I saw someone had a old Hotpoint B&W set for sale. Does anyone have any info on these sets ? What years where Hotpoint sets produced, are they good quality sets etc...... ?

Hotpoint was another brand of General Electric. Usually the sets were identical to GE sets.

Randy is correct.

Hotpoint TVs are electrically identical to GEs, with slight changes in appearance. Hotpoint had fewer models and was positioned below GE. Hotpoint was sold through discount chains. GEs were sold through high end retailers such as department and furniture stores and exclusive dealers.

Initially Hotpoint was distributed through GE Supply and GE was distributed through GE Appliance. It was product differentiation by distribution channels.

When I was a kid, friends of mine had a Hotpoint refrigerator and a (Sears) Coldspot oven/range. Used to kid them about it.

I currently have a Hotpoint fridge produced in 2003. It was built by GE. They still offer a Hotpoint appliance line. I believe Hotpoint was a stand alone co. up to the 50's at least. They sponsored "The Ozzie & Harriet" show in the 50's with a 17 year old Mary Tyler Moore as the "Happy Hotpoint Elf" dancing around the TV's and appliances in the commercials. Hotpoint branded TV's are still marketed in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. I beleve they are rebadged Samsungs. To return to this forum. There was never a Hotpoint badged color tv sold in the U.S. in the 50's '60's era.

-Steve D.

Does anyone know when Hotpoint started and when it finished manufacturing TVs?

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Here is the Hotpoint TV that I was referring to. It is really retro. It looks like somebody is going to snatch it up for a good price. The current bid is only at $10.

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-Vintage-1950s-HOTPOINT-Console-Television_W0QQitemZ140225485983QQihZ004QQcategory Z73374QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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I have a small stack of sales flyers for Hotpoint sets around 56-57. The little 9" set I have from the late 50s is the Hotpoint version. The oldest Hotpoint in my collection is a waffle iron that must date from the early 20s-still makes a good waffle! Someone, maybe on another site, said Hotpoint was once a totally seperate company but I don't think that is correct...seems my waffle iron mentions GE on the bottom. The name apparently comes from an early line of electric irons that bested the competition because the heating element was specially designed. The "point" at the front of the iron was thus "hot".

When I shopped for an new range at the local GE dealer a few years back I noticed one distinct difference between the Hotpoint and GE versions: the former were made in Mexico while the latter were still built in the US.

Hotpoint TVs were offered from the '56 model year through about '59-60.

And I repaired an early 80s Hotpoint version of a 10" PortaColor. It was bright orange, in stead of the usual wood grain. As Steve D points out, the name crops up now & then as recently as the past couple years. I never have seen a Hotpoint TV from the Thomson era, though.

Charles