APEX Surplus,located in Sun Valley California is a vintage electronics gear and hobbyist epicenter!Apex Surplus has been in business in Sun Valley, California for more than 60 years. They are a family-owned business founded by William and Charlotte Slater in 1958! Since then, Apex has been collecting excess electronics inventory and surplus goods to offer a treasure trove of rare and out-of-production items from past to present, to rent or purchase. The whole place is rare warehouse of vintage electronic and aircraft equipment to buy or rent as props! It's definitely an interesting place to visit and check out all the historic,vintage,surplus and aviation,antique electronics and science equipment! . . . . . #apexsurplus #apex #vintage #historic #seetheusa #godisgood #hobbyistsupplies #hobbysupplies #electronics #dials #gauges #antiqueelectronics read more

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This is the best store ever. Staff always helpful to help you find what your looking for. Wouldn't give this store up for any other.

What an incredible experience! So much cool stuff. Make sure you have plenty of time, as you will be wandering the aisles and the yard for a while. Some of the most interesting stuff is just available for rental, but there is a lot for sale. It's old, some things are a bit -or more than a bit - dusty and dirty but that just adds to the charm. What really stood out was the friendliness of the staff. Exceptionally nice and helpful which is not always a given in this type of place. Literally didn't balk at going up a ladder for a couple of dollars of heat shrink tubing. When I got to the counter and was making my purchase a manger (or maybe an owner?) said one of the things was too much and cut the price dramatically. I can't remember the last time that has happened to me, and I'm as old as dirt. :-) If you are a maker, tinkerer or just a fan of cool old stuff you owe yourself a visit to Apex. For me, it was at the end of a 400 mile drive, I was tired and had other places to go, but every minute there was a pleasure. read more

Great deals!! The worker there gave us a good deal for the wire that we were wanting. Also, there are also many cool things to look at. We were definitely in there for 30 mins just looking at all the electronics. Love this place and would definitely come again :) PLEASE MAKE SURE TO BRING CASH‼‼ As it might be the only type of payment they are able to accept. read more

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Yes this place is a ramshackle and weird labyrinth and the owners can be questionable in their behavior towards customers, but since Fry's, Electronic City, All Electronics, Luky's are gone and Orvac went wherever they went, it's the only place left you can locally buy electronic parts and supplies. Your private rocket to the moon is here, waiting for you. read more

Schwinnggggggh!!!!!!! Best of em all. Really wish this was closer but really glad it's close enough. read more

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This is honestly one of the coolest places I've ever been! All different old electronics, airplane parts, cameras, pay phones ANYTHING you can imagine. They have great customer service, Steve gave us an awesome tour of the place (ask to see the light up room) and Adam gave us fantastic prices! Will be back again soon. read more

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This is the coolest store ever! With an amazing selection of stuff to make sci fi props, or rentals for period pieces, Apex is the secret spot I love to share with people. It's an institution and a rare opportunity to have this collection and offering. Thank you Adam and Apex for your amazing store! Could spend hours here!!! read more

Apex Surplus Corporation - Amazing rental prop selection - Electronics Near Me - Sun Valley, California

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Very helpful people working there. So many props and electronics and so much more beyond imagination. Highly recommend even for walking around seeing electronics histories. read more

This place used to be a good place to get good deals on weird old used stuff. Now it's more of a museum. They seem to only care about their prop rental business and have quadrupled their prices on the old junk that they actually sell. Five years ago I was able to buy old electronic components for a good price. Sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn't. I got a DAT deck for $50 and it worked. I got an Akai digital audio recorder that didn't work. Also $50. The low-level employees there are nice, but the owners/managers are jerks. I wanted to buy a really beat-up MiniDisc deck that had obvious hardware faults, and Adam wanted $200 bucks for it. I showed him that it was broken and he got an irritated look on his face and barked out, "You can have it for one fifty!" I said, "How about one hundred?" He looked furious and said, "I can't give it to you for half off!" and stormed off. Like, you can't sell a broken deck for $100? In perfect shape they barely sell for $200. I've had other unpleasant interactions with the weirdos there who are in charge. It's a fun place to visit to see the weird stuff they have, but they seem to resent the hobbyists and junk collectors that I would have thought make up the bulk of their customers. I guess it's all about the rental business now. So due to the fact that their management is terrible and that they're no longer open on weekends, this place can get lost as far as I'm concerned. I didn't spend any money on my last visit and will probably never return. Too bad. It was cool for awhile, but they think that their junk is worth way too much. read more

