View Full Version : Don't go hunting for TV sets...


bgadow
03-21-2006, 12:38 PM
...they will find you!

Saturday was one of those rare days when I was left to keep "bachelor's hall" as my grandfather used to say. Kim was gone for the morning so I just couldn't keep from making the rounds. Who knows what I might find? I hit an estate sale, the flea market, the junque store, an antique mall, even rode by that guys place where there is a garage full of tv sets, but as usual he wasn't home. I pulled in the yard at noon, empty handed, my head hung low. :sigh:

I go inside and there is a message on the machine. My cousin wants me to come over and haul away 2 old tv sets that were in my great aunt's house. By the time I called they were gone...see, if I had just stayed home, the TV sets would have found me!

Anyway, I did get them yesterday. I didn't know what to expect. From the description I was thinking a typical mid-50s 21" console & maybe a Chromacolor II. I wasn't too far off the mark. Turned out to be a '53 RCA 21" console, not a cheap set. Has a warranty card on the back from when my aunt had a Silverama crt installed in '62. The other set is a '70 Zenith b/w console. Not real exciting-I wouldn't be surprised if it worked. I would be glad to pass either of these sets along to anyone willing to pick them up, though I'm not holding my breath! I have no idea what I'll ever do with them.

I also picked up an empty Grunow radio cabinet from the early 30s. This had been gutted, turned around against the wall & turned into a bookshelf. My cousin had no idea it was a radio. There was also a nice mid-50s RCA table radio that was in the kitchen. I wished I could have taken the appliances that were in there-a Westinghouse refrigerator, Hotpoint electric stove & Maytag wringer washer, all out of the 40s I would guess. He said he'd try to find a home for them somewhere.

I usually unload the truck before I think to snap a picture, so here you go guys, another Dodge pickup full of tv sets:

Grainger49
03-21-2006, 12:48 PM
Great find!

Now go back and get that 50s Westinghouse refrigerator, it will never stop running.

rp2813
03-22-2006, 01:24 PM
Grainger you are so right. There's a little 1939 apartment size (it came out of a 1904 apt bldg my sister managed) Westinghouse frig currently on my mom's back porch that's still keeping drinks cold after about 67 years in regular service. It was even dropped on its side unloading it off a truck once when my buddy lost his grip, and that didn't even phase it. I don't think my bakelite Admiral set would have done quite as well.

Grainger49
03-22-2006, 01:33 PM
I LOVE it ! Now for the old quote:

They don't make them like that anymore. Just try and find a "Subzero" working in 67 years!

Boy, I feel old ! ! !

bgadow
03-23-2006, 03:07 PM
Apparently my great aunt was using a little apartment size refrigerator and not the Westinghouse; not sure if it works right now. I know my uncle is still running a 40s GE as a beer fridge; I had a very rough GE that sat unused for a number of years and lost its charge so I had to junk it.

Grainger49
03-23-2006, 03:09 PM
Lord, I have hijacked this thread!

Shame on me! :nono: :nono: :nono:

Carmine
03-23-2006, 04:13 PM
Nice Dakota, welcome to the club.

Now how about some pics of the sets? Don't be too quick to assume nobody wants that Zenith... Doug might be listening!

bgadow
03-25-2006, 07:18 PM
Here they are. Of course, I didn't try the RCA. No doubt something would go snap, crackle or pop if I turned it on. The Zenith, naturally, DID work, though all of the controls are dirty and tuning is weak. The second time I turned it on the raster didn't come up; something simple, I suspect. Yep, thats a real, handwired, transformer powered Zenith. Even has lighted dials. Don't you just want to take it home? Anybody?

Carmine
03-26-2006, 09:26 AM
I wonder what the last year was for those big, console B&W sets? Did they last till the solid state era (excluding those oddball Magnavox sets?)

Why was Zenith still talking about "UHF Strips" at least 7 years after UHF tuners were mandatory?

3Guncolor
03-26-2006, 12:01 PM
Zenith had 23" console B/W's untill around 79 or 80 maby later. I even delivered two or three around that time.

Zenith sold a lot of remote controled sets UHF strips were a way to tune more then one UHF station with the "space comand"