Found a last gasp 1974 RCA B&W console TV!

[drh4683]

Last Saturday I went to an estate sale in Berwyn and spotted a rather unusual set. A last gasp 1974 RCA 23" B&W tube type "New Vista" console. It was in the basement of the home where it remained untouched for quite some time. Fortunately the basement was dry, so the cabinet is clean. All it needs is a little bit of detailing. It's a small set and the house had a walk out basement so it was easy to move by myself. It's surprising how light these are, almost like moving an empty cardboard box. Having the big snow like we had that weekend, I was able to safely get it out of the house and into the truck without snow touching it. The set works, but the CRT had to be woken up. Most of the tubes have been changed over the years, but the CRT is original yet. It has the typical orange neon channel lamps too.

Per the chassis stamp, this one was built on the 49th week of 1973, so it's probably a 1974 model and uses a KCS-183 chassis. I don't know when RCA called it quits for B&W consoles, but this one has to be the very last of the tube type generation.




DSC04784 by drh4683, on Flickr

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DSC04780 by drh4683, on Flickr

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DSC04828 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC04829 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC04842 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC04831 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC04832 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC04834 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC04839 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC04835 by drh4683, on Flickr

[Sandy G]

RCA must have been trying to burn up obsolete inventory as quickly as they could.. A Tooob B&W console in 1974, talk about an anachronism..

[Olorin67]

nice find! cant be many of those around

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

RCA must have been trying to burn up obsolete inventory as quickly as they could.. A Tooob B&W console in 1974, talk about an anachronism..

That was the last year for the hybrid CTC39X color set.
I think my CTC51 portable is a 1974 model, as well. 1974, seemed to be a transition year, for all the major manufacturers.
It looked like the tech, that worked on it, wasn't that enthused about working on B/W.

[BigDavesTV]

Wow, nice find! I never saw but a very few of those, RCA or Zenith, even in the mid to late 1970s!

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

It looked like the tech, that worked on it, wasn't that enthused about working on B/W.

What gives you that idea--the way those resistors are monted or what ?

[MRX37]

A tube TV from 1974... last gasp indeed.

[jstout66]

Doug, I always love your pictures and your "finds"! Ya... a tbe B&W console is rare for 74, but hell.. Zenith still offered 2 B&W consoles in 80 or 81, so there still a small market for B&W consoles even then.

[Eric H]

Doug, you are hard core, hunting TV"s in a Blizzard ! :-)

It looks like a giant sized version of the little "Salesmans Sample" 8 inch console.

[Username1]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Doug, you are hard core, hunting TV"s in a Blizzard ! :-)

It looks like a giant sized version of the little "Salesmans Sample" 8 inch console.

YAH ! ! Well you're in prime time capsule area up there.....
Can't get over that goofy control with the drive shaft on it !
How much do ya think the cost analysis was to determine it
was cheaper to do that, than to run wires and mount it proper
next to the other two up there...... The crappy things they do.....

Again Great pictures, great find ! Love the house ! And with decent
looking tv antennas on top ! Don't find that around here much.....

Thanks again Doug !

.

[radiotvnut]

Yes, I think 1974 was the last model year that RCA offered any tube TV's. As far as later B&W consoles, it seems like that any model made after the mid '60's is hard to find. As far as companies still making them, I know that Zenith had them until '81. Admiral had them until at least '79 (some were also sold under the Truetone store brand). GE had one at least until the late '70's (22XA chassis). Sylvania had them until at least 1980 and I actually have one of these (along with an identical model from '78). I got the two Sylvania sets from a closed dealer and he told me that they kept the B&W consoles in stock for as long as they could get them because there were still plenty of old people who, for whatever reason, didn't want a color TV (he said the so-called radiation scare was one of the issues and that some people with vision problems could see a B&W TV better). I think I remember reading that '81 was pretty much the last year for them because the company who built most of the large screen B&W CRT's discontinued them. I can tell you that on my end, there are not many survivors and I can probably count on one hand the number of later model B&W solid state consoles that I've seen.

[Robb]

wow
you have snow already !

[radiotvnut]

Here in MS, we have the air conditioning on right now.

[wa2ise]

Looks like a hot chassis. I don't see a power transformer, and I do see insulators around mounting screws that would have exposed heads outside the cabinet.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by rca2000

What gives you that idea--the way those resistors are monted or what ?

That's exactly it!