Heavy Sixer Serial Number Thread

[lowscore]

My Big Boned Stella is S.N. T0013496. I got it on ebay a month and a half ago. Does the T mean Taiwan? The sticker says Sunnyvale. I have looked inside but I don't remember what the taped on tag said. I think it said '78. I will check again if nessesary.

[Wester]

According to the S/N it would appear that it is a Taiwan model, any chance on getting a pic of the unit and the sticker?

 

By the way. Welcome to the forum! Hows the hunting down lower in the Mit?

Edited December 22, 2006 by Wester

[lowscore]

Thanks for the kind greeting, Wester!

 

I will post a picture of it tomorow. I do not think the sticker will be very legible though, on the moniter. I believe the person who sold it to me used some kind of furniture polish on it to make it look pretty, but alas, it soaked into the sticker, darkening it. At least it did not fall off.

 

I do most of my hunting at thrift shops, but there are still a couple of clankity used game stores that forgot about their Stella carts on a high dusty shelf. I have also had a mixed bag of luck with ebay, but also some real shysters or just plain ignorant people mis-representing the things they hawk.

 

Type at you later.

[PressureCooker2600]

who on here has the earliest known serial number.........one of the first off the line.......

[Christophero Sly]

who on here has the earliest known serial number.........one of the first off the line.......

I'm not sure we understand the S/N format well enough to make the determination.

[fire!fire!]

I just got SN 32570F, Sunnyvale, CA Heavy Sixer.

It came with one joystick with an Atari logo on the end of it and also paddles with the Atari logo instead of the word paddles. Also it had a grey power plug that said it was made in Los Gatos, CA.

Edited December 23, 2006 by fire!fire!

[Wester]

You got a controller with a hex disk?!? Awesome find! Those are hard to come by.

 

Your S/N is on the list.

[lowscore]

Here is a picture of mine:

 

 

Unfortunately the sticker is illegible on camera. I wish the guy I bought it from would have taken it easy on the furniture polish. Is that a standard practice for sellers, or is it frowned upon?

 

 

(These are the pictures he used for his auction.)

[Wester]

Thanks for posting the pics lowscore, turns out that it is already on the list! badbrad was the owner on the original posting, I've updated it so you are listed as the new owner. I suppose it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

[lowscore]

Thats 'kay, Wester, I love her just the same, despite the fact that she does get around. Is this a new thing on the list, or is it common for listed serials to turn up after ebay purchases? (I did not read every post, I admit, cuz theres like 16 million pages up to my recent intro.)

[Charlesaway]

 

 

Unfortunately the sticker is illegible on camera. I wish the guy I bought it from would have taken it easy on the furniture polish. Is that a standard practice for sellers, or is it frowned upon?

 

 

I've used a vinyl polish/cleaner on the Atari before, as well as on other systems like the NES, Genesis, etc. It's fairly easy to totally avoid the label, unless you're being careless or rushing. It looks like the guy was in a hurry to make the console look nice and clean.

[A.J. Franzman]

Ugh! Looks like an Armor-All job to me. Do NOT do this to your gear, and if you spot it in an eBay listing, stay away! If you search these boards for "Armor All", you'll find a lot of joke posts about it -- unfortunately, many of them directed at noobs who will take them seriously since they don't know any better.

[lowscore]

I am not trying to demonize the fella that sold me the thing. I just want to educate people about a posibly destructive practice as far as archival integrity goes.

 

I give the benefit of the doubt to most of these ebay sellers, but the ones that know better need a good shaking (to quote Chris Rock.) I will not take crap from any ebay seller and usually get what I pay for.

 

I may be in their shoes soon, as I have a whole lot of duplicate stuff to sell, so I prefer not to condemn anyone. I am very pleased with the product that badbrad sold me otherwise.

[Wester]

Thats 'kay, Wester, I love her just the same, despite the fact that she does get around. Is this a new thing on the list, or is it common for listed serials to turn up after ebay purchases? (I did not read every post, I admit, cuz theres like 16 million pages up to my recent intro.)

 

 

I think that this is the first time a S/N has been posted by an owner then sold and reposted by the new owner. I listed it so it reflected the change of hands. I think that it's interesting to know how many owners these units have seen, I'm sure this won't be the last one. I'll keep the listings posted with all known old owners and the current owners when they are posted.

[Uzumaki]

Given enough time, you'd have a SN that has 3 different owners.

 

Ugh! Looks like an Armor-All job to me.

 

Don't you mean Atari-All?

[bradhig]

Our first atari 2600 was a Sears heavy sixer but we got rid of it. Are heavy sixers better then later units?

[lowscore]

This is just my opinion, but I find my heavy sixer and oldest light sixer accept the carts more solidly. My other one (a slightly newer light sixer) and especially my Vader 4 switch allow the carts to wobble from regular bumpings, which causes game interruption and maddening picture distortion. I personally believe it is due to the heavier construction of the guts on the heavy.

 

I also am just completely in love with her lines. Its like when all the cool 70's muscle cars were turned into compacts in the 80's, with the requisite loss of quality manufacturing. They lost there status and character, but kept the name.

Edited December 27, 2006 by lowscore

[staberinde]

Here is mine :-)

[Wester]

Thanks for posting, it's on the list.

[revsdr]

just picked up 40 games ,big heavy 6 switch console

serial# 97579f

[Wester]

It's on the list.

 

Nice score, reminds me of the set that got me into collecting I got a light sixer with around 50 games, then I found this site.......the rest is history.

[revsdr]

lol...the heavy was my todays find got it with the following:

i got 40 games some are rare 4's,big heavy 6 switch,a 7800 with controlers,remote control joy sticks for 2600,2 regular joy sticks,5 coleco games

"smurf rescue,cabbage p.k. adventures,donkey kong,LOGEIC LEVELS,

and FRACTION FEVER...

ALL FOR 15 BUXS....YAAAAAAAAAA!

[PressureCooker2600]

anyone know any specific spots or factories that produced the VCS? I know Atari, themselves, produced most of them from their factories in Sunnyvale most likely.....but later in life what companies or factories did they contract out to? Any places around the U.S. or was it mostly in countries like Taiwan?

[A.J. Franzman]

anyone know any specific spots or factories that produced the VCS? I know Atari, themselves, produced most of them from their factories in Sunnyvale most likely.....but later in life what companies or factories did they contract out to? Any places around the U.S. or was it mostly in countries like Taiwan?

Although production started in Sunnyvale, I think most were made elsewhere once the other factories opened. I believe Taiwan probably made the most, and there was some production in another Asian country (Singapore?)

 

Edit: I believe it was Hong Kong (Atari-Wong), not Singapore. There were at least two factories in Taiwan (Dimerco and TRW).

Edited March 29, 2007 by A.J. Franzman

[djmips]

SN 81607536

 

It's a Dimerco Taiwan unit.

 

Edit: to add details -> Board is REVB C010433 - Shred of paper taped inside is stamped Aug 13 1981. Date of manufacture? Or repair. I do not know.

Edited December 30, 2006 by djmips