In the past month I have acquired - almost by accident - a Commodore Silver Label C64.
These machines are interesting for a few reasons.
First, they were the original C64 models produced and sold at retail. You can quickly identify them based on their unique metallic silver badges.
Out of the 12-17M C64's sold, supposedly about 80,000 silver label machines were released to the public before they were recalled and the badges changed. A video defect was sent out with a lot of these early machines and Commodore issued a recall to fix them. Sometimes the video would simply go black and die and sometimes the video would be really fuzzy. When the machines were fixed by Commodore and returned to customers the badges were changed with the rainbow badges we all know and love.
If there really only ~80,000 units released and we can take the serial numbers as The Truth, then the one I have is about half-way through their timeline. I've read that the early silver label machines sold in Canada have a completely different numbering system. So, who knows? And I have no idea how the paper-based silver labels were numbered overseas.
However, I have seen another very early specimen from the US which was around S/N 10,000 and it actually used orange Function keys more like what you'd expect to find on a VIC-20.
Mine already moved to gray.
Other than the badges, my silver label machine looks like a typical breadbin. Size-wise and keycap wise it looks identical from the outside. Even the case plastic color is identical to the later models.
The other thing worth noting about the Silver Label is that is uses a unique 5-pin DIN video port (it would soon change to 8-pin). Other than that, externally there really aren't any noticeable differences.
My silver label does have one noticeable external defect. The original family that owned this machine kept it in storage for about 4 decades. During that time it had an aftermarket faux leather protective cover. That cover was actually far too small for the C64 (or it shrank). Over the decades that cover became really tight-fitting and seemingly started to warp the plastic on one corner.
I've yet to open the case, but from what I've read I will likely find a few ceramic chips inside. I did find an old 5-pin cable in my box o' crap and hooked it up to a 1702. The picture was quite fuzzy. I've no idea if that's the C64 or the cable. I will be retesting the machine tonight at SEA-CCC and we'll see what we get. If I actually care enough to fix it I can swap out the VIC chip and that should snap everything into place. But I may just leave it the way it is. It's not like I need another C64 to use around here.
To that point, if I decide to keep this machine I think I'll print out some wall brackets for it so I can hang the machine like a piece of wall art. Maybe!
Do you also have a Silver Label? What is the serial number? Do you have orange or gray function keys? Let's see!
These machines are interesting for a few reasons.
However, I have seen another very early specimen from the US which was around S/N 10,000 and it actually used orange Function keys more like what you'd expect to find on a VIC-20.
Mine already moved to gray.
Other than the badges, my silver label machine looks like a typical breadbin. Size-wise and keycap wise it looks identical from the outside. Even the case plastic color is identical to the later models.
To that point, if I decide to keep this machine I think I'll print out some wall brackets for it so I can hang the machine like a piece of wall art. Maybe!
Do you also have a Silver Label? What is the serial number? Do you have orange or gray function keys? Let's see!
Statistics: Posted by intric8 — Wed Mar 19, 2025 11:02 am — Replies 0 — Views 70