I've gotta say one of my favorite things to look at on this site are a good picture and story of a boombox found in the wild. I remember back in the day when every weekend guys would post up what they found at their local thrift store or garage sale. What has happened? Have ghettos become harder to find in the wild or are people just not posting them anymore??

hey Masterblaster i was one of those guys, 5 years ago when i started collecting i useto find them everywhere some times 2 or 3 a day but now it takes me 6 months or more to find something decent out there.

For sure it has gotten harder. I did find a nice Montgomery Ward box on Craigslist in Pittsburgh for 10.00. The woman had it listed under Old Montgomery Ward Stereo. When I clicked on the pics she had it set up under her tv as a surround system. This is my third one now and the boombox cost almost 400.00 brand new. It is model no. 3966. Well I did get one for free the other day. My girlfriends neighbor threw away a Sanyo with cd player out to the curb. I was leaving at midnite and figured, eh what the heck, take it home and try to see if it works. And work id did, 100 percent. Even left the duracell batteries were in it. Other than that, it has been DRY. Really dry.

For me, the search is over. I used to spend a portion of every week driving to thrift stores (there are seven in our area, more or less), and then going to flea markets on weekends, but gradually the time and fuel and mental energy I expended driving around so outweighed any results I achieved, that late last year, without actually making a conscious decision about it, I just sort of gave it up. It's the same reason I gave up on garage sales many years ago: too much driving and stopping and starting for too few (if any) finds.

It's like Charlie Brown and the football. I got sucked in by Lucy's promises of success for so long, only to come up with nothing in the end, that I finally learned my lesson and quit. These days, I suppose if I saw a Conion laying in the street, I'd stop and pick it up. But only if I could grab it without getting out of my car.

Every1 knows and want to collect now

baby boomer --
most of us already have that special tool for scooping them conions off the street --
we never have to get out of our cars !!

the bug is still there,i won't give up,thrifting even when i come up empty,part of the fun is the unexpected,the past couple days 2 nice finds for $15 total a panny rx f-9 and panny rx 5025
for me the hunt continues!

well with the price of fuel and such i jump on my bike and go cruising and if I rarely see something I'll get it ... Meanwhile I'll Just stick to letting other's do the searching for me on ebay

I still stop by a few thrift stores but I've stopped going to the flea markets. In my area the flea markets now rarely produce anything good so the time and cost to go just isn't worth it any more. I still look but not with the intensity of a year or two ago.

I've even stopped looking on ebay - I just enojy the boxes I already have. I realized that I probably won't find anything better than what I already have, so why even bother. I think I would only be interested in the NIB versions of boxes I already have. I guess you could say - it's awesome to be me

they seem to be getting harder and harder to find in the wild that is for sure. I keep looking!!

I never fully gave myself over to garage sales or second hand stores, because the end result wasnt worth it.

Other than some rare cassettes a time or two still in the orignal wrap.

I search on ebay nearly every day, but now usually only buy from trusted sources, like friends / members here with solid reps...

quote:

Originally posted by masterblaster:
I've gotta say one of my favorite things to look at on this site are a good picture and story of a boombox found in the wild. I remember back in the day when every weekend guys would post up what they found at their local thrift store or garage sale.

I always look forward to seeing what people have found and checking out the pictures, or seeing pictures of what people already have in thier collection. Its exciting to see plus it holds out hope for all of us that they can still be found.
Please check out my 'Treasure Hunt box' post.

Its about the same here in Berlin as it ever was. I still see loads of boxes all over the place, at the flea markets, in thrift stores etc.

I picked on up a couple of weeks ago, but just dont have the space right now. Its hard to keep buying when I'm trying to actually make some space.

Here are only 2 recycle stores, and they rarely
have something nice, and with the gasoline prices
these days and the enviroment!, I better get them
via the Dutch marketplace or ebay or so

Plus here in Holland not many nice things are to be
found as maybe those things were too expensive
in those days for peoples to purchase.

