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Buy the WarGames IMSAI 8080 and Possibly Impress Ally Sheedy

Posted by samzenpus on from the do-you-want-to-play-a-game? dept.

ilikenwf writes "Todd Fischer, the man behind this iconic prop from WarGames, the movie that spawned countless hackers, has come forward recently to announce its sale in the near future. Interestingly enough, the IMSAI 8080 still works, although the disk drive was damaged in shipping after the movie's conclusion, and was trashed."

24 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Anything to PROVE it's the one? by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Honestly if it does not have the full paperwork and possibly all the actors signing the lid back then, it could be ANY Altair8080

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    1. Re:Anything to PROVE it's the one? by Nyder · · Score: 2

      Honestly if it does not have the full paperwork and possibly all the actors signing the lid back then, it could be ANY Altair8080

      I don't think that will stop anyone. I'm not familiar with movie prop collecting, but it seems it would be hard to probably prove most the stuff was actually a prop that was used.

      Plus it's not like this guy just suddenly appeared and is claiming it's the computer. This guy was there from the beginning. Try reading this link:
      http://www.imsai.net/movies/wargames.htm

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    2. Re:Anything to PROVE it's the one? by anasciiman · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's an IMSAI not an Altair. Different critters entirely.

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    3. Re:Anything to PROVE it's the one? by _merlin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Insightful? The guy doesn't even know the difference between an Altair and an IMSAI!

    4. Re:Anything to PROVE it's the one? by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      I don't think that will stop anyone. I'm not familiar with movie prop collecting, but it seems it would be hard to probably prove most the stuff was actually a prop that was used.

      Plus it's not like this guy just suddenly appeared and is claiming it's the computer. This guy was there from the beginning. Try reading this link:
      http://www.imsai.net/movies/wargames.htm

      Depends on the prop. Special props made just for the show have distinguishing features that often show it's made for TV (usually poor quality, looks like crap up close, etc).

      But without official paperwork showing it was used in the movie, or some way to tie it to the movie (if the prop has distinguishing marks that positively identify that one unit to the movie), it is effectively worthless.

      At best, an undocumented prop should be sold as a "prop replica" if there's nothing to trace it directly back. Of course, unscrupulous sellers will sell it as a official prop.

      The way to document it would be to have its serial number recorded by a third party which can be cross-correlated with this unit. Or an official purchase invoice that shows the buyer as the studio and the serial number. Alternatively, since he's kept it all this time, he could include shots and other stuff and a notarized letter saying it's from the movie and what his credentials are in relation to the movie.

      All this only really matters if you want to resell it or send it to a museum and want to get more than what retail would get. It's all about provenance.

    5. Re:Anything to PROVE it's the one? by TWiTfan · · Score: 2

      but it seems it would be hard to probably prove most the stuff was actually a prop that was used

      Not really. The prop people usually get credits in the movie. And if the guy selling it has some sort of paper trail to the prop people or prop company credited in the movie (or better yet, he worked for them), it's pretty straightforward to demonstrate a highly likely case for authenticity. And reading the article, it looks like the person selling it had well-established ties to Mike Fink, the FX supervisor for the film.

      The fact that this is being auctioned off by Christie's indicates that they have made a pretty solid connection too. You can bet that Christie's researches their items pretty carefully before putting their name behind it.

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  2. Déjà Vu by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    The only way to win the auction is to not place any bid.

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  3. Disk drives by Captain_Cozmic · · Score: 2

    Wonder if it's an 8" floppy drive. I still have a few of those sitting around that work. And we used to think that a SSSD disk with 241K was something. Or that DSDD with almost 1 Meg was a wonder to behold. Unless it was one of the new Seagate 5 MB hard drives. Think they used to sell for around $1200 at the time.

    1. Re:Disk drives by d'baba · · Score: 4, Informative

      The drives are 8" Calcomp pizza ovens. These were the original drives for the IMSAI 8080. We sold them along with the 8080 kits.

