Through the years of collecting, we had heard rumors and seen hints of the existence of an expansion module for the Salora Manager computer.  This magnificent device would allow playing Colecovision games with this Finnish computer (of Hong Kong, VTech Laser origin).

Let me start with the hints and clues we had before :
1) Some mentions and a drawn picture of the device in the Salora Manager manuals. Some manuals didn't have this information, but a copyright by CBS and Atari could be found with no explanation.
2) When we were asking about such a device, one person said they "once owned a device that let you play better looking games on the Manager"
3) Salora Manager is basicly a copy of Vtech Laser 2001, only with a scandinavian keyboard, Salora logos and different coloring. Computer's for Everybody - Buyer's Guide 1984 had this picture of Laser 2001, also mentioning that it can be used to play Atari games (using the Colecovision Atari expansion we presumed, and turns out we were right). Still, this didn't prove that there was more than a prototype available.
4) Mikko finds some Creativision games that work fine on the Manager. From this we conclude, that the Creativision has also the exact same technology. After a while, Dieter Koenig puts up this page about the Creativision (Dick Smith Wizzard in Australia) and it's rumored Colecovision expansion. The thing looks just like the drawn picture we had.. the plot thickens

At the end of last year (2001) a fellow collector from Finland, Sami Klemola informed us that he had infact found the darned thing! A month later he sent it to us to dissect - thanks a bunch. Enjoy!

A note: This was apparently the first time this unit was ever opened,
since there was glue on the screws and intact QC stickers all over the
place. So, everything is as it left the factory... Click on the thumbnails for a bigger picture.

The motherboard with a huge shield covering all the circuitry (reset switch in the middle). There's even some masking tape on top for some reason... We didn't dare open the shield, since the unit appeared to work fine.

The connector looks hand-pressed.
The adapter complete with a Salora joystick (Atari compatible plug).
Nicely color-matched to the Salora Manager main unit.
These wires look as if they were soldered by hand... So does the slanted light connector. High quality from Hong Kong!
Apparently, you connect the Colecovision Expansion Module #1 here to play Atari games. The only trouble is, there are no wires to connect it to the main board!
We tried the unit out with Mouse Trap. It seems to operate on 12 volts DC, center plus. There's no power switch on the unit, it's always on. As you can see, there are no usual Colecovision bootup screens, and the background color is purple. The games run fine nevertheless. You can also plug in a Coleco controller, but the numpad gets all messed up: Key 3 becomes key 1, 7 becomes 2 etc.  

 
And what are these then? Obviously designer to fit connectors for some other controllers, and there's even a cut-out in the case for them (about the size of a D15 connector).
Ah, you insert the cartridge here. As if there were any other places to put it...
So, we're pretty sure this thing would work also with the VTech Laser 2001 (duh, that's what it says on the screen) and Creativision (Dick Smith Wizzard). If we find out something else, this page will be updated. 
Be sure to check it out!

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