If you need the kind of stuff they sell at Apex - then as far as I know - within LA - there's no better place. The magnitude of their collection of wares is second to none, and it's all arranged in a reasonably logical order. I can't go there unless I have quite a bit of time to spare because it's easy to lose track of time exploring the aisles. While this place is incredible it's hard not to feel a little sad looking at all this stuff. Just like Lukeys hardware most of the stock for sale (I believe) comes from the countless long-shuttered businesses that used to be part of the immense SFV aircraft manufacturing supply chain. If you're old enough you might recall a time when we used to build airplanes here. read more

Such a cool establishment. Wild collection of materials to rent and buy. And the 'live' electronics shipping container is a real treat. Ownership is friendly and helpful. read more

Put on your pocket protector, great place to nerd out. My first stop for hard to find electronic parts.

This place is not taking covid 19 protocol seriously. Employee in counter not wearing mask he gets very close to customers exposing customers with spread. I went upstairs to talk to the owner ( melissa ) she did not care about my complaint. I will report this business to health department these businesses not following protocol for safety or wearing ppe to protect customers should be closed out. I also noticed some other employees in the yard not wearing mask they just don't care including the owner. This is not the first time I had noticed they don't care about spreading this virus. read more

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This is a very cool place to visit. One if a kind shop/prop rental/and sort of a museum of old tech. They have all kinds of parts/hardware/tech. Old and vintage that you probably can't find anywhere else. Some stuff they only rent out as props for Movies/Shows. They have big outdoor area with unique items. If you are searching for a part you can't find, they most likely will have it here. If you like tinkering with gadgets and building/repairing old tech, you will enjoy this place. I had some equipment at home from another place I needed to test before return period expired. The first time I came here to find a rca to bnc adapter that no one sells anymore and they had it. Adam, Mike, and Steve are all very polite, friendly, and professional. read more

What an amazing place to check out. I wish I could give it more stars but two issues I have with Apex that prevents me from going there more often is the high prices and trying to find items you're trying to find that you specifically need on your laundry list. The people at Apex have been very nice to me and us locals really need to support local mom and pop business's like this, we cant let them close down but I've have problem getting help there that know where the inventory specifically is and where things are without having to spend a hour or two just to look through boxes in futile for just one item. They can point you down a aisle but have see the inventory in those aisles? and most things are loosely organized and random inside cardboard boxes with many different times in those boxes. I cant really blame if they don't know where a 120v LED signal light would or a 120v on-off toggle switch would be as they have an incredibly large inventory of many random items in many different voltages and styles. For me to get the most out of Apex and get the most value out of it, I would need to spend weeks (years?) just going through the aisles, peaking in all the boxes to find out what they first have and where it is. There's a lot of potential. I think I can rationalize the high prices as they get business from film studios, which they prefer and also to be able to offer so many random and esoteric items that are rarely bought that is expensive to warehouse with low turnover. Having said that, most items are badly stored and not organized to the point that its a good chance you won't find it and hope you don't experience an earthquake there :) There's a couple of other similar stores locally (not many) that are sort of similar with same prices but much better organized so its much quicker in & out. Sadly, I often find it easier to just order online or go to another store that has a similar item to save the time going there, spending that long time out of the shop looking for something I need and then leaving empty handed can be problematic. I would very much rather support my local business like Apex but I very often leave empty handed or cant afford the price. I also wished there metal prices per the pound were much better, I see so many scrap pieces that have been there for years because its priced so high, especially the random welded aluminum scrap and metal sheets with many holes in them. They're are many things that you can only find at Apex and are very unique to the extreme so go check it out and see if something works for you but just be prepared. read more

