I think the reserve price was ridiculous for sure, but it doesn't seem to me that he actually wanted to sell the machine. I think the reserve price was intentionally absurd to make sure it wouldn't sell out from underneath him. I think he was more interested in figuring out the approximate value of the machine on eBay. He probably didn't sell it for $71 because he had more than that in it. But I don't see why someone would make a modification like that to sell in the first place.

I do think it's worth at least $70 or so on eBay, or at least, I'm not shocked it was bid that high. Color Classics on eBay regularly go for over $50. I should think one that is heavily upgraded (larger hard drive, maxed out RAM, better motherboard, etc., etc.) would go for more than one in a stock configuration.