I've found a few sets this year already, they just never got posted. I finally decided to bring this thread back, and hopefully keep it going. I picked up that '69 Zenith console at the Evanston estate sale on Friday morning. The sale was at 9524 Hamiln, was a family run sale and we were all standing in line getting ready to get rained on. We were ready to have one of the most serious downpours in history that morning.
It was at this sale where saw Max for the first time in quite a few years. He was waiting in line too before the sale started.
This was a nice old house, basically undisturbed in 40+ years. The zenith was up in the bedroom, and as I hoped, it was the 16Z8C50 chassis. The son of the original owner was there, told me it was their first color set, then it became a bedroom TV later on where it never got used again. Not even an antenna, or antenna jack connected to it, it just sat there since the early 80's.
They told me to take the TV for $10. One of the guys working at the sale told me they had a much better newer TV downstairs. This zenith actually works, just a dim picture. Might need a kick start to the filaments to bring it back, looks like it had the back off maybe once. Completely original.

One of the guys working at the sale offered to bring it down the stairs for me and help me load it into the truck. As soon as I got the TV downstairs, I had the truck waiting in the street with the tailgate and cap door open. It got very dark, very quick. The rain started to come down pretty good at this point. We threw a big heavy blanket over the TV and then me and this other guy picked up the set and litterally ran out the door with it to get it to the truck. As soon as the set was in the truck, we were soaked, but the blanket was good enough to where it didn't saturate the blanket down to the cabinet. As soon as I felt the TV was safe and sound, I pulled the blanket off it. Right then and there the rain just picked up fiercly and a huge gust of wind blew the rain sideways, right into the truck blasting rain water all over the TV! NOO!! I had to get in the truck, turn it around 180 degrees so the rain wasn't blowing into the back. Fortunatly I had some towels with me, I was able to dry it off asap before the water ruined the cabinet. The rain was so dense that you could hardly see 10 feet infront of you. I was instantly soaked as I had to run back into the house to pay for the set. And as always, I had to hear people at the sale talk among themselves "I can't believe someone actually bought that thing". I hear it every time! I was asked by someone what I do with it. I told them I wanted it for the cabinet. The one guy says "oh, yes, its a very nice cabinet to make into something else" That ended it. No more me needing to explain why I like the old sets, no more people looking at me cross eyed when I tell them how good the picture is when they are properly working, no more people telling me that its not digital ready and that I'll need a convertor box to watch it. This way, it just speeds up the process, tell them what they want to hear and everyone moves on.

Its safe now, just need to open it up and see whats all wrong with it and get it going again!

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2009-3/1337386/DSCF8248.JPG
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2009-3/1337386/DSCF8247.JPG

Look at that green shag carpeting. Talk about walking into a place where time stood still! Takes me back to my childhood.

I think the TV has that late '60s Mediterranean styling...

I've found a few sets this year already, they just never got posted. I finally decided to bring this thread back, and hopefully keep it going. I picked up that '69 Zenith console at the Evanston estate sale on Friday morning. The sale was at 9524 Hamiln, was a family run sale and we were all standing in line getting ready to get rained on. We were ready to have one of the most serious downpours in history that morning.
It was at this sale where saw Max for the first time in quite a few years. He was waiting in line too before the sale started.
This was a nice old house, basically undisturbed in 40+ years. The zenith was up in the bedroom, and as I hoped, it was the 16Z8C50 chassis. The son of the original owner was there, told me it was their first color set, then it became a bedroom TV later on where it never got used again. Not even an antenna, or antenna jack connected to it, it just sat there since the early 80's.
They told me to take the TV for $10. One of the guys working at the sale told me they had a much better newer TV downstairs. This zenith actually works, just a dim picture. Might need a kick start to the filaments to bring it back, looks like it had the back off maybe once. Completely original.