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Apex Electronics in a nutshell. This place is a real five-star dump. (that I rate four-stars ) But that is a good thing. Here's where equipment goes to die. Apex digs body parts out of carcasses. Those parts then create new life. When you visit Apex you will find endless crap piles, in turn piled on other crap piles. I have been coming here a long time, so long in fact that I knew the dad of the present owner (the son of course). The way Apex works is to walk from isle to isle in a pack rat's museum of electronics feeling a little overwhelmed. Then you get the Apex effect: Missing Time. That's right, you walk in here at 10am and before you know it someone announces "We're closing". I almost got locked-in here once. Be careful. Not a comfortable sleep over. The pricing system here is unique. No pricing. Just ask as you check out and they will supply a random number. I finally realized that since I am playing a slot machine of price I should just ask all the employees separately and see who is lowest. Then I try to encourage the most price friendly employee to check me out. Works. Customer service is not the greatest. You are on your own mostly. They are mostly willing to point you in a direction. I get better assistance from other customers. In my best judgment, if you are just looking for a few common parts don't come here. You will waste time. This is a place for making deals on larger orders, like a small box full or a roll of something. If you are looking for movie props, I think you will do well here. Or just get free admission to a museum full of crap. Thanks for reading Goose Review. read more

Surplus electronics and metal scrap - wire, hard drives, switches, tubes, airplane parts, etc. A wonderland for burners, makers, movie propmasters who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. You really should have to sign a disclaimer to wander around back there - lots of towering piles of sharp pointys. The stuff in the yard is sold by the pound, or arbitrarily priced if it's a "thing". Stuff behind the counter tends to be more expensive; better to go scrounge stuff in the back; but they were able to find me Nixie tubes and VFD displays. Usually there's a few electronic/fab geeks hanging out in the front. Approach with caution. BRING CASH! I don't believe they take credit cards. read more

An amazing place for electronic components, metal, used computers and more. So much more wire than I've ever seen. Some things are expensive; metal by weight. Other things are cheap. Some aisles are treacherous. So be careful. I don't know how they do inventory. A fun place but I left there wanting to wash my hands. read more

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I have been going here for years looking for electronic parts but also parts that I have used in my art works that I make from found objects. Always an adventure. Some of the large resistors in this piece I got from Apex. read more

Apex Surplus Corporation - Piece De Resistance, Czappa - Electronics Near Me - Sun Valley, California

I love this place. I've only been here a few times, but they really care. I had a few oddball items I needed. I mean who takes time out of their day to scramble around scrounging this massive place for a couple small metal pieces I needed for a broken waterfall. This thing is about 50 years old, and the manufacturer is out of business. I went to a machine shop and they wanted about $150.00 to make the parts. The lovely woman at Apex spent 30 minutes looking around and found exactly what I needed. And I was charged about $20.00 for the pieces. They took social distancing very seriously. I wish I needed them for more stuff. It's a cool place just to walk around. You can't go wrong here. read more

I love this place, the staff is great and helpful! I come here at least once Or twice a week for parts that I use on amplifiers I build, apex has it all, you might have to dig but that's the best part of the treasure hunt! Recommend going here ! read more

I have used this place for all sorts of electronic parts since 1986 when I built a CW transmitter for a science fair project. I still have it, and a couple other items purchased there. BE PATIENT with the staff, who can find almost anything. KE7OPK read more

This place is pretty much the Mythbusters' warehouse on amphetamines. I fear Jamie Hyneman -- despite his inability to throw anything away -- might have a heart attack if his workshop looked like this, however. Boxes upon boxes of odds and ends stacked on shelves packed beyond capacity, with broken down machines and parts strewn through aisles that are sometimes too tight to get through. For the most part, the inside is orderly (I say this while I'm attempting to not smirk at that statement). I mean, boxes and aisles have SOME form of arrangement. Nuts and bolts here. Switches and toggles there. Transistors here. Cables there. You get the picture. Each box'll have one of the parts from it stuck on the front so you'll know what's in there. Now that outdoor area -- heavens to betsy! -- This is the kind of yard you would see on "Hoarders" with the hosts going, "Well, we're just going to have to bring in a few waste containers and get to work!" To which I, and all the other people who find this place wonderful, will protest, screaming that everything back there has the potential to be something great, beginning life as something new. You never know when you're going to need old missile and bombshells, discarded satellite dishes, rusted-over knight's armor, dusty old reactor panels with gauges, crashed airplanes, antique cash registers, and anything else back there. At the very least it was fun to poke around. You're literally walking around and going, "Is that a torpedo?" or "Check out this cannibalized helicopter!" EVERYTHING is available for harvesting for parts. I was actually looking for a knife switch that could take at least a higher amperage than the ones I've been able to find. Radio Shack's only go up to 0.5 amps, meant more for hobby train sets, and I need it to take at least 15. The only ones Apex seems to have are old movie props, but since we were on a bit of a time constraint, I'll have to come by another time and see about picking up parts to build it. Bonus for being a family business going strong for more than half a century! read more

