Yeah, Mitsubishi became quite an eye opener for me too. I kind of scoffed at the “BOXY” line (seemed a silly name) where many designs just looked peculiar to me. Well, I certainly changed my mind about it, especially due to the fact that quality was very good for the price.
Even still, I’d kept my eyes open a good bit and there were some models I just didn’t see coming up about 6~8 years ago. Like the MX-100 and MX-300. Then one day about 3 years ago I saw the MX-100. The examples that had come up for auction were rough looking and some had visible dents. I just figured it was a cheap double-knock and then ignored it. It wasn’t until about a year and a half ago when I’d seen a few people showcase nice examples of it when I began to realize I was dead wrong. I did come across the M5-101 about 5 years ago and had picked up the black and silver versions, but the copper one was non-existent… at least, I’d not been fortunate enough to spot it. It was only about 2 years ago when I first came to know about it–your post about scoring a few. Finally got one, loved the color, and was able to get another.
I have just one M5-1052. I wanted to get an M3-1052, but they sure aren’t coming around much any longer!