A friend of mine made me aware of an old metal Zenith TV at a store that I rarely frequent. It turned out to be a Zenith "bugeye" from around '57-'58. The model number is A1512J and someone has scratched off the chassis number. The antenna is in good shape, as is the AC line "wavemagnet" antenna that's attached. Fortunately, the CRT checks very strong and the flyback and yoke look to be in good shape. The only problem I see is the fusible resistor has corroded and broken off from where it solders on to the AC interlock. If anyone can give me the correct chassis number for this model or any other information that I may need to know, I'd appreciate it.

They wanted $50 for this set; but, I talked them down to $40. I was still a little hesitant to give that much; but, remembered that these old sets are almost gone from my area and that the cost of shipping a TV like this from somewhere else would probably exceed $40. I'm just glad the CRT is good.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2009_0928zenith0003.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2009_0928zenith0002.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2009_0928zenith0001.jpg

Excellent find, sir. I would've paid 40 dollars happily for one in that shape, especially since the crt is good. Some damn sturdy craftsmanship in that there chassis !! :yes:

I'll admit that this thing was FILTHY on the outside before I took the pictures. There are a few dings and paint chips; but, I can live with it.

The place also had some radios; but, they were way overpriced. Stuff like $125 for a beat up '60's clock radio. There was a '50's era Century tube tester in unknown condition; but, he wouldn't go lower than $45. There was a '20's 10" Westinghouse fan in OK shape for $47. The only other TV in the place was an '80's era RCA console that was beat up. I didn't even ask about it.

If anyone can give me the correct chassis number for this model or any other information that I may need to know, I'd appreciate it.


Should be chassis 15A25 (VHF-only).

It's interesting to me to see the "Wavemagnet" antenna attachment on the back of this set near the antenna. I've only seen that attachment once or twice before now; the last one I saw was on eBay a few years ago. It was probably a standalone unit since it had, IIRC, an AC power cord as well as the TV output cable. This particular attachment was, moreover, the first such attachment (that I am aware of) to allow the use of the AC line cord as a television antenna; it probably worked well only in very strong signal areas, as did those cheap gutless-wonder plastic line-antenna gimmicks of the 1950s and '60s with the fancy plastic cases--the ones which claimed to turn your home's entire electrical wiring system into a giant TV antenna. I think I saw a picture of the inside of one of those several years ago; they are little more than two line-isolation capacitors connected to a length of 300-ohm line at one end and the AC input (two AC plug prongs molded into the case) at the other.

As I said, these gimmicks may have worked well in very strong signal areas, but would probably fail miserably in far-suburban or fringe locations. (I wonder how many of these, if any, were actually tried in fringe areas.) Moreover, these units could pose a very real fire or shock hazard (not to mention ruining the TV) should one or both isolation caps short--if, of course, the house fuse or circuit breaker didn't trip first.