David Troy, Toad Computers

In this episode, I sit down with a long-time Atari dealer back in the 80’s and 90’s, Mr. David Troy.

David ran the Toad BBS from 1984-1988 starting at the age of 12 and then in 1986 as a sophomore in high school, he and partner Ray Mitchell founded a small computer mail order firm specializing in the Atari line of computers.  They shortly moved into a storefront in Severna Park, Maryland and the company grew into a million dollar plus business until they closed shop in 1997.

This interview took place February 27, 2016.

Teaser Quotes

• “Commodore 1702 color monitors, that we sold to a company in Baltimore, that we later figured out was using them to install the monitors inside of peep show booths”
• “I remember one time we got some kind of a call from Minnesota where they needed, I think it was a battery pack for a Stacy portable, and they needed it like pronto because Prince was going to be pissed”
• “Jack Tramiel’s son just called me up and blasted me out, you know this is the guy who designed the Commodore 64; he thought it was worth his time to call me up and bother me about this”

Links

• David’s Website - http://davetroy.com/
• “Toad Computers Growing By Leaps And Bounds”, October 18, 1990, Baltimore Sun - http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1990-10-18/news/0501210518_1_troy-atari-severna-park
• People Maps - http://peoplemaps.org/
• Mailstrom - https://mailstrom.co/