One of the guys working at the sale offered to bring it down the stairs for me and help me load it into the truck. As soon as I got the TV downstairs, I had the truck waiting in the street with the tailgate and cap door open. It got very dark, very quick. The rain started to come down pretty good at this point. We threw a big heavy blanket over the TV and then me and this other guy picked up the set and litterally ran out the door with it to get it to the truck. As soon as the set was in the truck, we were soaked, but the blanket was good enough to where it didn't saturate the blanket down to the cabinet. As soon as I felt the TV was safe and sound, I pulled the blanket off it. Right then and there the rain just picked up fiercly and a huge gust of wind blew the rain sideways, right into the truck blasting rain water all over the TV! NOO!! I had to get in the truck, turn it around 180 degrees so the rain wasn't blowing into the back. Fortunatly I had some towels with me, I was able to dry it off asap before the water ruined the cabinet. The rain was so dense that you could hardly see 10 feet infront of you. I was instantly soaked as I had to run back into the house to pay for the set. And as always, I had to hear people at the sale talk among themselves "I can't believe someone actually bought that thing". I hear it every time! I was asked by someone what I do with it. I told them I wanted it for the cabinet. The one guy says "oh, yes, its a very nice cabinet to make into something else" That ended it. No more me needing to explain why I like the old sets, no more people looking at me cross eyed when I tell them how good the picture is when they are properly working, no more people telling me that its not digital ready and that I'll need a convertor box to watch it. This way, it just speeds up the process, tell them what they want to hear and everyone moves on.

Its safe now, just need to open it up and see whats all wrong with it and get it going again!

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2009-3/1337386/DSCF8248.JPG
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2009-3/1337386/DSCF8247.JPG

Those estate sale rats of course would talk shit about the set, but once they see your collection the frowns would turn upside down. Some people have no sense of style.

I took the back off to see what I'd be up against. Darn it tall, the infamous brightener was on. I rarely see those brighteners on color sets. I figured the tube was toast as they normally always are at this stage. My RCA CRIII couldn't do a thing to it. The old B+K 465 did the job, and very well too. The emission went up to a near perfect tube on all 3 guns, so the tracking is excellent. This it the picture it produces without touching a thing, except backing off and setting the grey scale. The picture detail is a little smeary, but its not the CRT, probably some some tubes and simple alignment, but its got a picture and I can tell it will clean up to a good working set.

See the yellowish dust? It was a smokers set, not very extreme though, but it has that hot tube cigarette smoke smell once the set is going. That smell takes me back as a kid looking in the back of old sets, smelling the hot tube smoke smell looking at the filaments under all the dust....

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Very nice find & I'm glad to see this thread going again.

Congratulations on this Zenith find. Wow, what a beauty. That's a great looking '69 Zenith set. The picture looks good too (is that the rained-on US Open on the screen?). That's a nice looking house too, possibly built in the early 1960s?

It's been raining like crazy in New York for the past two weeks, pretty steady. As a result, the apartment buildings don't put out heavy stuff on the sidewalk for garbage (like portable a/c's or console tv sets) they usually wait until it is dry (I don't know why). I will be keeping my eyes open this summer for old Zenith's and RCA Victor's.

Nice! I know that smoker's smell all to well, for one, I used to smoke and two, I seem to find a lot of smoker sets. Always have, I guess everyone smoked back in the day.

Nice set. I wish I could find 1/10th as many sets as are turning up around Chicago!

I'm glad you got that set, it was nice seeing you at the sale.
That rain was pretty bad, I was worried that the set might get wet when you were bringing it outside. The rain seemed to be heading into Chicago, so it followed me all the way home, some of the worst rain I've seen here for a while.

The picture looks good too (is that the rained-on US Open on the screen?).

I think it is. The U.S. Open was supposed to have finished up yesterday (Sunday), but rain cut things short so they are playing the last few holes today (the NBC station here in Cleveland is showing local programming as I write this, at 4:44 p.m. EST, so it must all be over except, as the expression goes, for the shouting).

I agree--the TV looks great, and the picture is excellent with your DTV converter box between the antenna downlead and the set. I did, however, see that "green halo" around the edges of the screen, both in the first pictures of the set and in the one that showed the U.S. Open. That was a real problem with Zenith CRTs after they get a few years on them. I sometimes wonder if they ever licked it, or was the halo a problem right up to the end of CRT production? Hmmm. :scratch2:

Nice set. I wish I could find 1/10th as many sets as are turning up around Chicago!

I heard that. It seems like anything remotely good has disappeared from this part of the country.

