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Sharing a quick picture of a Vendo 81C I purchased out of Ohio. More photos to follow after the clean up process.

I was reading some old posts on this machine and it seems it wasn't actually confirmed that the model existed until 2012 when Ed posted a picture of a nice original showing the ID tag. Mixed reactions for sure as not everyone was in love with the model.  

My thoughts.......First, I think it is by far the hardest of any 81 model to find, including the VMC lineup and yes even much harder then the RC. Now, is it the most exciting? No. Is it the most valuable? No. Is it the most sought after? No..... I will say it should get mentioned when collectors talk about the 81 lineup as clearly the model does exists and when someone talks about owning all 81's the C should be included.

I think what hurts the popularity of the model is that it's not mentioned in Walters last book. Perhaps a case of out of sight out of mind.

What's it worth? Hard to say. No real sales history so although I don't like the phrase it's worth what someone is willing to pay, I do think it holds truth to this model. I also understand rare doesn't always equal valuable. I can see the argument where one could say they like the look of a B or D better and would prefer that model so the C should be valued less, or the argument that this is a rare model so it's value is higher. Who knows?

What is a C? All red like the A with green medallion. Large letters and small coin door like the B with no holes for the chrome divider. Yes a B can be easily restored to look like a C but then it would fall into the fantasy category.  

Glen was looking at the serial numbers and it was produced Dec of 55 which is before the B model. Found that interesting.

On this machine, someone posted on FB that they just bought it. In the photo it looked original so my first thought was it is a C. I contacted him the next day and by then a few people had informed him what it was. Because of that he was going to sell. He told me of one offer he got and turned down so I offered slightly higher and then he countered higher yet. In a 5 minute conversation be did the deal. I'm sure he was happy with what he got and I was happy with what I paid.

(https://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/0/5/4/4/3/6/webimg/995151219_o.jpg)

Nice find! I love the A and love the C even better! I agree it truly stops most advanced collectors from owning all of the vendo/vmc 81 line due to its extreme rarity.  Some collectors of many years don't even know they exist!

B and C were both built at the same time. I have seen several B models that were built in Dec of 1955. I am glad you got it, it should clean up very nice!

Very Nice Ray. When you’re ready to turn lose of it, let me know  :biggrin:

Very Nice indeed ! ! !

wow, nice! congrats Ray

Nice buy. This is a hard machine to purchase. Hope it cleans up nice for you.

Luckily it wasn't restored along the way..

Great purchase and thanks for sharing the picture!

The one that I saw and posted the pic of, it was in the guys collection that he was selling.  He had purchased it from a old guy who collected and knew what he had.
This guy offered it to me from what I remember for 3k (maybe 3500 Im not too sure now) but he said that its pretty close to what he had paid for it to get it from the old guy.

It's one of those machines that I wish I pulled the trigger on back then.... but at the time I had other things on my wish list, and so I passed.  To me its a machine thats valued as a piece to finish off a set of 81's.  This machine is not one that a first time buyer will get, as he can get the other 81's at half or better the price for essentially the same thing.

It should clean up nice, and I'd look forward to the after pictures :smile: