A BILL GODBOUT TALE C- Ed Sharpe Archivist for SMECC
BEWARE THIS NARTIVE WANDERS>…
A very old friend Bill Godbout of the s100 computer days and my first real
commercial buyer of any large quantity of surplus electronics material from me
when I went into the early part of my computer store and surplus electronics
business was burned in the fire in Paradise I have been informed. Very sad - He
was a great guy - I met him at a computer fair in as I remember San Jose
California … I believe it was at the fairgrounds … (Fair was run by a pleasant
guy (was his name Craig or? Can someone clarify?) with the neatest 59 El Camino
Chevy Truck (Prior to this I had never seen a ’59 before (I would love one!)
Steve Beleauh (sp?) in High School had a ‘64 ) were I had taken mainly a bunch
of odds and ends but also some 8 inch floppy disc power supplies that Intel had
scrapped at Empire metals ( Gary and Ray no doubt had something to do with
those ending up there … Hi guys!) and a box of AC power cords and some parts
and stuff now what would be considered scrap too....Bill Godbout had set up to
sell. (of course, he had all kids of computer stuff his company produced and
other things he was a vendor for... He was a big guy in the BIZ in those days,
We of course had some power cords and Bill and I when talking got on the topic
of power cords for computers ... the new style...like all out pcs use now. (
the prior version on one end the normal 3 prog plug in the wall plug and the
other had oval ends and round pins... and were available all over but not so
the "NEW" style ( like we use now) I ended up with many many palate loads ITT
Courier Terminal Company in Tempe Arizona ( They made IBM clone cluster
terminal system - but unlike the IBM terminals had non-clicking
keyboards)) was surplussing ... and had calculated the quantity and cost
carefully and beat the Finkelstein Brothers -> Mhz Electronics and
Semiconductor Surplus... Richard at MHz still alive Steve at Semi Passed
away)... ALAS!! The brothers miscalculated or used that as a reason for not
getting the lot in later conversations, but It set us up with more damn cords
that I ever imagined I could even sell.
ANYWAY... First deal I did with him.... Telling Bill Godbout of all these cords
he says ... well... "TRUST ME" ... "ship them to me and on receipt I will send
you a check!" and then he jokes about I shouldn’t trust anyone in this business
saying TRUST ME! But I did and true to his word his check arrived which set me
up with enough cash to make many other great buys of Minicomputers, parts and
terminals as I started out. Actually I think that is were the money came from
to buy my first PDP-8 from Richard at MHz Electronics he had laying about. It
was a 8M or 8F like an 8E with omnibus but short case so only accepting one
Buss backplane and it used LEDS in the front panel vs the light bulbs the 8E
used. (I was later able to sell this for a large sum thus… increasing the
‘Computer Exchange’ working capital.
Thanks Bill. You will always be in our book as one of the original good
guys.... and thanks for being someone I could trust in dealings. God in
Heaven... Take good care of old Bill for me...