^ Don't fret. Every time I want something from the 1960s (color set, clock radio, table radio, electric wall clock, etc) it just seems to turn up within a month or so of me really looking online or ebay or estate sales. The US economy in the 1960s was quite good and a major status symbol was to own a big color console tv (super status was to also have a nice color portable in the master bedroom as well the big color console tv in the living room). As a result, production in the mid-late 1960s and early 1970s was really booming. Just like with vintage cars from this period...they turn up in barns and garages...electronics will likely continue to turn up at estate sales. Keep checking www.estatesales.net and plug in the zip code near you.

Great finds. I'm also glad your threads are back. You find some amazing tellys.

About the smoke smell....I know it all too well. It's almost like, every set over a certain age just reeks of the stuff.

Too bad about the brightener

Finished tuning it all up this evening. Went through a cleaning process. Had to take it all apart, down to the CRT. Had to pull the CRT so I could clean the "smokers dust" off the bell of the tube. It was pretty bad as you can see in the "before" photos earlier. It did clean up really well though with the paint brush and my 1963 electrolux model G vacuum cleaner. Tubes were actually good. That brightner never belonged on this CRT. the Video output tube was weak! The tekie put that in no knowing where the real trouble was. It is a low hour set, lots of original tube still good and going strong. Even the 6Z10 was good! After the repairs, it got a "cook out", and sure enough the 6Z10 shorted out on me. So it got replaced anyway. Go figure. Typical zenith tube set though, focus is somewhat soft due to the leaky focus rectifier. Put in a new NTE118 and it sharpened up and brought the pot mid way like it should. It converged really well, even with a good selenium convergence diode. Lots of zeniths with high hours will have a burn up convergence pot for the left side blue horizontal line control. Another tip this set didn't see much use as that pot was still good and not "crumbling" when I turned it. I really like these tube chassis/solid state IF models. They were always good working reliable sets. The 16Z8C50 is a chassis I don't run across too often on the zeniths. 9 times out of 10 I find '68 model zeniths with a 20Y1C48 chassis. That must have been a big year for color TV sales. I can't tell you how many '68 models I have and how many I have run across over the years.

Got some large pics here, so enjoy. Looking at the chassis is what its all about on zeniths.

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Hey, good stuff! You do nice work.

I could eat supper off that chassis! (and, I suppose, cook supper on it :D)

Nice job!

Wow, Doug!

That set looks great! Glad you were able to bring it back. It certainly cleaned up well. What do you use to get the smoke smell out or does it leave with the dust? I've run across quite a few sets that were pretty fuzzy inside.

We had the same set when I was growing up; at least the control layout. I think ours had speakers on each side of the screen.

-Jim

Very nice job, Doug!

That really is great,doug!What exactly do you use to get them that clean?

Great job Doug! Another Zenith saved! Looks beautiful man, can't even tell it was a smoker set. The black '63 Zenith roundie I restored took countless hours cleaning like you did with it totally disassembled. Imagine what a persons lungs look like after all the years of smoking. Every time I open a set like that I thank God I quit smoking. Been more than a year now:D

I did, however, see that "green halo" around the edges of the screen
Is that the beginning of a "cataract," i.e., separation of plastic cover from the CRT face?

Phil Nelson

Is that the beginning of a "cataract," i.e., separation of plastic cover from the CRT face?

Phil Nelson

Yes, it is. The green halo is a bit more stubborn and reacts well with the "hot wire" method of safety glass removal. I leave it if it's only like this one is. It really don't do much to the picture until it creeps in about 2", that's when it really gets green and can be seen in the picture.

Went to two sales yesterday, turned up another nice clean set. The sale was at 508 N. Main in Mount Prospect, IL. There were no pictures of this set on estatesales.net, I just got lucky and saw it sight on scene when I decided to go this this sale.

In the basement I found a very unique space command 400 color set from '68 in the corner. I say unique because this is the only rectangular color TV model zenith offered as a space command 400 and only available in '68. Interestingly, I did find this exact same model at an estate sale on 7-8-06 in Berwyn, which I bought and restored but couldn't get rid of the mildue issues on the cabinet. I was so dissapointed with that one because it was in a damp basement. I no longer have that one, another collector has it who can apparently deal with the mold/mildue issues it had.

