The Clear Mac SE/20 Has Been Sold

How do you make sure all the parts fit correctly in a new design? You test "shoot" the mold with clear plastic before the mold is textured.

At Apple, some of these test shots were built until finished and given to key team members as awards for a job well done.

After much research I have learned that no more than 10 of these clear Macs were ever built.

Photo by Kozo Takeuchi

The Mac SE is the finest looking and most artistically mature of any of Apple's computers. This Mac SE was made from one of a very small number of "shots" done in clear plastic, "shot" being the word used in the plastics business for injection molding a part. This was done before the mold was textured so that the plastic would look clear like glass and the clearance and placement of internal components could be seen. Once textured for production plastic, it is impossible to use the molds to make a see-through plastic case.

I have the original packaging and documentation including cards and diskettes still in their Styrofoam sub-container. Note the only color on the plastic is the little Apple logo in front.

Less than 20 clear cases were made. Several were used for test and fitting of components to check clearances and take measurements. Ten remaining cases were built up into complete working units and the project leader gave them as presentations to ten key team members of the SE project. Why not ship any this way? The Mac SE had to be sprayed on the inside with a metallic paint to meet FCC regulations so you would not be able to see through a sellable version of a clear Mac SE!

I have a clear and a white "programers switch". The clear is broken but gluable. I have replaced the CRT once and the hard drive is bigger than the original 20 Meg. It has had a couple of accelerators and logic boards and a replacement SuperDrive.

There is something missing. I removed the aluminized paper inserts that were needed in the production Macs to meet FCC regulations but completely obscured the view of the inside. They can be found in any regular SE.

Note: They did not make any clear keyboards or mice. A plain mouse is included. The Keyboard was a separate item. I am selling it with the intention of it going to a collector or museum and not as a working computer for regular use. It works great but I can not even guarantee it will be working after shipment, though if it isn't, I can send another working set of motherboard and video/power supply.