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Looks like a GE from about '72. It would be a good one to grab. Looks like the control door is missing but it's hard to tell.

Looks like a GE from about '72. It would be a good one to grab. Looks like the control door is missing but it's hard to tell.


I'll confirm this. zenithfan1 is correct.

funny how so many older people are using broken old TVs as stands for newer sets...

The bezel and knobs look like GE, anyway. I wonder what chassis is in there. Probably one of those transformerless PC board chassis mounted on a plastic frame, similar to what was in the 19" sets. Over the past 20 years, I only remember having 2 GE color console tube sets. One was a late '60's "KD" chassis and the other was an early '70's model with the "plastic" chassis I mentioned. I didn't fix either one. I think the reason I didn't see many older GE's was because they didn't stand the test of time and were discarded before I got into the hobby. Can't say the same for Zenith and RCA, which were my most common finds. Still, it would be nice if someone could rescue the one in question.

We used one very similar to that about 30 years ago as our daily watcher, IIRC it only had about 11 tubes in it, nearly all compactrons.

funny how so many older people are using broken old TVs as stands for newer sets...

This has been a practice of "older people" since the 50s. I never understood why people wouldn't either fix, give away, sell or trash an old set, but I had older relatives who did this. This was during times when there was no problem with curb pickup. Now that I qualify for the senior discount at lots of places, I still shudder at the thought of this.

Of course, collectors may have the same arrangement, but they actually intend the set to be viewed (working or not). I don't think those older folks were eager to point out their decorating choice as something desirable. More like "we spent a ton of money on this and can't bear to see it trashed - maybe some year it will get used."

This has been a practice of "older people" since the 50s. I never understood why people wouldn't either fix, give away, sell or trash an old set, but I had older relatives who did this. This was during times when there was no problem with curb pickup. Now that I qualify for the senior discount at lots of places, I still shudder at the thought of this.

Of course, collectors may have the same arrangement, but they actually intend the set to be viewed (working or not). I don't think those older folks were eager to point out their decorating choice as something desirable. More like "we spent a ton of money on this and can't bear to see it trashed - maybe some year it will get used."

One of my neighbors' relatives has a broken mid '80's console with a new, big LCD TV sitting on top of it. My neighbor tried to get the console from him to give to me. The relative said he'd give it up when he built a cabinet for the new TV. According to my neighbor, he's not getting in any hurry. My feelings are not hurt because I don't want another mid '80's Zenith console that will probably end up going to the dump. My neighbor mentioned that his relative brought up how much he paid for the Zenith 20+ years ago. I've seen many other older people with a newer TV sitting on top of an older console and I never had any luck prying the old TV away from them. The answers were "if I give that to you, I won't have a place to sit the new TV", "It's a pretty cabinet and I'm going to gut it one day", or "I paid $900 for that TV and I'm not letting you have it for next to nothing so that you can fix it and make a bunch of $". And, those answers were not limited to consoles used as stands. In the mid '90's, I went to look at an old broken TV to buy for possible repair and resell. It turned out to be a basic RCA color console from the late '60's. It was sitting in the storage shed and, according to the owner, had been for years. I offered him $10, thinking he would jump on it. WRONG, my $10 offer didn't go over too well. I left before I got shot!

That set had me puzzled; GE was one of my guesses but I don't recall seeing one just like that. We had a higher end GE console that was probably from around 70-72, our daily watcher through much of my childhood. I think it was a 'KE' chassis, parallel chassis. If this has the C2/CE series string chassis, man, that thing is junk.

...

Now, that's a brand you don't see everyday. In fact, I've never found anything vintage with the Packard-Bell name. I don't think that brand made it to my neck of the woods. I noticed Chad (retrochad on youtube) has a video posted of a '70 Teledyne Packard Bell color set.

Interesting - Chad Hauris just posted a Youtube video about a Teledyne Packard Bell he found in Texas! Two uncommon west-coast sets in Texas.

Wow, I didn't even think of that brand at the beginning of the thread. You never see them anymore. I hope someone saves it even though it is a bit ugly like andy said.

I certainly don't recall seeing a posting of one with the Teledyne name. This was getting close to the end of the line for them...did they ever offer a 100% solid state color set? Pretty much the only time I see sets like this are when looking through Photofacts. I hope somebody can save this-I agree it isn't that attractive.

I've never been sure if P-B ever sold sets around here. Something odd, which I've mentioned before-from the attic of a local tv shop I pulled a used 23v crt, branded Packard-Bell. (like this one I think it's an RCA) I really wonder how it ended up there. I have since stuck it in my 67 Sylvania table model.

Your rear view makes me suspect this might BE a badge-engineered RCA, the chassis looks like my parents' RCA CTC-38 I worked on years ago.