So yesterdays find is near mint from a nice clean basement was nice and dry too. Right as I was pulling the set away form the wall, the people running the sale say "its the TV guy". I kind of laughed like yeah that me as thats pretty much who I'm known as at all these estate sales around here. They even offered to help me move it up the stairs and into the truck which was great. I got it for $20.

I didn't see the remote for it, but as soon as it was scooted away from the wall, there it was, sitting on the floor underneath the TV! Its the regular space command 400 remote too, no "color TV" or anything on it. So seeing that remote also answered my question if the 68 sc400 remotes should have been the regular plain "400" or the one that said "color TV" like the '64 models. I'm under the impression this set was zeniths cheap attempt at giving you a color set with remote control as basically all the color sets were using space command 600 by 1965.
I then saw a table full of old zenith radios, none which I bought ($50 for a plain 60's table radios that werent in great shape was a bit too much!) I did see a box with many RCA tube boxes. Right away, I recognized all the numbers as ones being out of the color TV. Sure enough, most of the tubes in the boxes were the original zeniths. Inside one of the tube boxes was a receipt from May, '79 when he went to Tri-state electronics in Mt. Prospect (still in business, I go there all the time!) for a bunch of RCA tubes he bought. In fact, some of the tubes he bought were still brand new in the box. There were some other tubes in there, like a 6DW4 and 6JA5, so I know they also had a 4 tube hybrid at one time but its probably long gone as it wasnt at the sale. A couple empty TV carts though as usual. He apparently did a shotgun tube recplacement to fix a problem as he was a do it yourselfer but not a TV man. Fortunately I got most of the original tubes to put back in the set to keep it original.

As I went to pay for the TV, the guy at the register told me they had some papers for that TV. He goes sifting through a folder next to the cash box with manuals and gives me an envelope with all of the original documentation for the TV. I couldn't believe it. Even had the hang tags and the sticker that went on the CRT. It was bought new on November 25, 1967 at Fujawas Furniture in South Bend Indiana. Wonder why they bought it there though?They used to live on the north side of Chicago as can be seen on the registration, and then moved to Mt. Prospect which was not that much of a move.

This should be a nice one to work on, clean non smoker set and from a house with baseboard heat. There is almost no dust inside the set! It should have alot of potential, havn't tried it yet, but I checked the G2 controls, and all were set low, so that give me hope the CRT is still strong. Its got the 20Y1C48 chassis, which as I've said recently, I find so many set with this chassis for some reason. '67-'68 must have been a huge year for Zenith TV sales in the Chicago area. I would guess many of the networks were broadcasting many color programs by '67. Alteast my dad tells me he remembers lots of stuff being in color starting around '67. (my grandparents on dads side bought a motorola color TV in 1966, which apparently started a huge argument between my grandparents my dad told me. Grandpa bought it as a gift and grandma said they couldn't afford it, but then saw the pictures in color for the first time and the rest is history....haha.

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Looking at those pictures took me back to when I lived in a 3-bedroom house with a basement in suburban Cleveland, and did a lot of work on old TVs I would find in my neighbors' trash. I had a bunch of old TVs in my basement, a lot of which were Zeniths. My favorite was a K2739 23" VHF-only console, which was a trash find in 1969. Someone had filched all but two of the tubes (the 1J3 HV rectifier and the CRT were the only tubes in the set when I got it), so I had to replace every one of them, but it was worth it. The set worked as soon as I connected the antenna and turned it on--a beautiful, razor-sharp Zenith picture on all three network stations from Cleveland. Unfortunately, I had to give up that TV about three years after I restored it (I moved to a place with no room for a big TV), and I missed it for quite a while after that. However, in 1977 I found a Zenith Space Command "300" 19-inch portable, again a trash find, that worked perfectly as soon as I plugged it in after getting it home. The set lasted a year or so, then the horizontal output tube went gassy, overbiasing the IF stages to the point where I was getting a very weak, washed-out picture on all channels in my area. The tube was some oddball type, 22JF6 or some such, that I couldn't find anywhere, so I put the set in my basement and, the next day, bought a 12-inch Zenith solid-state portable. That little set worked for 22 years and was still going strong when I got rid of it (no room, as by this time, late 1999, I had moved to a very small apartment and had brought two color sets with me; no room for a third). I certainly hope that whomever picked up that little portable from the trash area in back of my apartment got some use out of it, as it still had a lot of life left in it.

