Vintage C64

Explore the world of Commodore and learn about about the computers that revolutionized the world.

Commodore International Corporation was founded in the early 60s by Jack Tramiel and initially focused on typewriters and mathematical machines.  It was not until 1977 with the birth of the Personal Electronic Transactor (PET) that Commodore entered the personal computer market; a market it would help define.   

In 1981 Commodore released the VIC-20 “The Friendly Computer”.  While it was not the most powerful computer of its generation, the features and low price ($299.95) proved very popular with the public.  It has the distinction of being the first computer to sell over 1 million units.  In total 2.5 million were sold before manufacturing ceased in 1985.  A great deal of the success of the VIC-20 was due to selling through retail rather than through authorized dealers.   

While previous models had proven a success, the release of the Commodore 64 changed the face of the computer industry.  Released in 1983 as a successor to the VIC-20, the C64 offered an unprecedented price ($595) to performance proposition.  The C64 remained a hit during its production life (1982-1993), selling around 17 million units.  It is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best selling single computer model of all times.