I know the world started somewhere around a Series C or CX - a little before 
my time - but during one of those hmmm moments, I started thinking about 
which HP3000 would we really brag about being the beginning of THE MACHINE.

Which one would we nominate to the Hall of Fame?

I was around during Series IIs & IIIs, and with polling wires, interupt jumpers, 
backplane terminators, "interesting" backplanes and the like, they were not 
the most friendly computer (support-wise), and could become the home of the 
intermitten nightmare.  The 7970B/E and 7920/25 series productlines kept an 
HP CE with great job security. Lucklily, the HP support product of the time 
was striving for stellar, and keep the customer base content during the 
evolution of the product - quite a common goal back when Bill and Dave were 
running things.

My vote would probably go the the Series 30 thru 70 product line, not so 
much the first models in the 30/33 40/44 era, and although I thought the desk 
model was kinda cool,  most of the client base complained about the loss of 
the instruction register lights.  How else could you tell if it was hung or not? 

The Series 70 in all its glory was a very hefty machine, payload capable with a 
stabilty appropriate to the top evolution of the line - quite ahead of it's time.  
Pair that with the support model of the '80s - lots of talent, training and parts 
in the field with phenominal documentation and support available - and you 
can well understand how Hewlett-Packard Company (not to be confused with 
today's HP) came to be the corporate model it used to be.

So I guess I just said my vote for the machine that really started it all, like 
started them down the great road, would be the Series 30, although I could 
see where many would vote for the Series IIILC (one of which I would love to 
find for personal reasons).

Plus the 793X series of disc of the same era, had a great dual purpose utility.  
If put into butterfly seek test - looped of course - one could put a small 
container of alcohol on the outside top of the disc module, pop your jewelery 
into it, and by the time your call was finished, your stuff was spotless and 
shone beyond compare.  

Just another one of the reasons HP CEs used to look so good...

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