore Evar!". They do have a long way to go to catch up with the Apple I, of course.
 
My vague impression was it was probably a desk or file cabinet, but it's not a thing I've delved into much.

Edit: nope, looks like it was a typewriter.
 
Before powering them up to test, you do know that there is a pin on the second connector that must be grounded to enable the onboard address decoder?
Dwight
 
Timo: I saw that Ebay ad after I posted.

Dwight: I'm using a Corsham KIM-1 I/O board connected to the Application connector which provides connections for power.
 
Eudimorphodon said:
My vague impression was it was probably a desk or file cabinet, but it's not a thing I've delved into much.

Edit: nope, looks like it was a typewriter.
Click to expand...

So one of those Czech-made portable typewriters with a Commodore label today would sell for millions of quatloos?

Or is it like the time clocks and meat grinders that IBM sold early on--not worth much today?
 
Looks like $40 or less will get you a practically mint Commodore typewriter (or calculator for that matter). So I guess if you’re just looking for something to sit on a pedestal in your ad-hoc Commodore history shrine you can save some pretty big bucks off a KIM-1.
 
Just a sidenote; the white MCS 6502 on the 300$ board is worth way more than 300$ in itself...
 
LSM: when did MOS Tech/Commodore switch from the white MCS 6502 to the black? I have begun testing my two, so far one is working, the other not. Both have black MOS 6502's. The working one is dated 0578, the non-working board CPU is dated 0680. I'm having some second thoughts about selling these now. I have so many nostalgic memories from my experiences with the one I purchased back in 1976 :). Owning this computer coincided with my first job in the computer field as a junior programmer writing assembly language.
 
Recently I nearly bought a KIM-1, but just before this I learnt about the AIM-65. There is a thing I have come to call the fish bowl effect (see below).

I noticed that the AIM-65 had a great looking keyboard and a super cool onboard mini printer and a great looking LED alpha-numeric display, yet it was about the same price or similar to the KIM-1, and the AIM-65 had a number of other features, yet similar to the KIM-1 in many other ways. Also, every IC in the AIM-65 was readily available and the stories I had read about IC's in the KIM-1 worried me, since I have a "spare parts disease" and insist on having many spare parts.

But even after I got the AIM-65, I started wanting more, so I added a video card to it and then a disk drive and almost got it up to the level of a SOL-20.

This is the fish bowl effect; you buy a small Goldfish bowl with a couple of fish in it, quickly you find that you like fish and go to a small aquarium and get a few more, then a bigger aquarium with overhead lights pumps and filters, until in the end you have a 6 foot long aquarium with a massive filtration systems, hundreds of watts of lighting and hoses and canisters everywhere and wonder why you bought that goldfish bowl in the first place.

I guess the value of anything dollar wise it what the market will pay, but sometimes some things have another kind of value to an individual that transcends what the market thinks its worth. If you have anything like that, better not to sell it anyway.
 
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