      Hi, Todd! Good luck on the auction.

    2. Re:Disk drives by Megane · · Score: 2

      I used to work on the computer of a place back in the day. They had a TRS-80 Model II which ran CP/M. It had a 5 megabyte hard drive. The hard drive was split into 4 partitions.

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    3. Re:Disk drives by cold+fjord · · Score: 2

      On the IMSAI web site they have a "garage sale" listing at the bottom of the page. They list both 8" and 5 1/4" drives. You might even be able to get 3.5" drives working with it. I seem to recall reading about some CP/M system mods for other systems that would allow that.

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      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    4. Re:Disk drives by d'baba · · Score: 5, Informative

      The later IMSAI models ran the Calcomp and PerSci 8" drives along with the 5.25 and 3.5 sizes. Also, around the time the VDP-80 with 8085 boards replacing the 8080's saw a Rob Barnaby, et. al. rewrite of CP/M which we called and shipped as IMDOS.

  4. Re:Fags by cold+fjord · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You do realize that you are hurling invective about gays in a story centered around a young man trying to impress a pretty young lady, and which contained some innocent but sexually charged moments between them? That isn't really a gay theme. When you went to post you could have made a useful comment. Instead you blew past useful, past useless, to stupid and ironic. That isn't a good practice in life.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  5. Re:But it's not the WOPR! by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But it's not the WOPR! Now THAT would be the bit of movie gear to have! :-)

    It would be, but if I recall correctly it was only a prop wired for lights. Still, it would fun to have that in a data center, especially if its one that people tour.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  6. Re:How much for Ally Sheedy? by Gothmolly · · Score: 2

    1980s Ally Sheedy, or "now" Ally Sheedy?

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Ally_Sheedy.jpg/220px-Ally_Sheedy.jpg

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  7. Re:How much for Ally Sheedy? by OhSoLaMeow · · Score: 2

    1980s Ally Sheedy, or "now" Ally Sheedy?

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Ally_Sheedy.jpg/220px-Ally_Sheedy.jpg

    Stephanie ... change color!

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  8. I'd rather have... by Horshu · · Score: 2

    Wyatt's computer from "Weird Science".

  9. Re:But it's not the WOPR! by JWSmythe · · Score: 2

    I'd *LOVE* to move it in to my datacenter. It might be a hard sell for the boss though..

        "So I have this really cool piece of IT history, we just need to move that row a few feet over. It shouldn't involve too much downtime." :)

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    Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  10. Re:Ebay... by Richy_T · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ug. Not even second with that. Mod me to obscurity, please...

  11. Somebody is out of touch with reality. by ChrisKnight · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the linked article: "It is currently appraised at over $25,000, potentially making it the most expensive "personal computer" ever!"

    There's an Apple I up for auction that is expected to haul in half a million.

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    1. Re:Somebody is out of touch with reality. by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Funny

      There's an Apple I up for auction that is expected to haul in half a million.

      That's nothing. You should see what they want for the latest Mac Pro.

      --
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  12. To heck with the WOPR! by tlambert · · Score: 3, Funny

    To heck with the WOPR!

    I want that acoustic coupled modem that was capable of autodialing! That's technology indistinguishable from magic, baby!

  13. Re:But it's not the WOPR! by TWiTfan · · Score: 2

    Apparently, it was scrapped. Keep in mind, that was back in the days when movie props weren't considered particularly valuable assets. Today, they would probably do some sort of auction or at least warehouse it.

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    The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
  14. Re:Ally Sheedy by technothrasher · · Score: 2

    > There is nothing more unstable than a narcissistic actress going through fame withdrawls and hearing the word "No" for the first time in years.

    You obviously know nothing about the woman. I happen to be good friends with her sister, and this description is not even close. She's far from narcissistic, and she basically quit the whole industry years ago because she didn't want the fame and simply wished to quietly live in peace.