Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post
There are allegedly a few new L138 chassis still in crates in Italy; but can you afford 20K apiece for something like that individually shipped? I see you're in Mountain View. Too bad, because I know a big lab that hauled a whole pile of Dursts to the dump two years ago. I only had room for one more 8x10 unit, so rounded up a crew of friends and flatbed truck and installed it here for free. There is a horizontal autofocus unit left, but he wants 75K for that. Jens at DurstPro was an excellent machinist and knew his product well, but was NOT a dependable businessman. How he made money was with very expensive service contracts to big labs and government agencies. If you were an ordinary person just wanting to purchase something, you might never get it, whether you paid for it or not. He was playing a shell game with parts, and promising things he couldn't deliver. But he did move something like 27 commercial Durst units worldwide in just a couple of years, whether new or beautifully refinished by him. So the international market for them is still alive. I believe he took on a partner, but that fell through due to his own slippery business practices. I have no idea what happened to all the leftovers. He bought out the rights to Condit registration equipment and made the same items even better; but if you ordered a punch, the matching carrier would never arrive, or visa versa. Remember, Durst stop making commercial enlargers and their accessories a long time ago. Their present 4x5 enlarger is a nice machine, but certainly not in the same league as the old 138's, and is made by a completely different division, the amateur one.
Drew you are so correct about Mr. Jensen—I was one of his victims. I reported him to the Oregon States Attorney because I could not get the parts I ordered nor my money back , but they decided to believe his story over mine. I was out about $2500.00. I know I was not the only one Jens victimized.