Proud new owner of a Breadbin C64 for the first time

The original C64, lovingly referred to as breadbin due to its shape, has always held a special place in my heart. Although I grew up with a C128, I really wanted to own a C64 just for the colorway and shape of the chassis alone. There's something so distinct 80s about it. But also for the older 6851 SID chip, which in my eyes always sounded better.

After months of browsing eBay hoping to get a lucky break and  finding a working C64 for a price I could actually agree with, I had to realize that that won't be a viable option to get my hands on some real Commodore hardware again. Most listings were for "untested" unit, speak broken ones. And the recent retro explosion sure didn't help with the prices either.

Additionally, shipping cost to Japan would normally make even the cheap finds an unfeasible option and most listings where from the states, meaning for NTSC machines. To avoid compatibility issues I really wanted to find a PAL machine like I was used to from my childhood, though.

So, new plan then. Over to Ricardo.ch, the Swiss auction website where people generally go pick up their winnings in person. This would give me some peace of mind, plus I'd avoid the shipping cost... if I can convince my dad back home to actually go pick up the machine I'd bet on and hopefully win.

Sure enough I came across a great listing including a breadbin C64, tested working even, a 1541-II floppy drive, a Quickshot II Turbo and a Quickjoy III joystick, a Final Cartridge III, manuals and a box full of floppies for 180 bucks swiss... not cheap, but in my eyes a great deal no less.

So I've put my bid in, kept my fingers crossed for like 3 days until the auction ran out that nobody would overbid me and sure enough I was the only guy interested in it. And now I'm the proud new owner of a working breadbin Commodore 64 for the first time in my life!