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I got my first scope in 1985, scopes were quite expensive then and I think most of the larger newts were hand made. I remember looking through the tasco catalogues of the time, shops that sold scopes were few and far between.
I had my first decent paying job and money to spend and those tasco's just weren't big enough. I eventually found a small scope shop in the suburbs and wow there was my scope on display in the window. It was a second hand 8" f6 cave optical reflector with tube rotation rings, RA motor drive and portable pier mount. $1200 later and the scope was mine.
Still got that scope today and it's still fully functional. I did replace the mirrors a couple of years ago, but have kept the originals, I'll get them re coated one day. I still use it for visual and its great for school outreach nights with it's tube rotation rings and motor drive.
I did use it for astrophotography for a while and it's ok for up to 30sec exposures but found it was hard to regulate the 240v motor's speed for accurate tracking.
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