I came across a 19" color Zenith set with knob tuners made in Mexico in 1986 or 88. I don't think I've seen a 19"+ Zenith made that late with knobs before.

When did Zenith start making TVs in Mexico? Or were they outsourced? What was the quality like? Just curious about that part of Zenith history - I passed on the set for $8. The same thrift also had a 13" B&W Zenith made in Illinois (iirc) in 1984 in an 80's style angled cabinet.

As far as I know, they started making sets in Mexico around 1976. The outsourcing of parts started in 1968. The last all American Zenith set was produced in '68. The Mexican made sets are pretty well made, I have had a few. No, they were not as over engineered as the older ones but we all know that part of the story. Competition and cost cutting are factors there. Some really nice Chromacolor II's were made in Mexico and some in Missouri, but even those had Mexican made parts in them.

I have a '76 23", '76 19" and a '77 17" Zenith CCII that are USA built. I have a '78 19" CCII that is Mexican. Zenith was also importing small screen B&W sets from Taiwan by the early '70's. These foreign Zenith's were still good TV's. They just weren't made in the right country!

I think '88 or so was the last year for knob tuned Zenith sets. I once had a late '80's 19" "custom series" Zenith that had seperate VHF and UHF knob tuners. It used the 9-470 chassis. Actually, I think the big players moved away from knob tuners by the late '80's. There were still some lower end sets like Sharp, Samsung, Goldstar, KTV, Megatron, Emerson, etc. that still made knob tuned 13" and 19" sets up until '93 when the Gov't required closed caption on all TV's 13" and larger. I think the later knob tuned sets were geared towards people that felt intimidated by pushbuttons.

From what I've seen I gather that most of the chassis' used by Zenith were Mexican made by the mid-70s, but the sets were assembled in the US. One of my favorites is a 13" Missouri-built set from about 1980; pretty much everything inside is stamped "Mexico".

Missouri seemed to build all the 19" & smaller sets; sometime around '88 these seemed to move entirely to Mexico, but still with picture tubes made here. I think the consoles were assembled in Illinois, and for quite a few more years. Someone with more knowledge (gee, that will be tough to find :) ) might be able to offer exact details.