June 13, 2026
Rust never sleeps, but fans do not care
Resurrecting a Soaked, corroded, and damaged Commodore SX‑64 (2025)
He bought a ‘slightly wet’ vintage computer—fans say it was basically a shipwreck
TLDR: A collector brought a badly water-damaged vintage portable computer back from the edge after discovering the inside was far worse than it looked. Commenters turned the story into equal parts nostalgia, philosophy, and nitpicking, with fans cheering the comeback while one side-eyed the painfully slow images.
A vintage computer rescue story has turned into a full-on internet feelings festival. In Jerry L. Parker’s restoration write-up, what looked like a respectable old portable computer from the outside turned out to be a rust-filled nightmare on the inside—think hidden rot, fused screws, flaking metal, and a drive motor that screamed “ocean floor artifact.” Instead of running away, he drilled out stuck parts, hunted down replacement metal pieces, cleaned what he could, and pushed the wreck toward that beloved old startup screen.
But the real action is in the community reaction. One commenter went unexpectedly poetic with “the toughest life lived is a life worth living, scars and all,” instantly giving the whole saga the vibe of a comeback movie trailer. Another took the nostalgia route, calling the SX-64 the ultimate dream machine of childhood, which helped frame the restoration as more than repair—it’s emotional rescue. And then came the classic comment-section record scratch: one user ignored the rust opera entirely to complain that the images loaded like molasses, basically launching a side quest about whether the real disaster was the computer or the website.
That clash is the fun of it: part heartwarming restoration drama, part retro-fan swoon, part petty loading-speed grievance. In other words, the machine was corroded, but the comments were very much alive.
Key Points
- •Jerry L. Parker bought a Commodore SX-64 at the 2025 VCFSW show in Dallas after being told it might have water damage.
- •Once opened, the machine showed extensive internal rust, corrosion on boards, badly damaged metal shielding, and a nearly destroyed chassis.
- •Many screws were seized and had to be drilled out because penetrating oil was insufficient.
- •Replacement metal parts, including a chassis, were sourced after Parker contacted a parts seller on eBay.
- •Plastics, keyboard components, and the drive mechanism were cleaned, but the floppy drive motor was judged beyond repair and marked for replacement.