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So many great points have been made in this thread. For me, the sense of accomplishment I felt when the finishing touches were put on my CTC 7 Grenoble was very rewarding. The challenge of trying my hand at an early color set restoration was the motivation. The adventure began when I acquired the set from the original owner’s family. Narrowing the trouble to the flyback transformer and then managing to find a brand new one in the original 50 year old RCA box still amazes me.
Imagination is what fuels many people’s interests. In my case, I visualized how the TV would look and work when it was finished. Then came the inevitable wondering what the original owners watched on it. What they talked about during the commercials and in the case of my set who held the remote control. What I’m getting at is simple. We live in a world where people are stimulated by input from many sources but that’s all it is- stimulation by absorption. Not much challenge there. At age 50 I’m part of the generation that made our own fun. We didn’t wait for some outside source to come along and lead us to it. Our imagination was the starting point and we ran with it. It’s the same imagination that gave me the desire to own and restore an early color set.
Another part is the pride of ownership. Having a color TV in the 1958 was a big deal. I’ve heard many firsthand stories. It was 1972 when my family got our first color set and yes it was still a big deal. Not everyone on the block can say they have a 52 year old color TV in their home. In 2010 it’s still a big deal to me. Owning, sharing and showing a set like this to friends and family is a great reward and I feel privileged to be able to do it. Many have never seen one and a few remember them from personal experience but either way everyone who sees it has been thoroughly entertained by it and their reasons are many.
I’m sure many of us have “romanticized” much of the nostalgia that accompanies what we collect but it might all disappear if we don’t share our thoughts, feelings and experiences with those that didn’t live in an earlier time in history. I’m glad there are younger enthusiasts like RitchieMars and the way he explained that “it's all in the way that you experienced that life”. It’s also the memories of your life that you carry with you. And we can all do with a few pleasant memories about now.
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