1964 GE 19" Portable Century

[egrand]

Well, here's my other recent purchase: a 1964 GE 19" Portable B&W set known as the Century model. They were introduced in the 1962 Seattle World's Fair and were made through 1964. This is from '64 going by the date codes on the tubes. This has UHF and twin speakers too.

It was on CL in Rockford for over a month. I was in Northern IL over the weekend and came back through Rockford and called the seller to see it. It was in really good shape. He said it had quit working recently. I whittled him down in price and in my car it went.

When I got home I tested the CRT on my B&K 470. The tube was about in the middle of the emissions and was weak in the life test, so its got a few hours on it. The rectifier tube was a Zenith brand, so it had been replaced. All the other tubes and parts look original. It was fairly clean inside for its age.

I plugged it into the variac and brought it up and got a great picture. Don't know why the seller had trouble. The only thing wrong with it is that one of the antennas broke out of the tab holding in, but it was still inside the case and can be fixed with a hose clamp.

Had a hard time getting good screen shots. This thing is heavy for its size. Eventhough I'm sure it has all original caps, I think I'll keep like it is for now and see how long it holds out. I'm having really good luck with these GE portables...I guess they knew how to make 'em!

[tvtimeisfun]

Hey a really nice set wish I had that in my collection G.E. had great sets. keep on collecting those sets....Timothy

[Kamakiri]

That's a really sharp set!

[holmesuser01]

We had this set in white from 1963. Dad bought it for mom who was having back spasms and was bedridden when JFK was shot.

Ours would eat the vertical tube, and had a hum bar that it kept for about 25 years.

Ours didn't have a LV rectifier tube in it.

I used to love looking down inside the set and seeing the little 3-section tube on the horizontal board lighting up before the output tube did.

[mstaton]

Awesome set! Congrats!

[zeno]

One thing I would change is that white cap on the yoke.
They used to go all the time & the foil would cause trouble.
Very nice color cabinet, I only remember white or tan.

73 Zeno

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by holmesuser01

We had this set from 1963. Dad bought it for mom who was having back spasms and was bedridden when JFK was shot.

Ours would eat 23Z9 vertical tubes, and had a hum bar that it kept for about 25 years.

The set shown probably uses a 6JZ8, or similar tube, as it has a power transformer. The Zenith branded tube appears to be the horizontal output tube.

[holmesuser01]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The set shown probably uses a 6JZ8, or similar tube, as it has a power transformer. The Zenith branded tube appears to be the horizontal output tube.

Thanks for the reply. You answered just as I was editing my first post. That little set was our ONLY set for several years, before we got our first color set.

[egrand]

Yes it does use a 6JZ8. And, yes that is the horiz. output tube, my mistake.

According to the Sams this chassis was used in a lot of different models, which seems pretty typical of GE.

[truetone36]

The knobs are identical to the ones on my '62 G.E. Escort 16" set. I wonder if the chassis are similar?

[holmesuser01]

Ours had the single 2X6 speaker. The sound was never really good, so when it died, I put a 4" speaker on the chassis above the Hz output. I have not thought about this little TV in almost 30 years.

[Eric H]

That's a really cool looking set, some of these mid 60's suitcase sets have a lot of appeal, maybe because I grew up watching them.

[ISawItOnTV]

That's a very stylish cabinet. I really dig the symmetric look, and the twin speakers to boot.

[egrand]

Originally Posted by truetone36

The knobs are identical to the ones on my '62 G.E. Escort 16" set. I wonder if the chassis are similar?

Maybe, GE shared a bunch of parts among tvs and radios. My little 11" portable has the same tuning knob. The '58 portable I just bought has the gold and clear knobs that were used on a lot of radios in the 50's.

If you look at the picture of the chassis there is a round cutout in the metal frame on the top right. That was where the speaker attached in other more narrow models. They sure designed and engineered them to be flexible.

Plus, a lot of people probably don't know that GE had a lifetime warranty on the circuit boards. Maybe that accounts in part for their reliability.

I really like the blue color on this set. It's going to be one of my favorites.

[Dave A]

I have to start looking at my Rockford hometown CL and get my brother working.