While I love the original purple tones and the H960 cabinets, perhaps because they fit with most of the other DEC gear I've collected, I think that the commercial blue tones and Vax style cabinets are sexy as hell too. If I had loads of space, money and time, I would love to have all of the varieties. Unfortunately, I only have a minimal of money and time and my space is pretty full. I don't think that I am alone in these conditions or more people would have collected all styles of these machines. Finding a complete machine (sans disks) like the one recently on eBay is pretty rare any more and I would not be surprised if someone would pay the asking price. I recall passing on opportunities to add a Vax 11/780 to my collection and now I wish I had, but also don't know where I would have put it or how I would have moved it. That being said, I also worry that the number of people who even care any more are dwindling and so when it comes time for someone to decide what to do with my collection, it might not easily find a home.
--tom
