I have a Sony similar to the one mentioned at the end of the article (Edit: TC FX 420R https://www.cassettedeck.org/sony/tc-fx420r https://www.cassettedeck.org/

I have a Sony similar to the one mentioned at the end of the article (Edit: TC FX 420R https://www.cassettedeck.org/sony/tc-fx420r https://www.cassettedeck.org/sony/tc-fx420r). It's been a bit of a journey, replacing the power supply so it can run at 230V, replacing belts, and fixing the autoreverse. It is fairly user serviceable but you need to have a degree of knowledge, a steady hand, and a soldering iron and other tools. Also you'll want to check you can download the schematics and service manual before you buy. That was a huge help for this Sony. Looks really cool when it's running, but not massively practical unless you have lots of tapes that you took good care of. Edit: And it's going to need recapping one day. Good quality 1970s/80s cassette decks in working order on eBay are not cheap these days.