Apex is amazing! If you are looking for nearly any kind of surplus electronics. Mostly old and or vintage, even quite a few antiques!

So many Oddball hard-to-find items this place is the best if you have time to spend you'll find something, when I go I normally spend a minimum of 2 hours there just looking and I always end up taking something, read more

It's worth it just for the missles and bombs. Wear your "washing the car" clothing, because you're very likely to trip over something, or get dirty or tear your clothing in tight quarters. Wear gloves too. Bring a pickup. Hide what you buy in the basement or garage before wifey/girlfirend sees it (unless she's an Artist, then you'll visit here together). You'll see parts from every grade B Sci-Fi movie from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. I've even heard they've gotten EOL gear from ILM, LucasFilm and other studios. There is great INSPIRATION in this rusty, dusty JUNK. It's VISIONARY. read more

OMG! This place has no equal. I have been going to electronics stores, surplus houses, and ham fests on both coasts for 50 years now and there is nothing like Apex. Plus most of the countries good electronics surplus stores have long since closed. Classic electronic parts and used gear. A lot of used TV and studio equipment due to it;'s location in Los Angeles. Mil Spec gear and test equipment as well from the local defense and aircraft industries. More modern IC's and semiconductors are rare here but that's what Digikey and Mouser are for. Wire? What ever you need, they probably have it. It seems to be a specialty here. About half of it is exposed outside in the sun but past the first layer on the spool, it's as good as new so keep that in mind. Large transformer department and many in decent quantities. Rare today with all the switch mode power supplies and they have those too! Computer grade caps - also rare today, but here they are in NOS abundance! Hardware / mechanical/ fans / pumps / motors. They have big selections of all, some used but mostly still good. Even jet engine parts and sub assemblies can be found. Be prepared to dig - literally. Place is fairly well organized considering it's size and vast inventory. The "yard" is filthy but always has new treasures. Prices are good, often depends on the mood of the day. Don't bring your spouse! Only us born geeks and engineers will truly appreciate this place. read more

Welcome to Apex...I have been a customer of over 5 years now and Ill have to say its the best place hands down for every geek, nerd, cosmonaut, engineer, electronics guru, or the casual tinkerer and a wealth of supplies for the DIY. To sum this place up in a few words would not begin to describe the treasures you can find here. Now that I have your attention its an amazing place for people who love to build electronics or cant find a switch or a fuse or a specific electric motor when shopping at your local hardware store. Apex has isle after isle 10-15 feet high of mostly organized and unorganized for the treasure hunters. I can easily spend hours looking around and I rarely leave with less then 50 bucks out of my pocket...which in lamens terms usually double the amount of loot for half or even a third the price you find any where else. As a Prop Master I highly recommend this place for a visit if you are in the need for hard to find parts or you need to rent out airplane gack... AWESOME!!!! read more

Wow, staff could not be more belittling. When my 14 year old son walked in with his mom, the older gentleman behind the front counter took one look at us and assumed we didn't know what we were doing, even suggested we go to Harbor Freight to buy the items new. Anyone in the know realizes recommending Harbor Freight alone is insulting. A shame, because my son is a "fixer" extraordinaire and would have absolutely loved this place. read more

This place is badass! I love visiting every time I am around LA. The size of the warehouse is impressive; we do have surplus joints around the Silicon Valley but Apex is simply much bigger. Spending an hour at "the yard" is a must; I don't forecast needing a rocket engine from an old cloud busting weather rocket but it's good to know where to get one if I need it in the future. Their prices are more than reasonable. Often there is no tag and the guy at check out would politely ask... how about two bucks? I think the owner is often around working the check out register. Good work Apex! read more

