bgadow
08-10-2005, 10:26 PM
Am I nuts? I'm sure my wife thinks so. I warned her...
A few months back I posted on Freecycle that I was interested in older model tv sets but nobody responded. I tried again last week. The first response was from a woman wondering why I had not responded to her posting for a 15 year old console tv. I explained I was no good with newer sets but would keep it in mind should I find a home for it. The other response was from a woman who suggested I call a TV repairman in another town "way over yonder". I did not have much hope for this leading to anything but called & learned that, yes, he DID have some sets that were just taking up space & I was welcome to them. I asked if he was interested in the aforementioned console & he said yes so I went & picked it up for him.
First, about that console. Turns out it was a '91 RCA 35", the cream of the crop. Surround sound, all kinds of bells & whistles-I kinda hated to give it away! The owner said the picture had been cutting in & out. Of course, when I got home with it I had to open it up for curiousity. Something very familiar with the set-full "fiber" back with those same old twisty things holding it on, still had the Victor & Victrola trademarks, a fairly big chassis for a newer model. My eyes then fell on something that broke my heart. Somebody-not me!-had broken the exhaust tip on the crt! I later found the plastic piece that the pins go through, with the glass still stuck to it, floating around in the bottom of the cabinet. The crt socket assy. was dangling. I guess somebody, thinking the connection there was bad?,pulled it but for some reason yanked that plastic piece which appeared to be bonded to the glass. Somebody made an expensive mistake. They instantly turned what had been a very nice set into scrap. So, I gave the tv repairman the chassis & tommorow I'm going to trash the rest.
On to the good stuff. The gentleman who gave me these (and anyone who GIVES me a tv set is a gentleman, unless they are a lady!) fixes up curb-find sets on the side. He realizes these would never sell & aren't worth his time, but are too good to toss. These are all tube or hybrid, most are color. He had no consoles, which is a good thing.
Photo 1-Left pile from the top, a very cheap Portacolor, even by Portacolor standards. Plain beige case, no built in antenna, no handle. Dot matrix crt. Next down is an RCA, old emblem. Then a Zenith. The bottom one is a Sylvania. The right pile starts with an RCA, this one proudly advertising "XL Color", then a Zenith with an unusual green crt bezel, and then another oddball, a Motorola Quasar.
Photo 2-Zenith & GE 12" bw sets, then an old emblem RCA bw.
Photo 3-At the top is an Airline. Not sure yet who made it, its from Taiwan. The middle one is a GE. At the bottom is a Motorola-the heaviest of the bunch.
Photo 4-2 RCA's & a 4-tube Zenith.
Photo 5-a 12" bw RCA & another little Zenith.
I really wanted one of the smaller Zeniths as well as some more "oddballs" (meaning something other than RCA/Zenith) and now I've got them.
There are 18 sets in this stack, and he has some more-a gaggle of small bw sets plus 1 or 2 more RCAs similiar to the others-one is a Mural-plus a later model tube GE & maybe another Zenith. He also has some tubes & schematics, so I'll be calling him again soon.
What will I do with them all? I can't keep them. I want to try & save the oddballs but the RCAs especially will need to go. So if anybody is interested they are yours. The bad news to all of this-they have been stored in a shed for some time & it was not real weatherproof. Lots of rust on some of these sets. The old Motorola, in particular, has not had an easy life but I really want to save it. We'll see.
A few months back I posted on Freecycle that I was interested in older model tv sets but nobody responded. I tried again last week. The first response was from a woman wondering why I had not responded to her posting for a 15 year old console tv. I explained I was no good with newer sets but would keep it in mind should I find a home for it. The other response was from a woman who suggested I call a TV repairman in another town "way over yonder". I did not have much hope for this leading to anything but called & learned that, yes, he DID have some sets that were just taking up space & I was welcome to them. I asked if he was interested in the aforementioned console & he said yes so I went & picked it up for him.
First, about that console. Turns out it was a '91 RCA 35", the cream of the crop. Surround sound, all kinds of bells & whistles-I kinda hated to give it away! The owner said the picture had been cutting in & out. Of course, when I got home with it I had to open it up for curiousity. Something very familiar with the set-full "fiber" back with those same old twisty things holding it on, still had the Victor & Victrola trademarks, a fairly big chassis for a newer model. My eyes then fell on something that broke my heart. Somebody-not me!-had broken the exhaust tip on the crt! I later found the plastic piece that the pins go through, with the glass still stuck to it, floating around in the bottom of the cabinet. The crt socket assy. was dangling. I guess somebody, thinking the connection there was bad?,pulled it but for some reason yanked that plastic piece which appeared to be bonded to the glass. Somebody made an expensive mistake. They instantly turned what had been a very nice set into scrap. So, I gave the tv repairman the chassis & tommorow I'm going to trash the rest.
On to the good stuff. The gentleman who gave me these (and anyone who GIVES me a tv set is a gentleman, unless they are a lady!) fixes up curb-find sets on the side. He realizes these would never sell & aren't worth his time, but are too good to toss. These are all tube or hybrid, most are color. He had no consoles, which is a good thing.
Photo 1-Left pile from the top, a very cheap Portacolor, even by Portacolor standards. Plain beige case, no built in antenna, no handle. Dot matrix crt. Next down is an RCA, old emblem. Then a Zenith. The bottom one is a Sylvania. The right pile starts with an RCA, this one proudly advertising "XL Color", then a Zenith with an unusual green crt bezel, and then another oddball, a Motorola Quasar.
Photo 2-Zenith & GE 12" bw sets, then an old emblem RCA bw.
Photo 3-At the top is an Airline. Not sure yet who made it, its from Taiwan. The middle one is a GE. At the bottom is a Motorola-the heaviest of the bunch.
Photo 4-2 RCA's & a 4-tube Zenith.
Photo 5-a 12" bw RCA & another little Zenith.
I really wanted one of the smaller Zeniths as well as some more "oddballs" (meaning something other than RCA/Zenith) and now I've got them.
There are 18 sets in this stack, and he has some more-a gaggle of small bw sets plus 1 or 2 more RCAs similiar to the others-one is a Mural-plus a later model tube GE & maybe another Zenith. He also has some tubes & schematics, so I'll be calling him again soon.
What will I do with them all? I can't keep them. I want to try & save the oddballs but the RCAs especially will need to go. So if anybody is interested they are yours. The bad news to all of this-they have been stored in a shed for some time & it was not real weatherproof. Lots of rust on some of these sets. The old Motorola, in particular, has not had an easy life but I really want to save it. We'll see.