Does anybody know where the K-1000s were made?
According to Wikipedia: "Production of the largely hand assembled camera was moved from Japan, first to Hong Kong in 1978 and then to China in 1990, to keep labor costs down. The "Asahi" name and "AOCo" logo was removed from the pentaprism cover to de-emphasize the company name in keeping with the rest of the "Pentax" line. The meter components changed as Asahi Optical searched for suitable supplies. The metal in the wind shaft was downgraded from steel. Cheaper plastic was substituted for the originally aluminum top and bottom plates and aluminum and steel film rewind assembly. Note that the use of lighter plastic lowered the weight of the Chinese-assembled K1000s to 525 g."
I bought my K1000 in 84 and it is built like a tank, no plastic parts on it anywhere, except the take up spool. Even according to the description from Wikipedia, it should have come from Hong Kong, but it has the Asahi name on it. I had a ME Super too, that seemed to be very plastic like. I kept the K1000 and gave the ME Super to my niece. My K1000 replaced my Spotmatic that I got in 68, and to me they both seem to weight the same and have the same quality. Sadly, the Spotmatic was worn out and given to a friend of mine who repaired cameras to use for parts. Hope some of it lives on.
Roger, now on the MX, I found one that I am in love with. Just don't need another camera right now. But, does yours have any plastic stuff on it, like top and bottom? I may just have to buy it anyway.
Wayne