Special RED Macintosh Plus Apple Events Developer Association

jajan547

Active Tinkerer
Mar 25, 2022
732
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North Carolina, USA
I purchased this red Macintosh Plus that I'm sure a few of you may have seen on eBay. As it turns out there is more to the story than what one would imagine. I had first thought that this Macintosh Plus was one of two things, either a very rare and very strange prototype from Apple or a normal Macintosh Plus someone had spray painted some time in the past. As it turns out neither guess was correct. This Macintosh Plus has no paint drips and all areas of white, even inside the case are red. It appears dyed this way. There is also no "Macintosh Plus" badging and no serial number. There was a serial number of some sort "STC HW-0022" on the back and a very strange and professional looking "ae" logo on the rear of the case. Before I continue this is in fact colored this way as in areas that are scuffed are a lighter red or have black marks, there is no white or beige coloring that shows through nor under the rubber feet. Now back to the story I asked the seller how about they came into possession of this item. Well as it turns out it had quite a strange history in that it was used as a display item (promotionional maybe) by Apple at a developers conference in the late 1980's right before the release of the Macintosh SE. Remember this because the "Apple Events Developer Association" used the exact same "ae" logo. As it turns out sometime after the event it was gifted to a SUN Microsystems high ranking individual (can't get a name). He held onto the machine and sometime in 2009 after Oracle bought SUN Microsystems he decided to retire to the Charlotte, North Carolina area. A few years later he decided to get into an assisted living facility due to age related complications and sold off some of his items to clear space. The seller I bought it from told me that this man was very wealthy and that he lived in a very nice home in very upscale area ( I added this to reflect the individuals past and furthermore back what I am sharing). I then purchased the machine from this seller just a few months ago and am now the third owner if you don't count Apple. Thankfully Charlotte isn't far from me so shipping took a day and now it is with me. I wanted to add some photos below for you to see what I mean about the "Apple Events Developer Association" and just to share something that some may overlook, either way it has such a unique and interesting history.

I linked the photos below, these include the logic board, Machine photos, and the ae logo used by the Apple Events Developer Association.

 

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retr01

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Jun 6, 2022
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They are even like it was meant to be this way.

Then probably intentional. A new proposed design? I have no idea. Ha. Apple went ahead with the Snow White design and that SE came out followed by the Mac II and the SE/30. :)

Not easy to find out more about those rare red dev Mac Pluses. When I tried searching for the name of that association, all I get are modern development stuff at Apple. Nothing vintage. Hmmm. One guy may know about it, but I do not see him around on here much.
 

jajan547

Active Tinkerer
Mar 25, 2022
732
295
63
North Carolina, USA
Then probably intentional. A new proposed design? I have no idea. Ha. Apple went ahead with the Snow White design and that SE came out followed by the Mac II and the SE/30. :)

Not easy to find out more about those rare red dev Mac Pluses. When I tried searching for the name of that association, all I get are modern development stuff at Apple. Nothing vintage. Hmmm. One guy may know about it, but I do not see him around on here much.
I hope someone here knows more about I’d love to learn more.
 
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