Know of any true bullet proof equipment stories?

Back in the early 1970s I used to work at the Allied Radio Shack 5-state service department. We had a Realistic receiver come in that was so melted from a fire that the knobs were blobs. The unit was sooty from one end to the other. It was sent to us for checkout- the only thing we found was the FW had died due to a bad Intermediate Frequency IC chip. But that particular receiver was prone to that particular kind of IC failure, so we could not definitively say that the fire caused it. It was on display in the local retail store for months- playing.

How about this Marconi wireless receiver, which was on a ship that sank in 1918, was recovered from the ocean bottom in 1999, and subsequently restored to beautiful condition (albeit only after years of effort)? See the section headed "Type 16 Crystal Receiver" in this article (the link doesn't seem to work consistently, though, and if it does be patient waiting for the photos to download).

The online article doesn't include a photo of the set in as-found condition, but it is included in the print edition I have, and as found it looked like what you might expect it to, following 81 years at the bottom of the ocean.

Regards,
-- Al

Not exactly audio. I once dropped my Samsung cell phone into the pond and had to dive couple of metters to recover it. Removed the battery, wiped everything off and the damn thing worked perfectly. So naturally now the entire family only buy Samsung phones.
Heard many stories about AK47. Whatever you do to it that thing keeps firing. Oops, that was not audio at all. But it makes sounds!

Inna
Yeah they definitely make sounds and their both equipment of one kind or another and arguably from both sides to be an essential piece of equipment for survival even.

I too have only owned samsung phones for a long time and AK-47's will keep firing far after we will.

Everyone else thanks a million for the entertainment you have given me and the Audiogon community at large

Back in the good old days we actually tried to do something with that thing to disable its firing relentlessness. We suceeded though I don't quite remember what we did but it took some effort.
Anyway, let's return to audio.