Well, I vowed to buy the next good one I saw after passing up too many...so finally, I present to you MY Chromacolor II...a perfect example of having to be careful what you wish for. I was really hoping to find a 19", but since they almost never show up where I am, it was catch as catch could. She's got a few scars on top, but otherwise looks great. She looks even better on. The only thing I can fault her on is the convergence on the sides. Everything else seems to check out just super. It's model K2508DE (and I'm sure there's a name that goes with that number), it's on the 25KC45 chassis and has a 25VERP22 tube. There's a white stamping inside near the tuner that says 2 9 78 3. Is it safe to assume that's a date code, and that I have a later-day Chroma from 1978? And most importantly, that's it's as good as the older Chromas? Even if not, I'm happy to finally have one.

Looks like a 1975 model judging by the seperate UHF/VHF tuners. Last year i found a 1975 Chromacolor II console in the garbage. It had a plastic cabinet, but was in great shape otherwise. Just needed the vertical module terminals cleaned to get the sweep back. Tube still worked great. I gave it away to a student filmaker who used it as a prop for one of his films. If i would of knew zenithfan1 then i would of offered it to him instead, but at least it went to good use.

Nice find! That control layout does scream mid '70's; but, the 25KC45 was, IIRC, Zenith's last CCII chassis. Look somewhere below the AC interlock and there should be a little sticker with the date. This set is likely from '78 or '79. The newest CCII that I've seen was a 23" single knob set from November, '79. I'm not sure if any were made in early '80. That's a question I'd like answered.

That control panel threw me, too. I don't have a sticker near the interlock, so the stamping inside near the tuner is all I have to go on for a date.

This one seems to be made with a little of everything: the top is wood, the main cabinet is particleboard, and the bottom is plastic.

And since you'll probably be asking, here's what she looks like in action...sort of. The shot doesn't do the gorgeous color justice.

you should find date codes on many components inside, usually on ICs, power transistors and larger electrolytic capacitors,

Date codes are usually in a yyww format, for example 7525 means 25th week of 1975, actual manufacturing date of the set is usually about ten weeks later.