The Entire Argos Catalogue From 1985....

Paully D

....has been uploaded by someone on Flickr if anyone wants a look back:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593028702/in/set-72157619206330728/

EverEvolving

TL;DR

alwaysadub

Someone had way too much time on their hands!!

carefulnow100

Never mind having the time, Who still has an Argos catolouge from 1985??

Rockery Woman

Thats cool. Had a flick through it. Love the PYE radio, ferguson TV, and Crystal Barbie! And the jewellery! Return of the Jedi duvet cover, Takes me back.....

bonerm

I had this page burnt into my retinas as a small child

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593486122/in/set-72157619206330728/

What was 20quid worth in todays money?

o1s1n

Saddo that I am, the first thing I thought was 'Vidjogames!'

And I managed to find some. -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3592664355/in/set-72157619206330728/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593473172/in/set-72157619206330728/

There's some Commodore and Atari stuff a few pages before that too.

Star Bingo

gr8 thnx

Orange69

o1s1n wrote: »

Saddo that I am, the first thing I thought was 'Vidjogames!'

There's some Commodore and Atari stuff a few pages before that too.

Me to!!

For those intrested, a Sinclair ZX:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593465768/in/set-72157619206330728/

Commodore 64!:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3592657253/in/set-72157619206330728/

Atari 2600 (UNDER 50 BUCKS!!):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593461754/in/set-72157619206330728/

There is a selection of b+w tvs before these :pac:

starbelgrade

I just spent 10 minutes looking at 25 year old lawnmowers.

chucken1

bonerm wrote: »

I had this page burnt into my retinas as a small child

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593486122/in/set-72157619206330728/

What was 20quid worth in todays money?

2 dubloons..or a small mouse?

krudler

Wait, an AT-AT was only 25 quid?! that seemed ridiculously expensive in my childhood years

OutlawPete

Cheers OP, that's class.

o1s1n wrote: »

Saddo that I am, the first thing I thought was 'Vidjogames!'

And I managed to find some. -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3592664355/in/set-72157619206330728/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593473172/in/set-72157619206330728/

There's some Commodore and Atari stuff a few pages before that too.

Same here

Everything looks surprisingly modern (ish), until you look at electronics and the like.

Commodore 64 was madness.

Use to take ages to load a game and the noise of it screeching away.

Walkmans

Stereos

Had the third one there in black, it was the first double deck player I had and must have copied around 500 tapes.

Had them all in an AtoZ (:cool:) rack on my wall, thought I was the business

chucken1

Orange69 wrote: »

Me to!!

For those intrested, a Sinclair ZX:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593465768/in/set-72157619206330728/

Commodore 64!:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3592657253/in/set-72157619206330728/

Atari 2600 (UNDER 50 BUCKS!!):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593461754/in/set-72157619206330728/

There is a selection of b+w tvs before these :pac:

Bearing in mind,Argos wasnt here in 1985..I got my Atari 2600 FREE with the first tv I bought..A Misubishi something huge..But dam it,I got my Atari ..Fcek I think the tv was 300 pounds or something :eek:..But I got My ATARI..:D:D

Stinicker

Wow, that was great, the designs and actually people back then were not as stoneage as I thought, however people were just broke I guess. The catalogue had like 200 pages wheras modern ones have like 2000 pages.

It was probably scanned on a book scanner which meant that the OP of it had actually probably very little to do as they automate the whole process, turning the page, capturing the image and you then get a sequenced set of images he just had to upload. For those who have never seen one they are actually really cool, libraries and archives use them, downside is they cost in the tens of thousands.

Tripewriters!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3592605335/in/set-72157619206330728/

Real museum pieces!

starbelgrade

I'm still looking at the power tools.

These days, the jewellery section is first.

Back then - power tools.

Cool!

chucken1

Stinicker wrote: »

Wow, that was great, the designs and actually people back then were not as stoneage as I thought, however people were just broke I guess. The catalogue had like 200 pages wheras modern ones have like 2000 pages.

It was probably scanned on a book scanner which meant that the OP of it had actually probably very little to do as they automate the whole process, turning the page, capturing the image and you then get a sequenced set of images he just had to upload. For those who have never seen one they are actually really cool, libraries and archives use them, downside is they cost in the tens of thousands.

Thats a great story!

Dub.

Cheap little plastic Olympus xa2 camera cost nearly 90 quid.

That is serious money for such a basic camera.

FatherTed

Typewriters, B+W TVs, Commodore 64(already mentionned), "CHiPs" helmet set, Arnold in the Weider Suprt Strength Builder ad...

Dub.

I think its fair to say that consumer items are generally cheaper these days.

Dub.

Dub. wrote: »

I think its fair to say that consumer items are generally cheaper these days.

Definitely, there are many items that the current version could be got for almost the same price, then factor in what your wages would have been in 1985. I now earn in a day what I used to earn in a week then, similar type of job as well.

GizAGoOfYerGee

I thought Argos came to Ireland in the late 90s...?

GizAGoOfYerGee

GizAGoOfYerGee wrote: »

I thought Argos came to Ireland in the late 90s...?

It's the UK version.

chucken1

GizAGoOfYerGee wrote: »

I thought Argos came to Ireland in the late 90s...?

Yes it did..
Read OP

Irish Guitarist

I never knew Toyota made sewing machines.

M5

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I never knew Toyota made sewing machines.

