2 Color TVs, unsure of exact mfg. dates 1968? 1976?
 

Hello All,
I recently acquired a Zenith color television set that I would say dates back to 1968, but I am not sure if this is the exact date. It is not solid-state, and I happen to know solid-state sets came out around 1975, so it must be from before then. It is a console TV set, model Y4519-4, and what looks like "Service Saver" chassis type 20Y1C88". Would anybody happen to know a definitive model year for this?

Soon I will acquire another vintage Zenith console TV. It is a Chromacolor II from I'm guessing 1976-77. This one is solid state, as were all CCII sets. It features the "one knob electronic tuner" as well. It may or may not have Zenith's "Color Sentry" feature. It is Model H2526P, chassis 25HC45. Once again, does anyone know the definitive model year? Also, did this TV feature "Color Sentry" or not
Thanks.

The Sams Photofact for the first set (927-2) was issued in January 1968, and for the other (1677-2) was issued in September 1977.

The first chassis letter denoted the year. B was 1971 IIRC so the HC should be ~1977 and the Y probably would be 1968, but IIRC it's chassis number was from a transitional period in chassis naming. The CCII should have the date printed on the back.

IIRC Zenith sold it's first Solid State color sets in 1973, and they had an experimental field test SS chassis the year before which got completely recalled and scrapped. Other makes like motorola and RCA were rolling out SS sets like the WID moto/quasar line and the RCA 2000 in 1968.
Monochrome SS dates back even earlier. Zenith rolled it out with the model 1290 portable in IIRC 1968....It was all hand wired and there is a commercial on youtube of it being dropped from a plane running and parachuting to earth safely (I own a white cabinet example)....Of course other brands had SS portables years earlier. Philco was the first in 1959 with the Philco Safari, and many other brands joined the fray in the early-mid 60's.

1975 was the last year for the tube/SS hybrids from most makes, including Zenith (some held out longer). One all tube (unless tuning UHF) set continued production till at least 1978: the GE portacolor.

I've got a danish modern with the same chassis/face panel as yours, and I've got a metal table set with a 20BC50 chassis(or was it CC I may have mixed it up with another set I've got) and the same face panel.

I have a 1969 Zenith almost identical to your 1968, my favorite control layout. It is a chassis 16Z8C50 (the first number indicates 16 tubes) due to 1969 set using 4 fewer tubes, as 12-pin tubes were used to replace multiple 9-pin tubes. These were the ever-improving Zenith offerings that made RCA's trouble-prone sets look like pooches in those years.

The newer chromacolor II is an easy one to restore. You can get lots of good advice here. I had an Avanti (used a fancy while molded plastic base and cabinet sides) with the same 25HC45 chassis, with a remote control (space command) and the paperwork listed the sale date as December 1976.

I'm guessing the yellow button at the upper left of the controls is a Color Sentry button.

I remember talking to the advertising people, who were asking "how fast can we say it works?" I told them it really operated much faster, and they could claim 15,000 times a second. They said "We'll just say 30 times a second so the competition isn't tempted to take us to court."

Moved from early to rectangular...