Today i picked up this 68 silvertone 25" set. Came from a demolition sale, I got it cheap @ $3. Had a neat factory sears silvertone sticker on the back "Deluxed and inspected with quality on Novermer 20th 1968" this is a table model set, but the owner did one of those goofy "in the wall" installations in which the back of the set was supported by 2x4's in the crawl space. it was a pretty good hack job. I figured being in the wall would have kept it protected. I was wrong. I pulled the frame off the wall and slid the tv out. The steel cabinet had some nice severe scraches from sliding in and out all the years. I near broke my back trying to move it up the stairs. Nobody would help as the set had a nice thick layer of dust on it and didnt look to pretty. I got more of those "what the hell do you want that for" look from people. surprising, it actually worked and worked good.
This reminds me of a similar situation, about 2 years ago I went to an estate sale here in downers grove. the basement had one of those built in bars. Behind the bar in the wall was a mint ctc53 rca, about a 72 model. It was nicely installed, a box was made for it rather than a cut hole like this silvertone was. I asked the estate sale people how much and that I must have it. All I got was "NO!" "the house is for sale, its part of the house" I offered a brand new tv in its place just so I could have that one. Still no agreement. I was ready to start shooting my mouth off at them.
After seeing that they were being intransigent, I was tempting to just steal the set when the people that overheard the discussion left. there was a basement rear entry that wasnt being used. I could have ran out the door with it into my truck and be all set. Well, needless to say my conscience would let me do it. Wonder if its still there today? Would like to get it. Who would refuse a new tv other than us on AK?

Typical us made sears. Looks like a modified RCA chassis. I have no idea as to what rca chassis this was based from as I never had one like this

sorta looks like a philco i had 20+ years ago.

interested? I can bring it to the fest.

I like how the 6BK4 is mounted right out in the open, so it can shoot it's death rays right at ya!:lmao:

Doug,

Great score! It's great when you can find vintage sets like that as cheaply as you were able to get yours. One pays $3 or more these days just for small-signal tubes like 12AU7s, et al., and the larger tubes such as 6DQ6s and the like can go for a lot more. Just goes to show how rare vacuum tubes are these days. But to get an entire TV for the same price . . . The only way to get these oldies cheaper is to grab them from the curb on trash day, or if you get them free from someone who wants to get them out of their house, etc. ASAP.

The front panel of your set looks very familiar. I used to know someone in my hometown who had a TV like that when I was a kid in the '60s and early seventies; yes, it screams RCA, even though it has the Silvertone name above the channel selector. Can't remember the chassis number for the life of me, though. :dunno:

The design was popular, however, right around the time period you mentioned in your post (mid to late 1960s). I believe very strongly it is a rebranded RCA because of the control layout. The only thing missing is an illuminated channel selector window above the channel knob itself (most RCA consoles and some of the company's better portables/table models of that era had this type of channel indicator, rather than just a knob). Other than that, your set seems to me to be RCA all the way.

BTW, I saw the pictures you posted of the Zenith plant in Chicago; nice to know Zenith still has a presence there. Even though Zenith makes most of its consumer electronics products overseas these days (I used to have a Zenith 8-track/cassette/phono/AM-FM stereo system that was actually made in Korea; my system was made in the early '70s, so perhaps Zenith already had moved its audio manufacturing facilities there by that time and had kept its television plant in Franklin Park, IL until the late '80s or nineties).

One question, though. If Zenith now has its television and consumer electronics manufacturing plants in Korea and elsewhere in the Orient, what is in all those buildings in Chicago? I'd say it was office space, but what would one company do with it all? I find it difficult to believe Zenith would need that much space for its corporate headquarters. I won't even try to guess how many hundreds or thousands (!) of square feet all those buildings add up to.


Kind regards,

Zenith is just a brand owned by LG electronics of Korea just like Pontiac is a brand of GM.

These sets are all based on RCA-CTC 16. They all have very similar tube lineups, though in some of the late models the quadruple diode color killer/phase detector (6Ju8?) has been replaced by solid state diodes. A lot of the private brands/smaller brands used the RCA CTC 16 design...Hoffman, Wards, Sears, Philco, Curtis Mathes, Early GE's, must be more too.
Most of these sets are not actually built by RCA, you can see the labeling on the circuit board, the HV cage, 6BK4 shield, etc. are different, but the design is RCA CTC 16. Some have additional features souping up the RCA design, such as a color indicator lamp, instant-on, a front panel color temperature control, pincushion circuitry for rectangular tubes, 6BQ5 audio output and such.

Doug, you need to go to the current owners of the house where the CTC 53 is and inquire...they would probably give it to you. Some of those estate sale people can be real rip off artists and cantankerous. I have been pretty successful in dealing with them, though, especially when I get there at the end of the sale. Most realize that I'm the only one in this area that will buy these old TV's and will give me a reasonable deal.