That 1969 Zenith SC600 you have is the same set that appears in the 1969 episodes of the '60s TV series Bewitched, seen in reruns these days on WGN America. I think the producers of that show must have had a liking for Zenith televisions, as every TV in the Stephenses' living room from the start of the series in '66 (when the show was being filmed in color) was a Zenith console. If you ever get the chance, I suggest you watch one of the Bewitched episodes on WGN America (it's on at, I believe, 1 p.m. CST; it airs at 2 p.m. here in the Eastern time zone) and look closely at the scenes of the living room. I saw at least two Zenith consoles there, an earlier model in the beginning and a Zenith SC600 from 1969 until the end of the series.

I miss the days when I used to work on old TVs, but I still do quite a bit of work with vintage Zenith radios (I have an MJ1035 with a bad volume control; one of these days...) and have a small collection of them here.

I enjoy reading your posts and always look forward to seeing them in AK's forums, as I'm sure I have mentioned before. You are doing a wonderful job restoring the Zenith TVs you have, and at the same time you are preserving the history of what I have always regarded as one of the best, if not the best television, stereo and audio manufacturers in America. As I have said many times here, it was a darn shame they had to sell out to foreign interests in the late 1980s. The day the Zenith Radio Corporation (it was renamed the Zenith Electronics Corporation in 1984) left Chicago and moved to Korea marked the end of an era. :no:

Great save man! I love it when the tags are there! I like the part about the largest picture in color tv, "Giant screen" boy have times changed.

A very smart looking set, and the paperwork is worth what you paid for everything. I wonder if the owner of the furniture store might have been a friend or relative? I often think about how every set has a story...they may not all be exciting, but I think this one has a good one.

Got a call last week from a gentleman over on the next block. He asked if I'd be interested in some radios he has (sounds like typical late 40s consoles) and, oh, how about one of those early color TV's with the round screen-remember them? That one is buried in his storage shed. I'm going to be daydreaming about that for awhile!

Picked up two sets yesterday at the estates. I went to an interesting sale in Park Ridge. It was a very old home built in the 1890's and was in very poor condition inside. I found out nobody lived in this home since 1991! That explained the vintage of the items I saw in there. Nothing changed in this house since about the mid 40's it looked like!
Anyway, I went up the walk up attic and spotted this 1952 RCA b/w table set. I never had one of these, and it was in such nice condition I had to buy it. Its a model 17-T-200. Everything at this sale was priced right, so they could clear it out. Tons of stuff in that house. The TV was $10. I did pull the back off to see how it looked. I was pleased to see almost all original tubes in there and NO brightener and NO hack repairs. These 50's sets seem to always be victims of the worst hack repairs, but this one looks to have missed it. I guess there is going to be alot of wax caps under that chassis?

The last sale I went to was at 9141 S. Hamlin in Evergreen Park. I found a set that rarely shows up, a Magnavox Color console from around 66-67. It was in the basement marked $45. The set looks to have not been plugged in for years, the cord was coiled up and held together with an old brittle twist tie. I then noticed two buttons on/off volume and channel. It then occured to me this was a remote set. I never had a magnavox remote set. Unfortunately, the remote was nowhere to be found. I assume it uses the phantom remote as the little retainer for the remote on the back of the set is only about 1.5" square. The set doesn't work, no B+, just lights up with no sound or picture. The drive motor and relays all work when I press the buttons. The set is like new still. Im friends with one of the girls who runs estate sales, so she took my picture when I was waiting for the TV to warm up. In fact, one of the older ladys who also helps run the sales was interested in knowing why I like these old TV's. She was probably the most rational people I've met at the estate sales. Before I answered, she looked at me and said "oh, you're not that old, you're from a generation that wasn't around when things from the 60's were new and common place, so to you its something new and interesting. I think thats great people your age try to preserve things like this". For once I couldn't believe what I heard instead of someone putting down the idea of "old TV's as useless junk what do you want it for?". This should be a good set to work on though, look forward to finding the right remote for it. Can anyone tell me what the remote should really be like on this? Is it a mechanical hammer remote, or is this the bellow type remote?


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Nice looking little RCA you got there! Well worth the $10. Good luck with your new Maggie!