That was their original business AFAIK, they still do too, see here

theteal

chucken1 wrote: »

Bearing in mind,Argos wasnt here in 1985..I got my Atari 2600 FREE with the first tv I bought..A Misubishi something huge..But dam it,I got my Atari ..Fcek I think the tv was 300 pounds or something :eek:..But I got My ATARI..:D:D

I always wondered where my Atari came from, I was 2 in '85 and the aul' lad would never spend money on stuff like that but i do recall we had a silver Mitsubishi telly for years, floppy door on the side that needed tape on it to stay closed. . .you sir, may have just answered one of (my) life's little riddles, kudos

Aw the year I was born

Saila

nice find, will give you an idea of the changes of standards of living from the 80's to now for those born around the celtic tiger cubs.

Saila

alwaysadub wrote: »

Someone had way too much time on their hands!!

there was a guy who wrote down everything he did and thought for 10 years or something, he died sometime a couple of years ago, and his house was stacked to the roof with boxes of the diary he wrote, must have read like some kind of computer log or something :rolleyes: THAT guy was the king of people with time on their hands :pac:

cant find anything with a quick google though

4zn76tysfajdxp

Saila wrote: »

there was a guy who wrote down everything he did and thought for 10 years or something, he died sometime a couple of years ago, and his house was stacked to the roof with boxes of the diary he wrote, must have read like some kind of computer log or something :rolleyes: THAT guy was the king of people with time on their hands :pac:

cant find anything with a quick google though

When did Michael Palin die?

Irish Halo

bonerm wrote: »

What was 20quid worth in todays money?

According to this site £20GBP is, using the retail price index, £45.20GBP.

This site is useful for punts up until 1978 as well as the punt and the British pound were parity till then.

artvandulet

Orange69 wrote: »

Atari 2600 (UNDER 50 BUCKS!!):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593461754/in/set-72157619206330728/

50 Bucks? Now isnt that nice.

bonerm

GizAGoOfYerGee wrote: »

I thought Argos came to Ireland in the late 90s...?

It was, but oddly the catalogue was still very popular down here for years beforehand.

You see people in the Rep.Irl would use the UK catalogue for information purposes and then buy the item whereever they could find it in this country. The catalogue was like internet of its day in terms of consumer information.

So basically it was the opposite of what we do today (i.e. look at the item sitting in an Rep.Irl shop and then buy it online cheaper from some other country).

Donkey Oaty

Saila wrote: »

there was a guy who wrote down everything he did and thought for 10 years or something, he died sometime a couple of years ago, and his house was stacked to the roof with boxes of the diary he wrote, must have read like some kind of computer log or something :rolleyes: THAT guy was the king of people with time on their hands :pac:

cant find anything with a quick google though

Robert Shields.

Corruptedmorals

Brilliant! Wincing at the car seats, looks like the child's legs would be snapped off in an impact, ughh.

Phony Scott

Friggin' flickr, how do I skip to the toy section already :mad:

Phony Scott

Hot topless chick on page 59! Shouldn't it be on page 69?

alwaysadub

I had forgotten that our kettle and toaster were brown and had a picture of a wheat grain on it. wtf was that all about?!

CrazyRabbit

bonerm wrote: »

I had this page burnt into my retinas as a small child

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593486122/in/set-72157619206330728/

What was 20quid worth in todays money?

I still have #20...the Speeder Bike. You press a button at the back and it breaks into 3 parts. They were great toys.

o1s1n wrote: »

Saddo that I am, the first thing I thought was 'Vidjogames!'

And I managed to find some. -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3592664355/in/set-72157619206330728/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593473172/in/set-72157619206330728/

There's some Commodore and Atari stuff a few pages before that too.

OMG...I had one of those Tomytronic "Sky Attack" 3D game. I remember being amazed by the graphics (like something out of Tron). It was my 1st introduction to 3D effects. Loved it.

strokemyclover

Back when Star Wars merchandise wasn't crap - Still have a few of them items too!

Good find OP!

up for anything

Deleted User wrote: »

Tripewriters!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3592605335/in/set-72157619206330728/

Real museum pieces!

Hey! I bought no. 10 here with a third of my first month's wages to get my typing speed up to 40wpm in order to do a Wang WP course (three consecutive evenings) in the third month at a cost of half my second months wages. By the end of the third month I had got a new job and nearly tripled my annual salary so don't knock them.

Love this. Brings back memories.

Every Christmas for about five years we were innundated with orders from home to bring back boxes and boxes of no. 8 - Eternal Beau - with it's distinctive octagonal shape, decorated with delicate pink flowers and lover's knot of ribbons. Even back then I couldn't understand why there was such a demand for it back here in Ireland. I think we brought back 8 sets one year along with the matching tea towels, serving dishes, tea pots, mugs, candle sticks and God only knows what else!

bonerm

strokemyclover wrote: »

Back when Star Wars merchandise wasn't crap

Funny thing is that the shape and scale of some of the toys in that pix is totally screwed up eg the At-At head and Falcon cockpits are much too big for their bodies. Not to mention most of the ships etc being too small in comparison to the action figures that went in them. However because we didn't have VHS/DVD/BluRays/Internet to make constant visual references the toys became the "correct" shape as that was all we had around us on a daily basis.

Everything in life pretty much becomes a disappointment after you get the Millenium Falcon for your birthday.

strokemyclover

The Millenium Falcon was a bit odd on the inside alright!

mike65

And none of it was made in China.

mike65

mike65 wrote: »

And none of it was made on China.

No, but some of it was "made in Hong Kong"

Soby

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3593128800/in/set-72157619206330728/lightbox/
Hot stuff :P

Blisterman

Sweet
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3592620853/in/set-72157619206330728/

BengaLover

Brilliant, thats a keeper!

starbelgrade

Holy crap...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38301877@N05/3592756071/in/set-72157619206330728/

:eek: