drh4683
08-18-2015, 11:52 AM
This is the 1974 Zenith Space Command 500 4-tube hybrid console that was on craigslist last week that member Paul Knaack found and posted in the curbside forum. (Once again, a special thanks to Paul for finding and posting the link)
The set was way up north in Rhinelander, WI and a good friend of mine was able to pick it up for me. I visited he and his wife on Sunday and brought the set home then.
The set was left behind in the living room of it's original home and when the new homeowners moved in, they were going to throw the set away without even giving it a second thought. They called up the local dump telling them they had leftover household items to get rid of and one of the items was a TV, but they were informed that there would be a $17.00 E-waste fee for the TV. The new homeowners refused to pay the fee and instead decided to list it as a freebie on craigslist! Fortunately they called about dropping it off first, so it was spared the rough handling. They just took the set out of the house last week for the first time when it was listed in the ad.
You never know how something is going to turn out until you see it in person. It could have easily been a well used set that needed a lot of work. But not so. The set was basically preserved in "like new" condition from a very clean well kept home. The original owner is still around, she's 95 and moved into assisted living. She and her husband bought the set new in 1974 and it was one of those TV's that was bought basically to serve as a piece of accent furniture for the living room that nobody used. The regular TV viewing was in the back room of the house, so that's how this set got preserved.
What makes this such an unusual set is that it's very late, in fact, final production 4-tube hybrid chassis, the 23EC15 and features the space command 500 remote. It's a cool set because it really represents a transitional period in domestic TV manufacturing when things were going from quality built cabinetry to cost cutting / cheapening to compete with foreign makes. There is something very unique and appealing to me about an "end of an era" model just as there is something very special about a first. This set is housed in a rather cheap and flimsy "economy" cabinet, but I think that makes it cool because how many of these survived? How many were actually even sold in the first place? Almost all of the cabinetry is plastic except for the top which is only veneer over presswood! Otherwise, wood is only used where absolutely necessary for structural bracing of the plastic pieces and to support the chassis. Even the caster brackets are simply screwed into the plastic base apron! What I like is that Zenith decided to cut costs on the cabinetry instead of compromising and cheapening up the chassis. They did this because it was easier at the time to cheapen the cabinet than to retool the entire chassis production lines; an effort that didn't finally materialize until the first System 3's were introduced in 1978. However, even if the chassis is still representing that traditional "handcrafted quality", the way the components are arranged still indicate that an effort was made to consolidate components to fit perhaps more than just one model (cost savings), or it was perhaps just a quick and cheap way to use up an abundance of remaining parts still in inventory.
Notice how the space command motor drive assembly is not part of the tuner mounting assembly like it always was in previous years. It's a completely separate drive assembly, supported by a metal brace off the rear of the chassis. The motor drive is linked to a standard bandswitch tuner simply by a long shaft that spans almost the entire depth of the cabinet! The TMA is the same as that of a non-space command set. So this arrangement was like a quick mod to make a basic set into a space command.
Also notice how the deflection yoke frame is not mounted with those long spring wires back to the CRT mounting brackets as was done in previous years. On this set, Zenith simply used some double sided foam, stuck the yoke bracket to it and then took long strip of that stuff and haphazardly wrapped it all the way around the tabs to give it a little more adhesion to the bell.
As stated before, the chassis itself being the 23EC15 marks the very last color chassis using tubes in Zenith production. This set was built in Chicago, but by 1974, Zenith had their own feeder plants operating in Mexico which built deflection yokes and duramodules. Zenith's plants in Mexico would soon take on more and more production. (EDIT 8-18-15 @ 9:46 est: Based on a discussion further in this thread, it appears that this set was most likely manufactured in or around mid-April, 1974)
I am probably the first to take the back cover off the set since the day it was it was made. The horizontal output tube is still siliconed down to the chassis.
And of course, being a Zenith, a cheaper version or not, it still works just fine with that razor sharp Chromacolor picture after 41 years!
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5754/20522334095_87fecc9afa_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xgujWt)74_Zen (https://flic.kr/p/xgujWt) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/633/20038255153_52d6c216d6_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wwHi8P)DSC03880 (https://flic.kr/p/wwHi8P) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/592/20649995812_bfb50706f2_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xsLCjy)DSC03875 (https://flic.kr/p/xsLCjy) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/578/20038256103_e4dd95a226_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wwHiqc)DSC03814 (https://flic.kr/p/wwHiqc) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/745/20471195440_a55f303786_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xbYecw)DSC03819 (https://flic.kr/p/xbYecw) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/619/20665895431_66c266a55e_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xub7HV)DSC03817 (https://flic.kr/p/xub7HV) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5830/20471195530_b9dfdeb383_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xbYee5)DSC03818 (https://flic.kr/p/xbYee5) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5763/20472462199_f2070d9fe2_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xc5HLc)DSC03878 (https://flic.kr/p/xc5HLc) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/713/20472463509_a1991d5139_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xc5J9M)DSC03821 (https://flic.kr/p/xc5J9M) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5669/20471196178_6024867c44_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xbYeqf)DSC03822 (https://flic.kr/p/xbYeqf) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/613/20036638614_3a007d6f50_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wwz1As)DSC03824 (https://flic.kr/p/wwz1As) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5707/20659203295_e7a301ed0a_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xtzPog)DSC03823 (https://flic.kr/p/xtzPog) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/584/20649995402_3d57ed13ed_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xsLCcu)DSC03825 (https://flic.kr/p/xsLCcu) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5680/20659201695_d975c87632_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xtzNUF)DSC03826 (https://flic.kr/p/xtzNUF) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/589/20632944136_d8eab4cbca_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xrges9)DSC03827 (https://flic.kr/p/xrges9) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
The set was way up north in Rhinelander, WI and a good friend of mine was able to pick it up for me. I visited he and his wife on Sunday and brought the set home then.