So I will try my luck on ebay.de

I've found the most this year that I ever have found.It must be because I live near two goodwill superstores.Even so,I have to check them at least once a day (if I can...sometimes more).Mostly its '90s boxes (Panas and JVCs) though I've found a few of the classic really loud '80s ones.Fuel prices keep my searches VERY local.I would imagine not too many people travel around a lot to find anything because of this.There are those that don't collect who will only look for items they can turn for money.I've met a number of people who do this locally to supplement their incomes.

Usually only one or two boomboxes a day will pass through these superstores anyway.Numerous times I have found really nice boxes that didn't have cords with them.This will discourage people from buying as they are unable to test a unit.An inconvenience like that will buy me at least a few hours of time I'm sure.I always keep 3 different cord styles and my compact camera in the cargo pocket of my pants to cover all the bases.In a way the camera allows me to take things with me even if I don't buy (mostly other types of equipment).Taking pictures does make my hunt interesting without having to buy everything I see.You really do have to keep things interesting on the dry days to not get discouraged.Actually if you compare the number of days I've looked for them its a very poor ratio for the actual finds.

In France..... Now in Ireland.... In both of these counties, well....... Boomboxes were NOT a big thing at the time (nor is it now), so I have never been able to post any picture of finds nor have I ever done it.... cos no finds

So, if it is getting harder to find Bboxes in counties like the US, Canada, Germany, or The U.K., Than in France in Ireland it will be even worse!!!!!!!!



OH....... And if there are any Bboxes to be found on Ebay France they are from Ebay Germany, and/or Ebay China and North America...

For Ebay Ireland they are from Ebay U.K., and/or Noth America and China...

Boomboxes are extremely thin on the ground where I am. Two years ago when I starting collecting, I was finding and buying on average one nice box a week. It was great. Now, it's VERY different. I hardly ever find anything of interest now. If I do, it's only something smaller and lower quality than I've already got, so I pass on it. I still check out the charity shops though, but most of them no longer sell electrical stuff. We're collecting at the wrong time, too late. The '90s would have been the best time to find boxes, now most of them have been thrown away or already sold. I'm happy with the stash of boomboxes I've managed to find. A couple of grails would complete my collection.

I guess like most people here I too have started to find fewer and fewer boxes in the wild. My standards are higher now as I have a bunch of the ones that I want. I guess like AZA said it gives me some hope that there still are nice boomers to be had out in the wild.

yeah ! found in the wild tales are great . . always makes me happy to see another member strike it good whilst out hunting . . in a way it is luck , but most of us search high and low , so for me it's luck with hard work too !!!

quote:

Originally posted by Retro Addict:
Boomboxes are extremely thin on the ground where I am. Two years ago when I starting collecting, I was finding and buying on average one nice box a week. It was great. Now, it's VERY different.

Same here and within the same timescale. I started in 2005 and always found them regularly so I reckon it's the ebay craze, the carboot sellers are either putting them on there or keeping them as an investment after finding out their value.
I've just started going to bootsales again after a year off and will now continue after scoring these two babies on Sunday!

Nice scores Fuzzy, I have both. The GF-9090 is a very nice sounding box. Do you need any parts for your 525? Mine is a beater box, working (just!), and quite heavily scarred. The whole box is yours for postage. That's it!

quote:

Originally posted by Retro Addict:
Nice scores Fuzzy, I have both. The GF-9090 is a very nice sounding box. Do you need any parts for your 525? Mine is a beater box, working (just!), and quite heavily scarred. The whole box is yours for postage. That's it!

Thanks for the kind offer R.A.!
My 525 works fine and has nothing missing as far as I can see, it's just dirty.

quote:

Originally posted by Fuzzyduck:

quote:

Originally posted by Retro Addict:
Nice scores Fuzzy, I have both. The GF-9090 is a very nice sounding box. Do you need any parts for your 525? Mine is a beater box, working (just!), and quite heavily scarred. The whole box is yours for postage. That's it!

Thanks for the kind offer R.A.!
My 525 works fine and has nothing missing as far as I can see, it's just dirty.

Damn , so my hopes of dumping it on someone else go straight out of the window.

...well if something goes wrong with yours, I'm just a PM away!