Sharp Compet 364P-III Calculator

I was rooting around in the loft the other day and came across this item:

I'm hoping someone out there is interested in this thing, having looked on t'internet for information about it, I think it might be quite a rarity. It's a Sharp Compet 364P-III programmable calculator. I'm not sure how old it is, but I think I acquired it in the mid 80's, and it had been unused for a few years prior to that, so I'm guessing mid to late 70's, maybe. When I got it, it worked, I think. Now, it looks like it might work, but just starts counting upwards from 0 whenever you press the keys. Somewhere I have the instruction booklet. I'm assuming it shouldn't do that, but who knows!?

It is a very heavy bit of kit, solidly built, and in pretty good condition. The display is made up of 16 valves with the numbers arranged inside them, quite a piece of work on their own. And they all light up. I'm guessing these are the most important and hardest to replace components, so whatever it is that's wrong with it may be easily fixed by someone in the know.

When I first got my hands on it I did program it a little bit, but at the same time I got my hands on my first ever PC (then known as a 'micro') so this thing didn't get much of a look-in after that. You compose the program, save it on a magnetic card fed into the machine through a slot on the left. Above the slot is a printer, not sure if that works or not, it appears to use a special roll of silvered paper, no sign of ink or a ribbon.

If you do know anything about this old thing please let me know, and if anybody is interested in acquiring it from me, maybe drop me an email. I don't think it would be a good idea either physically or financially to think about posting it though!

For more pictures of the machine, click here to go to Flickr.

Porsches on the Prom, Llandudno

Well, it was a grand day out to Llandudno on Sunday the 22nd of April 2012, to see all the lovely Porsches gathered there.

This annual event was blessed with fine weather, though rain threatened most of the day. The sun shone, giving excellent photographic opportunities, or just a nice environment in which to enjoy the cars on show.

The majority of the car were 911s, however there were many Boxters, Caymans, 924s, 944s and some terrific 928s, even a 968 and an old 356.

I had to leave early, but I believe they were all off for a tootle around the Marine Drive at the end of the day, which must have been a spectacular sight!

Many thanks to whoever organised the event (I think the Porsche Club of Great Britain), not often you get so much enjoyment for absolutely nothing.

To see some of my pictures of the event, click here to go to Flickr.