1984 Panasonic Hi-fi 4 head VCR I might possibly pick up

[Electronic M]

Only used VCR I ever paid $20 for was a Sony SLV-R1000 S-VHS deck....A friend has one (and paid the better part of a C-note for a parts deck when the PS module burned up), and it is one of the best S-VHS decks ever made. Feeding a flatscreen with it's noise reduction/video stabliizers on it makes a decent VHS tape look like a good uncompressed HD digital source. I ended up letting my friend have it for what I paid since it needed repair....we repaired it together and once working he wanted it (his had another breakdown at the time).

I can't fathom why you like early front load VHS VCRs like that....I doubt I'd take what you just bought if it was free (I will buy S-VHS decks though)....The VHS top-loaders, and separate camera portables (and one or two other odd configurations) have rarity going for them, but little else. Early top loaders only have some ease of service and increased resistance to damage from mechanical shock....You pay for that in poorer picture and audio quality, lack of important features (like cable tuner, OSD, easy/better clock and timer settings that actually work, etc, etc.), most units being broken or failing as found, etc.

Watch the thrifts for a good $3-10 S-VHS (or if you record S-VHS-ET) deck and make that your last VHS format VCR. ....Certain JVC models are so common here that I stopped buying them (4 is more than enough for me). I could grab the next one of those I find and pass it along to you for what it costs me.

[Captainclock]

Well either way I liked that it was an early Panasonic VCR as I like that they are easy to repair if they ever break down that's why I got it, although I do have a mid 1980s (about 1985 or 1986 vintage) JVC Made Zenith VCR that I paid about $6 for at the Goodwill that's a 4-head mono unit that works pretty well yet (but I wanted a good stereo unit for my bedroom TV which I did have an old Sony SLV-575UC (which was also a goodwill find for $6) hooked up to for a while but then moved that down to my LCD Projector that's in my basement.
Anyways I'm sorry you don't find early front loader VCRs as fascinating as I do. Although I find most any early VCR fascinating but this one being an early Stereo VCR was what made me find it most interesting.

With as bad of luck as I've had with trying to locate and repair older top loader units I think front loaders are where my niche is because I have a lot better luck repairing and locating front loader VCRs than I do top loaders, the past two Top loaders I've tried to fix (one a Panasonic PV-1100 that was given to me by someone I used to go to church with had an issue with not wanting to play back in color and this was before I knew about this website and I couldn't fix it so I junked it out, and then my most recent venture with my Hitachi VCR which was also not a very successful repair as one problem after another would just crop up when I fixed one issue another issue would crop up and so on and so forth.)
As interesting as top loaders are and as much as I would love to have one in my collection I don't think it would be practical considering that most top loaders are well over 35+ years old and have sat in some unsavory conditions for probably close to 20+ years I'm guessing that they're going to have more problems than is worth my time or money fixing compared to a front loader of the same time period.