A couple clean ones...I don't generally like Magnavox but that one has plenty of character...good find!

Been a while since I posted, so here are a few of this years finds in Detroit. '66 Maggie with Phantom remote,'69 Zenith portable, '65 Zenith roundie (top one, found today), '67 Zenith with power tuning. Looks like I will need another house with a basement soon!

A Portacolor found in Harper Woods last month (estate sale pic), another Portacolor and a couple Zeniths!

Those are some nice ones!

I like that b/w Zenith, looks to be about a 1959 with the SC400?

Yes, it's a 1959.

Great finds Dwight! That Zenith touch tuner set is great.

Went to two estates yesterday and turned up two zenith space commands, both at the same house. The sale was at 1349 Douglas Ave. Flossmoor, IL. The home was a large split level, completely original home inside. In the lower level is where I spotted a very special set. Its is the very first generation Zenith "Emperor" from 1965. This was as high end as you could get in a Zenith. Its also the very first year for Zenith's rectangular picture tube. This has the 25MC46 chassis with the large post deflection purity magnets. The set was still plugged in, hooked up to the antenna. I powered up the stereo and it still worked, the EM84 tuning eye lit up brightly as well. Only have a left channel but thats no big deal, it can be fixed. In the pics, you can see the remotes, neither which were for this set. The record changer compartment had all the original paperwork for the unit as well as yet another remote control that was taken apart and left in peices. As for the TV, it works, but no way of really checking its performance for obvious reasons. It was priced well, only $35.00! Needless to say I quickly paid for it. This is one of the TV's that many people at the sale thought was a very nice looking set.
one of the sale people helped me move it, which was easy. Since it was in the lower level, all we had to do was walk it to the garage entry and we were outside. No stairs which was a huge plus. Besides, the guy helping me really couldn't handle this set too well to begin with. Its one heavy peice of equipment thats for sure.
Once we got it loaded up I glanced in the garage and there I see yet another zenith with its back facing out. It was in the "junk" pile. No way would I let that happen. I slid that away from the wall and it turned out to be another high end zenith. This one is the first horizontal flat chassis set, the 25CC55 from '72. This one also has the ultramatic tuner with space command of course. Mind you it was supposed to be thrown away, but those running the sale made sure it had a price tag on it when I loaded it up in the truck. It was only $10. Who knows if it works, unfortunately its not in the best of condition. It looks somewhat weathered like it has been in the garage for many years.

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Not bad! I love that Emperor!

Nice finds, Doug! I was wondering, is the stereo in that Zenith 100% solid state or is it one of those with a tube tuner and solid state amp?

Nice finds, Doug! I was wondering, is the stereo in that Zenith 100% solid state or is it one of those with a tube tuner and solid state amp?

Solid state - look just below the lighted "Zenith" The only tube in the tuner/amp is the tuning eye.

Those are nice TV sets Doug. I believe I've seen them both before. I just missed Emperors twice on Craigslist, the second time, some fool tossed the set because he broke a leg from it while dragging it outside.

It makes me curious if the Emperor came in any cabinet styles besides the (I'm guessing) Italian Provincial.

How are things coming on that chassis I gave you with the bag of new caps?

Also, please let me know if you still want that steel cabinet Zenith I bought for you at the Estate sale some time back.

:scratch2:

000

Wow Doug, that Emperor is one beautiful set!! Cannot wait to see it up and running! That looks exactly like my Spoace command 600 set but without the combo add on!

http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx37/infinitereality9/IMG_0081.jpg

Thanks for the comps.
Chris, I just received a set today that I'm fixing for oldstuff78, it uses the same chassis as yours. So I will be jumping on your chassis first this weekend, then pull the chassis on his. Its good because I have a cabinet to check out the chassis with to make sure there are no surprises when you get it back. I know you've been waiting a while for this but Im sure you'll be very pleased with the results.

I have not yet looked at the receiver in the emperor. First thing I thought was a tube type tuner when I saw that tuning eye. When i powered it up I see the solid state, so I doubt theres any tubes other than the eye. Im pretty sure zenith went full solid state in '64 or '65 on their console hifi equipment. They were one of the first to make the switch.

