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With membership going back long before astronomics became involved,frequent poster to all forums including classics,Jon Issacs has responded to my question about his favorite classic. Jon had this to say and share about the one he liked best.
"Like many classic scope stories, it all started by typing "telescope" into the Craigslist search window. What came up was a Moving Sale with only the word "telescope." I sent the Email.. slow reply. The second reply: "My husband checked out the telescope and found a problem, we would like to give it to you." My sense was that I really didn't want this telescope but now I was obligated. I made an appointment and my wife and I went for a drive.. It was an apartment building. I remember what followed like it was yesterday.
Reluctantly, I got out of the car, climbed the outside stairway and knocked on the door. They opened the door and after a bit of small talk, showed me the telescope. My eyes bugged out as they showed me a wooden case with a 60mm x 800m Asahi-Pentax. OMG... Now I felt guilty, they were moving, they needed money, I only had $20.. I forced it on them.
I took the scope home, set it up.. It was unlike any classic 60mm I had ever used. The robust tripod, no shakes, the unique slow motion controls, the scope itself was simple. And it did have a problem, lots of coma. I figured maybe the lens was assembled incorrectly. I reassembled it according to a drawing in Sam Brown's All About Telescopes and all was well. It had a full sized 1.25 inch drawtube and found that the eyepiece holder from an old Burgess 1.25 inch diagonal fit the odd ball threads.
I consider that scope to be the most optically perfect telescope I have ever owned. I still remember pointing it at Izar, I was surprised how clean and sharp it was. A double shadow transit of Jupiter with the 4.8mm Nagler. Clean and crisp. Many memorable nights.
But alas, in a downsizing effort, I parted ways with this fine telescope. But that is not the end of the story.. I am now the proud owner of another 60mm x 800mm Asahi-Pentax. Prior to Covid, I purchased one from Chuck Hards. The plan was that I would pick it up on our way through Salt Lake City on one of our trips to see our son in Lolo, Montana. But Covid put a hold on that so while once again I am the proud owner of a 60mm A-P, Chuck still has it. This is not without it's benefits.
With the scope still in Chuck's hands, I am much less likely to give it away to someone in need of a good telescope."
All of us have seen Jon's countless posts across CN and some of us(myself included) have experienced his generosity firsthand.
Thanks Jon, for this unique story of the first Pentax as well as your finding another.A fine start for our July thread.
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and this note from the moderators
Let's remember everybody, there's no one place that has all the best-used scope finds just as there's no one place that never has anything. All have something. No need to beat subjective matter, whatever the topic, into the ground. For the sake of all of us who love the classic forum, please keep moving the thread forward. Remember that many of your fellow forum members are already vintage themselves. Instead of restating your opinions over and over, consider sharing something new, insightful, or otherwise constructive to the topic at hand.