Ive been coming to Apex for as long as I've been alive. Hands down my favorite place to spend hours perusing the aisles for that perfect piece of hardware or whatever... robots, vehicles, space ships, etc... Apex is the industry standard when it comes to all things analog. read more

I have been paying too much buying stuff from All Electronics and even Mcmaster Carr... I wish I would have come here sooner! This place is HUGE and much of it is a mess... but you cant beat the selection of mechanical surplus parts, aerospace, aeronautical, and simply endless rows of electronic and electrical components. I was there so long looking at stuff I got sunburned. I bought a 40 amp relay for $5 I paid Digikey about $75 for the same one! read more

Apex Surplus Corporation - Electronics Near Me - Sun Valley, California

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NOTE: BELOW IS THE ORIGINAL REVIEW. PLEASE READ BELOW FOR MY FOLLOW UP REVIEW/COMMENT There was a day when, if you were working on a high tech film prop, you could walk into Apex, go out in back where the salvage items were, and collect a ton of stuff for your project. Sometimes it would get a little pricey but still, you would get what you needed. Those days are gone, my friend. In recent times, I've gone it to get salvaged parts and have been quoted prices so outrageously high, it wasn't logical to purchase the parts. And I'm not saying the stuff was sold by salvage rate either. The price wasn't based on weight but seemingly an arbitrary (high) number set by the guy behind the counter. Back in the day, there was a bit of bartering too. Not anymore. But my latest visit made me decide it is worthless to go there. The back salvage area, which was always a pile, has been rendered so completely useless for scavenging. It is literally so full crap that you can't find anything! The small parts have all but disappeared, covered up by boxes of God knows what, rolled up banners, and large bulk items. It is worthless if you are looking for specific parts as they are now buried. Instead of charging so high a price no one purchases, perhaps it's time to start pricing the salvage items so they move out the door, to clear out the back a little so people can actually find stuff? If you need hard to find electronic gadgets, it's still the place to go, but if you are a prop maker, it's no longer the one-shop place it used to be. Really a shame this place has gone downhill. Used to be an awesome resource. SEPT. 2014: ADDENDUM Due to an emergency sci-fi prop I had to build, despite my not wanting to, I had to go to Apex. The first thing I noticed is that the back has been reorganized and is far better than when I put in the original review. I had no problem finding things that the last visit, I couldn't find at all. Upon paying, the rather burly gentleman behind the counter recognized my name and asked if I was the one that left the rather harsh review on Yelp. My first instinct was to say no as I A: Didn't want to get charged enormously for what I was buying, and B: Didn't want the crap beat out of me, should he decide to. But I manned up and said "Yes, I am the one that left the review." This man could have been a real prick. He could have over charged me. He could have gotten aggressive. He could had done a number of unsavory things. Instead, he explained to me the situation in regards to the business. I learned quite a bit. The main thing being that back in the day when I bought stuff, the world was plentiful with surplus parts. Nowadays, that isn't the case. Each piece is rare and hard to find. Hence, a lot of stuff is only rentable and stuff that is purchased is more expensive. He did admit some stuff is high priced, and he acknowledged my frustration in not being able to buy the cool stuff (when I build props for tv, I have to buy as the company like to keep their props) but his explaining the situation went far in helping me understand the business I knew nothing about. It also realized I based my review on my purchasing back in the 80's and 90's. Apex is doing what they need to do to continue to exist. In that regard, they are doing the right thing. While they are still expensive and it is still frustrating I can't buy parts I'd like to, the fact is, they are the only company in LA offering what they offer. If anything, I need to start working on projects that pay more instead of the low budget crap I've worked on for years so I can easier afford the items at Apex. I will continue to shop at Apex, because they have stuff I can't get anywhere in LA. But perhaps more so that the gentleman behind the counter gained my respect. He's a stand up guy and that's hard to find in this city today. read more