The TV definitly needs work. Some evidence of some serious hack repairs in there including numerous shattered tubes off to the side inside the cabinet, a tuner shield and tuning strips from another TV!!! That was a new one for me, like some TV tech cleaned out his toolbox of junk and threw it inside this set. I found rods and hammers for the remote inside the set as well as numerous chassis screws and hardware. Had a filter replaced, neatly hacked in above the chassis. Its got some weird stuff going on in there, definitly needs attention. RCA CRT was installed in '68. Stereo system: Of course, right channel is dead as a doornail. I don't get it with these zenith solid state stereos with one dead channel. Seems common. I never attempted to fix one though as they were always at estate sales. I normally don't pick up console stereos unless it is something extremely unique.

Im pretty sure zenith went full solid state in '64 or '65 on their console hifi equipment. They were one of the first to make the switch.

I'm surprised they didn't switch to all-SS in their table sets by then as well. I have a Zenith MJ-1035 from '65 that has eleven tubes; no SS components that I can see, except three or four component combination packages under the chassis with three leads each. One is probably connected in some way with the multiplex decoder; couldn't tell you about the others without looking at the schematic.

Had a good day at the estates today. It was like the "old days" of estate sales, I took a chance and didn't know what I was going to find until I got there.
First sale was in Blue Island, It was probably the most unusual set of circumstances. How often do you find two of the exact same model TV's sitting next to each other? That might be more of a common find now as people might buy the same TV for different rooms, but I don't think too many people were buying identical console TV's in 1971.
I went into the basement of this home and here I see two of the exact same consoles next to each other, and higher end units to boot. WTF was the first thing that came to mind. Really cool though. They are 1970 model RCA's, CTC-38's. The control panel reads "Custom Collection", so that must have been their higher end cabinet line. They even had the original papers, atleast the one did. The serial numbers differ by 8, so they are as about as close to a perfect match as you will find. I would guess one was for upstairs, one for downstairs? The newest thing in that house was the basement carpeting. Everything else was untouched since the 60's. They're in nice shape, very heavy cabinets as well. They were bought new on 1-23-1971 at "Gately's People Store" in Chicago. I never heard of them, they've probably been gone for years. As for their working condition, who knows at this point. The probably need work as the power cords were tucked around the bottom cover to the inside of the cabinet. No signs of cataracts though, so thats a plus. There was also a little CTC-72 portable from '75, that had the papers with it too. The consoles were priced perfectly! $5.00 each! Alot of these estate sale people are trying to run an "antique store" with their crazy prices when they run an estate sale and nothing is unloaded from the home. They did it right at this one: Low prices=house clean out and nothing has to go to waste.

The next TV finds were at two different homes in South Holland, IL. One turned up to be a very neat set that I never expected to find. A Space Command 100 b/w portable! Still on the stand, hooked up to a VCR in the corner of the downstairs living room! I would have taken a picture but too many people were in the house. I was really po'd because some idiot bought the remote control before I got there. I asked the lady and she said "sorry, its gone, someone bought it" Then she goes on to tell me it wasnt for that TV anyway. She then described what it looked like "it was a sliver remote, and it was an actual clicker". I told her that was for THIS TV, and she said no it wasn't, then her husband got involved to start telling me "No, we know that remote didn't go to that tv, that tv didnt have a remote in the first place". I continued to argue that the remote belonged to this set, and they continued to argue back "no, that remote was too streamlined to go with that TV, it said space command, and the TV doesnt say space command so we knew it didnt go with it". I the explained what SC meant on the TV set and then I just gave up. No reason to keep arguing when the people just don't want to listen. Regardless, Im glad I was able to get the TV. Im glad it was this way as normally its the other way around (remote and no TV).

Last sale, also in South Holland turned up a nice clean 1974 RCA XL-100 portable. Its a little tank. Not sure what chassis it is yet. As I walked out the house with it, the original owner showed up and came up to me and asked about me buying the tv. He was only about 55-60 and said that was his first TV he bought new and bought it on the fly so he could watch the superbowl when he was at his parents house. It stayed there ever since as it was the estate of his parents. So today was basically an "RCA day" and the best part is, all the model tags are still on them. As for this XL-100, I got there to save it right before it fell off!

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Wow Doug, super haul!!
That last RCA is exactly like the one I had in the early 80's, I got it from the TV shop I was working for, it had a bad CRT so I bought a rebuilt for it, great picture on that set, I think it was one of RCA's first inline sets and a 114 deg tube.

