Found a working Commodore 64 at a garage sale for $5 but it had a twist

I grabbed this Commodore 64 at a garage sale in Akron for five bucks, thought it was just a display piece. Plugged it in and it booted right up, but the keyboard had a weird sticky feel. Turns out some kid spilled soda in it back in 1988 and someone just stored it away. I cleaned the contacts with isopropyl and now it types fine - anyone else find old gear that just needed a good cleaning?

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1 Comment

mason2831mo ago

Wait, hold up - someone actually left a sticky soda mess in there since 1988? That's wild lol. I can't believe the contacts weren't totally corroded after all those years. You got lucky as hell, most old spills turn into crusty green death on circuit boards. I've seen C64s that look clean on the outside but have battery acid damage that's way worse. At least whoever owned it didn't try to "fix" it with some janky soldering job first. Five bucks for a working C64 that just needed a wipe down is a steal, man.