1950s or '60s vintage Zenith TVs, Need some info
 

Hello everyone, on Monday I have the opportunity to pick up a couple of 1950s or 1960s Vintage Zenith B & W TVs for $120 for the 2. one of them is the famous "Bug Eye" model TV from the late 1950s and the other is an early to mid 1960s vintage metal cabinet 19" B & W Tabletop model that says "All Channel" on it.

My questions are, is the price I'm paying for these TVs fair, and what kinds of things should I look out for when trying to restore these TVs? And what time period are these TVs from (I'm just guessing on the time period, and I'm curious as to whether or not I'm close to the correct time period.)

Also if I for some reason needed to only buy one set over the other (which is an option with this person too) which set would be more worth my money restoring?

Any help or info on these TVs would be appreciated.

See Pictures below, which are taken from the original Facebook Marketplace posting.

Hi Vortalexfan, the bugeye is 1950s and the newer one is 1960s, so you are spot on with your age assesment. In my opinion, $120 for both isn't too bad, considering how little $100 is actually worth these days, If I were looking for more TVs to restore I wouldn't balk at paying $60 for each of them :thmbsp:

I think $120 is a bit high. Somewhat depends on how much you like them.
The 1960s model would not be as valuable as the older model. The 1950s model is missing a knob which could be hard to find.
It is always a good idea, especially when dealing with someone who does not know how to value vintage electronics, to see if he will take less. Say you will give $ 80 to take it off his hands, after pointing out the problems with them.

50's set has more value , the 60's set will have a superior image

If I'm not mistake the Bugeye's color is a very deep maroon, very nice looking set when cleaned up. Fair warning on cleaning those front knobs, the markings wash off very easily with something as mild as Windex. Probably best to be safe and dry wipe or brush them off. The sellers asking seems kind of high for the Midwest. Suppose it depends on your local market and how many collectors respond to such ads. Around here it's very much a buyers market.

Also don't turn them on again until they have been gone through.

Unfortunately the guy already turned on the Bugeye set already and it showed a picture with a partially collapsed Vertical and a partially collapsed Horizontal (it looked like a pentagon on the screen).

As for the price I tried to talk him down and $120 was as low as he would go for both of them unfortunately, and sadly enough in my area people take these old TV sets and make fish tanks out of them, and I was hoping to save them from that fate.

They usually make fish tanks or pet beds out of consoles.
I don't think anyone is going to break down their door to buy them for that kind of money.

You remember my Meck Philharmonic? That TV was about to get made into a fish tank had I not came along and bought it, that's what the lady I bought it from told me, so yes, they do make fish tanks out of tabletop units as well...:thumbsdn:

I think I'm just going to get the Bugeye TV for right now, and see if I can make a deal with him to let me buy the other Zenith TV when I get paid this coming Friday. The Bugeye TV is definitely older and more interesting than the other TV, plus the "Bugeye" TV will go well with my Zenith "Bugeye" Clock Radio. :thmbsp:

Well a little update, unfortunately the guy wouldn't budge from his $120 price for the TVs and he wouldn't even settle for me buying the Bugeye first and then the other one on Friday when I get paid because in his words "they are heavy and he wanted to sell them both at the same time", also he said that if I wouldn't of taken the two TVs at the $120 price he was going to sell them to a lady that was going to make them into fish tanks (so no Dave I wasn't exaggerating when I said that they were going to be made into Fish Tanks.)

So I will be getting them both on Monday and I will be paying $120 for them, at least it will save them from being made into Fish Tanks.

Those bugeye sets can perform well when restored. Here's an article about my T1816R:

https://antiqueradio.org/zen28.htm

Regards,

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
https://antiqueradio.org/index.html

The larger set is a 23 (22) inch screen set with non remote power tuning.

A trapezoidal or vertically-tapered raster is almost always from a bad yoke.

Boy I hope that's not the case, otherwise that Bugeye TV is just going to be a paperweight, as I doubt I'd be able to source a proper yoke for that TV.

The picture of the Zenith Bugeye TV powered on is posted in the first posting on here, its the very first picture in my first post in this thread, could you tell me if the picture that is being produced by the aforementioned Zenith Bugeye TV is indeed a failed Yoke or if its something else?