Nascom/Lucas Advert - July 1979

This is the advert which launched the Nascom 2 - an update of the popular Chris Shelton-designed Nascom 1, which was first launched in 1977.

The Nascom 2 came with the faster 4MHz Zilog Z80A, an improved NAS-SYS1 or 3 system monitor, an 8K Microsoft BASIC and 10K memory rather than the 1K of the original.

Whereas the previous model had been created for the hobbyist or industrial market, the Nascom 2 was aimed more at a general-purpose microcomputer market, and had integrated many of the additions required to the Nascom 1 in order to make it a usable computer. Marketing manager Kerr Borland said:

"In no way is the Nascom 2 a replacement for the Nascom 1. Over the 18-month period [since the launch of the earlier machine] it became obvious that there is a market for the Nascom 1 for the forseeable future. There is also a large market, however, for an upgrade version which will have more of a computing bias"

A schematic drawing of the Nascom 2, from Practical Computing, July 1979

Like the previous Nascom 1, it was primarily available in kit form, although there were some third-party pre-built versions available.

However with well over 1,000 component joints to solder, building one was very much considered as a job for experienced hobbyists only^[1].

The Nascom 2 retailed for £295 + VAT, or about £2,290 in 2025 terms. At the time of its launch, in the summer of 1979, Nascom's turnover was £1.5 million for the previous year, or about £14 million in 2025 money, with Kerr Borland estimating £5 million for the subsequent 12 months.

It was also revealed in an interview in July 1979's Practical Computing that 70% of Nascom's output was going to Europe, with Sweden being the largest distributor. Nascom had sold 12,000 units so far, but Borland revealed that the company was struggling to keep up demand, saying:

"Last year we delivered 6,000 and in 1979 we estimate that we will ship 14,000. The problem is that we can't make them fast enough to satisfy all our customers. If we could make 500 a week we could sell them with no difficulty. Shortly we hope to be manufacturing 500 Nascom-1's a month and that inevitably will increase^[2]".

Another of Nascom's problems was in sourcing parts, an issue which Borland partly attributed to the chip industry only just coming out of one of its four-year boom-bust cycles.

He also credited the US, or rather its habit of simply forgetting about foreign markets whenever the local market expanded, as an issue, suggesting that "they forget the outside business and we go short of parts".

Nevertheless, parent company Nasco had only just signed an order with Mostek worth nearly £1 million, or about £7 million in 2025 - making this reputedly the biggest order placed by a British firm for computer chips. The "runaway success" of its Nascom subsidiary had also caused it to rearrange its entire semiconductor distribution business^[3]".

Unfortunately for Nascom, shortages of Mostek's MK4118 static memory chips that the Nascom 2 required would eventually delay its release, and got so bad that the company ended up having to ship with older and slower DRAM on a plug-in board, whilst offering purchasers an eventual upgrade when the faster chips eventually became available.

This was perhaps the beginning of the end for the company, which would go bust the following year.