Who's bought a piece of gear only


Based on looks?
rsf507
The only piece of gear that I ever bought based on looks was to go into an incidental system in the family room. For that modest, casual listening setup I procured the Kingsound Guitar Speakers that were at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest several years ago. I had to ship them from the show to my home. Miraculously, they arrived intact. Best, and only, appearance decision only purchase I ever made. These are the coolest speakers I can conceive of for a lifestyle system. 

If you scroll down on the link page you will see their general appearance. It helps that their stands are modified metal tripod music stands that look like they are holding actual guitars. Almost everyone who enters thinks they are real. The sound is respectable for a casual speaker. Dynamic driver is in place of sounding hole, and neck is wider to accommodate an ESL driver! Internally amped for the ESL component. One of the most unique and well done concept speakers I had ever seen, and I was not going home without them.  :)

http://www.kingsaudio.com.hk/?guitar-i,142

As regards a serious audio system, buying based on looks? Never. It MUST sound good, or it doesn't go into the rig, regardless of how lovely it appears. If it sounds terrific and looks good, that's a bonus. 
Anything I purchase needs to satisfy my own criteria, beyond just utility...one of them is appearance. If the appearance doesn’t appeal to me, I don’t buy it. I’ll admit that I bought my Consonance Droplet 5.0 CD player just because it looked so cool! The same thing was probably true when I bought my Krell CD-DSP many years ago. Resale is always in the back of my mind. I believe that if it appeals to me, it will probably appeal to the next owner too.
AR integrated amplifier. Kept blowing up, finally replaced it with Dynaco separates.
I can't help myself... Marantz 3300, 33. 7t, All the spec preamp stuff.
That look, made me buy a few..TO MANY...LOL

Looks count for sure...

I've looked inside and bought because of what I saw. too... Decware M60
absolute works of art inside and out... I sold them.... But.... Fantastico!!!!

Regards
I've bought a few pieces of very low cost vintage gear partially
 based on looks