Motorola Color!!!!!

[Charlie]

Who will be the lucky winner of this baby?!?

http://cgi.aol.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...category=15083

[Rob]

Seller claims that this was the first color set available for sale to the public, something none of the TV historians even knew!

I wonder what CRT is in it. Nice score for someone though as these sets are bowkoo rare.

Rob

[rcaman]

very tempting i i i just dont know. may jump at this. i need to see a head doctor......... steve

[Charlie]

Here is the photo from the auction... just in case we don't see it again. Hopefully someone here in AK will grab it... then we'll see BETTER pictures.

[Steve Hoffman]

Here ya go.

[Steve Hoffman]

And picture number 2:

[Charlie]

Thanks Steve. I was afraid that wouldn't get through. I am back at work on the ship right now, and we are anchored 5 miles out from Galveston, Texas. My cel phone signal is a bit weak out here, so I lost the connection as the upload started. Usually have great signal and connection in port (up to 80K sometimes), but out here away from land gets kinda scratchy.

[Eric H]

Looks like a 21" wern't these originally sold with 19" tubes and then upgraded later ?

Didn't a 19" version sell recently on eBay for $2200 or so?

He'd probably have a better chance of selling it if it was listed in the correct category.

[Steve D.]

This nice Motorola has the 21" conversion kit that Motorola offered. It included a new larger mask and additional mounting hardware. This color set was by no means the first offered to the public. That distinction goes to Admiral model C1617A (Dec. 1953) or the better documented Westinghouse model H-840CK15 (Feb. 1954). Both utilized 15GP22 picture tubes. CBS offered a color set in 1951, but that's another story.

[Rob]

Originally posted by Steve D.
This color set was by no means the first offered to the public. That distinction goes to Admiral model C1617A (Dec. 1953) or the better documented Westinghouse model H-840CK15 (Feb. 1954). Both utilized 15GP22 picture tubes. CBS offered a color set in 1951, but that's another story.

SteveD,

Thanx for the info on the CRT. I thought it looked like a 21" tube but was confused by seeing a professional looking mask.

My comment regarding the seller's claim of being the first set was made tongue-in-cheek. Being a very lucky collector to obtain the rare Wesinghouse I 'know' the real story. Still, these color Motorolas are very, very rare, and therefore very collectible.

Rob

[Steve D.]

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the reminder. You are among the few who possess that great rare Westinghouse. For those interested, there are both versions of the Motorola 19" and 21" conversion in Steve McVoy's collection. And a 19" Motorola in Fred Hoffman's with pictures. As well as the Westinghouse on both sites. The 15" Admiral can be seen on Tom Genova's TV History site. I am currently efforting to retrieve my 19" Capehart color set from the UCLA archives so photos can be taken of this extremely rare set and then posted. Hopefully this will happen soon.

[drh4683]

Oh it figures, Villa Park is the next town northeast from me!!!! What are the chances of that!!! ONLY IF IT WERE MORE AFFORDABLE

[Kamakiri]

Is it worth $1,000?

I could conceivably bid on the damn thing and worry about eating later

[Rob]

Tim,

I suspect it is if you are looking at this purchase as a long term investment...and just as important IMO that it also gets your mo-jo going. Having a 21" CRT makes it easy to keep CRT's in it as any 21FBP22 can be installed. I'd want to see the insides though before dropping coin like that. What if the restoration job was poorly done, or it didn't have the original chassis?

Rob

[Kamakiri]

I decided against it. I instead re-ran my local ad for round screen color TVs. Rob got all of my last batch, these I'm keepin