The set was left behind in the living room of it's original home and when the new homeowners moved in, they were going to throw the set away without even giving it a second thought. They called up the local dump telling them they had leftover household items to get rid of and one of the items was a TV, but they were informed that there would be a $17.00 E-waste fee for the TV. The new homeowners refused to pay the fee and instead decided to list it as a freebie on craigslist! Fortunately they called about dropping it off first, so it was spared the rough handling. They just took the set out of the house last week for the first time when it was listed in the ad.
You never know how something is going to turn out until you see it in person. It could have easily been a well used set that needed a lot of work. But not so. The set was basically preserved in "like new" condition from a very clean well kept home. The original owner is still around, she's 95 and moved into assisted living. She and her husband bought the set new in 1974 and it was one of those TV's that was bought basically to serve as a piece of accent furniture for the living room that nobody used. The regular TV viewing was in the back room of the house, so that's how this set got preserved.
What makes this such an unusual set is that it's very late, in fact, final production 4-tube hybrid chassis, the 23EC15 and features the space command 500 remote. It's a cool set because it really represents a transitional period in domestic TV manufacturing when things were going from quality built cabinetry to cost cutting / cheapening to compete with foreign makes. There is something very unique and appealing to me about an "end of an era" model just as there is something very special about a first. This set is housed in a rather cheap and flimsy "economy" cabinet, but I think that makes it cool because how many of these survived? How many were actually even sold in the first place? Almost all of the cabinetry is plastic except for the top which is only veneer over presswood! Otherwise, wood is only used where absolutely necessary for structural bracing of the plastic pieces and to support the chassis. Even the caster brackets are simply screwed into the plastic base apron! What I like is that Zenith decided to cut costs on the cabinetry instead of compromising and cheapening up the chassis. They did this because it was easier at the time to cheapen the cabinet than to retool the entire chassis production lines; an effort that didn't finally materialize until the first System 3's were introduced in 1978. However, even if the chassis is still representing that traditional "handcrafted quality", the way the components are arranged still indicate that an effort was made to consolidate components to fit perhaps more than just one model (cost savings), or it was perhaps just a quick and cheap way to use up an abundance of remaining parts still in inventory.
Notice how the space command motor drive assembly is not part of the tuner mounting assembly like it always was in previous years. It's a completely separate drive assembly, supported by a metal brace off the rear of the chassis. The motor drive is linked to a standard bandswitch tuner simply by a long shaft that spans almost the entire depth of the cabinet! The TMA is the same as that of a non-space command set. So this arrangement was like a quick mod to make a basic set into a space command.
Also notice how the deflection yoke frame is not mounted with those long spring wires back to the CRT mounting brackets as was done in previous years. On this set, Zenith simply used some double sided foam, stuck the yoke bracket to it and then took long strip of that stuff and haphazardly wrapped it all the way around the tabs to give it a little more adhesion to the bell.
As stated before, the chassis itself being the 23EC15 marks the very last color chassis using tubes in Zenith production. This set was built in Chicago, but by 1974, Zenith had their own feeder plants operating in Mexico which built deflection yokes and duramodules. Zenith's plants in Mexico would soon take on more and more production. (EDIT 8-18-15 @ 9:46 est: Based on a discussion further in this thread, it appears that this set was most likely manufactured in or around mid-April, 1974)
I am probably the first to take the back cover off the set since the day it was it was made. The horizontal output tube is still siliconed down to the chassis.
And of course, being a Zenith, a cheaper version or not, it still works just fine with that razor sharp Chromacolor picture after 41 years!
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5754/20522334095_87fecc9afa_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xgujWt)74_Zen (https://flic.kr/p/xgujWt) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/633/20038255153_52d6c216d6_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wwHi8P)DSC03880 (https://flic.kr/p/wwHi8P) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/592/20649995812_bfb50706f2_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xsLCjy)DSC03875 (https://flic.kr/p/xsLCjy) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/578/20038256103_e4dd95a226_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wwHiqc)DSC03814 (https://flic.kr/p/wwHiqc) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/745/20471195440_a55f303786_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xbYecw)DSC03819 (https://flic.kr/p/xbYecw) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/619/20665895431_66c266a55e_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xub7HV)DSC03817 (https://flic.kr/p/xub7HV) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5830/20471195530_b9dfdeb383_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xbYee5)DSC03818 (https://flic.kr/p/xbYee5) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5763/20472462199_f2070d9fe2_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xc5HLc)DSC03878 (https://flic.kr/p/xc5HLc) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/713/20472463509_a1991d5139_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xc5J9M)DSC03821 (https://flic.kr/p/xc5J9M) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5669/20471196178_6024867c44_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xbYeqf)DSC03822 (https://flic.kr/p/xbYeqf) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/613/20036638614_3a007d6f50_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/wwz1As)DSC03824 (https://flic.kr/p/wwz1As) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5707/20659203295_e7a301ed0a_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xtzPog)DSC03823 (https://flic.kr/p/xtzPog) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/584/20649995402_3d57ed13ed_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xsLCcu)DSC03825 (https://flic.kr/p/xsLCcu) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5680/20659201695_d975c87632_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xtzNUF)DSC03826 (https://flic.kr/p/xtzNUF) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/589/20632944136_d8eab4cbca_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/xrges9)DSC03827 (https://flic.kr/p/xrges9) by drh4683 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/135332734@N02/), on Flickr