I ordered and used this plotter around 1987, brand new then, also @ university, for my experiments on High Tc superconductivity.. the physics Nobel prize was just granted to Bednorz and Mueller.
Did cost a fortune, at that time! I think, it was around 10k Deutsche Mark...
I chose this machine (over ordinary DMMs) to please my professor, who was stuck on 'plotters' which had to be used in each physical experiments, but instead I intended to use the 3 12bit A/D acquisiton channels via GPIB, just to automate my measurements, and to plot linearized plots out of the PC again.
It's a clumsy machine, that's true, but the plotter function is great, if you still get the pens.
Perhaps the carousel still contains old ones, which may be dried out.
The 3 chan. data acquisition (contains some memory also) is also fine, if you don't have other means of interfacing to your PC, but you also need GPIB.
But it also had a big adavantage, that you could do long term measurements, over many hours, and plot the resultant graph later in a few minutes.
Doing that live with ordinary plotters always tore the plotting paper in pieces, and created a fat inkblot...
Just for the impressing size and action of the plotter, I'd keep it.
Personally, I'd also like to see a teardown, surely brings tears to my eyes...

Frank