Gadget heaven or where millions of industrial, aircraft, and electronic parts go to spend a good dozen years before being used in some mad scientist's creation. Apex has been there 50 years and it is a dumping ground and a playground at the same time. I found a dazzling array of just about everything. Airplane parts, jet engine blades, large movie lights, a good 1000 instrumentation racks, road cases, belts, wheels, gears, pneumatics, diodes, resistors, variacs, missile launchers, airplane external fuel tanks, ladders, street signs, air compressors, nuts bolts. They have an inside and an outside yard, be prepared to dig. If you squint your eyes you can see the valiant effort to organize it. They were very reasonable with their prices and I walked out of there with an arm load of cool junk for $15. Best place in LA if you build anything from electronics, to jewelry, to robots, to furniture from junk. You could build at least 4 time machines, 2 burning man camps, and an army of robots if your heart desires any of those things. read more

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if you know what a standoff, a capacitor and a 22 gauge wire are, you are going to like this place. Upsides: - There is a lot of stuff. If you are willing to dig, and don't mind getting dirty, you will find some gems. - They have things you will not see anywhere else: a vast selection of analog panel meters, thousands of different kinds of hardware knobs and mechanical parts, and hundreds of rolls of magnet wire! - You can touch it all, and no one is looking over your shoulder while you do it. Good place for those who like to handle what they are buying. - Prices are good, especially for parts in quantity. Hardware seems to be an especially good deal. - They have a HUGE selection of wire. - They have a lot of good vintage materials like Raytheon knobs and anodized standoffs. Downsides: - What you have here is about 40 million dollars worth of electronics and mechanical parts, buried under 1/16" of dust. You will get dirty. - There is very little organization. It's very difficult to find something precise-- this is more like a random buffet experience. - It's really dirty. I have to emphasize that. - They leave things out in the sun/rain. OK, it does not rain much, but it boggles the mind to see 10,000 electrolytic capacitors that have been baking in the sun for years. - Most parts are stored in beige boxes with a sample hanging off the front. However those boxes are stacked ten to twelve feet high. Yes, twelve feet high. You have to dig and get dirty. All in all, it's an amazing place... read more

It IS a unique experience. Absolutely critical to have for us hobbyists and designers in electronics. Vintage is a specialty (old switches, panels, parts) but also great for cheap parts in quantity when designing or building something new. I've taken many non-tech people there who just LOVE the sights. Cables for miles, nose cones for rockets, computer panels from the '50s. Many things are cheap here, small parts - but many are pricey, as they know their business - and much of it is well-funded film and television studios. They won't sell you come cool SciFi panel for $10 when they can get $100 from a prop master later... Not much service, BUT if you are nice and polite, they often will help you to a degree, showing you the general area of what you need. They will NOT usually take you around and find you one little part to match what you want. They will test and check things at the desk for you - does it work, is it good? Go AT LEAST once just to see this Disneyland of electronics from the past. They also BUY scrap metal and electronics for good prices! Don't throw away that heavy machine or transformer just yet!!! You don't have to be anyone special to sell to them, I've made hundreds just taking them old broken gear... read more

This is why people order online and from China. Searching online it appeared the only place online to get this part was from a Chinese company but I really wanted to keep my business in the U.S. (nothing against the Chinese, but I want to keep my business at home when I can). After failing to find anything online in the U.S. I started calling local and wound up on the phone with Apex. The guy I talked to at Apex curtly answered my first question then hung up on me in the middle of my asking the second question. The company in China had it in stock and ordering was hassle free. There is a reason business is going to China and the guy at Apex is part of it. Rude, acting as if bringing my business to his store was a privilege he was granting me, this guy displays the sense of entitlement that is becoming more and more prevalent in much of American small business. The other part of the equation is availability. One can't "buy American" if Americans don't keep it in stock. read more

If your looking for scrap steel for metal sculpting projects. Look else where! Their scrap prices are ridiculous! Charging $3 per/lb for stainless steel witch is crazy compared to its $0.62 per/lb market price. read more

Crazy piles of everything electronic. Airline seats, power supplies, miles of wire, mil surplus, indicator lamps, TV studios worth of gear, jet fighter fuel tanks, components, remote controls, 19" rack mount gear and cabinets, vehicle parts, test equipment. A morgue of 20th Century technology, at dirt cheap prices. Dress for dirt and bring gloves! read more