Denial

I was telling a guy recently about the supposed history of the vic20 (unable to get any arcade orders on the 6560 and glut of 1 bit 1kb chips and risk of sinking prices). Commodore used as many bits and pieces as they had available like the pet keyboard. I couldn't think why the breadbin got this shape.

Today a guy on lemon64.com was showing his new 8032SK on youtube. Suddenly I saw the vic20 when he detached the keyboard. I asked him to take a side by side photo....

VIC 1001 (breadbin case) = 1980
CBM-II = 1982

The CBM-II case was "recyled" on the new PETs in 1984, that's why the 8032SK has an awful motherboard layout in the CBM-II case. The motherboard was redesigned to better fit the case with the 8296 and 8296D models.

So if you want to find a relation, it's the other way round - but I doubt it. The CBM-II series was designed by Ira Velinsky in 1982, while the VIC case was designed by a mechanical designer called Nishimura at Commodore Japan in 1980.

An I must be allowed to say: The CBM-II design is one of the sexiest computer design around. Its really a nice piece even without anything inside. BUT its even better with a B700 inside it.