Nice finds! I agree that it's rare to find two identical TV's, especially consoles, at the same place. The only time I've ever had that happen is when I was given two identical 15" Sony's out of the same house.

I've had a few of those small XL-100's and they are great playing sets.

I don't think I've seen a remote B&W set that is that new. Could this have been one of Zenith's last remote B&W sets?

I'm going to guess the '74 RCA to have a CTC59 chassis in it. I also had a tube RCA with a very similar control layout.

I'd call it a great day! Those consoles were probably mistaken by many folks to be end tables. I guess having a matching pair isn't too far fetched-I recall an aunt/uncle having 2 GTE Sylvania 19" sets in their house, exactly the same. Once I happened upon a pair of identical Stromberg-Carlson radio/phonos at a used furniture store, but one had been gutted. (I bought, and still have, the good one) In that case I guess some repair shop had them.

With the doors closed, they definitely don't look like tv sets. Great finds!!! Clean as heck too, very nice touch to have the paperwork as well. :thmbsp::thmbsp:

Doug -

Nice haul! I'm sure there are still a lot of sets out there in areas like South Holland. It's always neat to see your pictures, especially of the rooms where you found the sets. It's like looking back in time.

There was a Gately's store in Brementowne Mall (159th and Oak Park Ave.) in Tinley Park. I remember going there as a kid, but from what I read on the web, it closed sometime before Christmas 1993.

-Jim

That really IS a haul! I've never seen that many sets in one estate sale. And it includes a rare RCA XL-100 flat briefcase portable with the 110 degree tube! (Portable for a pro bodybuilder only).

Charles

Those were some great finds. That's good to see what the control panel door looks like on that style of CTC-38...I have one sort of like that but no control panel door. That smaller XL-100 I think is the first inline CRT that RCA made.

I'm amazed that you found all of those tube-type sets. I go to a lot of estate sales here and I think I only found 4 tube type TV's this year.

great haul!
when i heard sc100 i thought of the heavy metal glass faced "portable" i got at hamvention last year.
thats not a common set.i think i have seen 2 since i started repairing tv's at the age of 12.
as for those 38's a neighbor has one just like them.about 5 years ago i rebuilt it for her.its still her daily watcher now with a digital box.
she said that everyone asks where she bought that nice tv as they have never seen one in a store.she gets funny looks when she says its probably older than you!

Nice finds Doug... Maybe you could eBay those '38s to somebody looking to start an era-correct vintage appliance store? (Or Display?) It would be weird if they both smoked their flybacks if they were separated! :sigh:

So add that SC100 to the short list of Space Command sets that could be tuned with a conventional knob, huh?

Two of those houses looked like they could have been the same builder... I really liked the one with the stone on the front... Quads or Tri-levels/ ranches they appear..? I love that design of house... Another thing that has disappeared in today's era of faux-"medieval-castles" with needlessly pointy roofs. :thumbsdn:

In combing through those earlier pictures, I was wondering what became of the $10 Zenith found in the same location as the Emperor? I know you don't like less-than-mint sets. I have been meaning to come down, and I think I have a plan for the Emperor now!

Hello Captain!

I'm glad to see you back in the mode of collecting and restoring sets. You did a great many things to save TV history. I'm almost out of room for things to get. Good hooby to have something to tinker during the cold weather.

:thmbsp:

Great finds! I really like the twins!

Wow, that is quite the haul, just like the "old days". I'd like to know the story behind the twins. It's too bad they sold the space command remote with out the set! Oh well, at least you got the set. That has to be rare. Thanks for preserving tv history.

Man!! I'm in Detroit visiting family and wish I dove a big truck to drive some of these sets back to california. I got the room too. Those are some greAt finds Doug!

Hey Doug how did those twin RCA's turn out? Did you have a chance to check them out yet? The look pretty clean from what I can see.

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I had an RCA set that looked like this one, Mine was a CTC62 IIRC. Had SCRs for horizontal outputs. The green got weak, so it got tossed, though I still have some of the plug in boards from it in a junk box.

It had a push button that had chroma, tint and contrast pre-settings on it.

Went to estate sale in Lincoln, CA and found this Magnavox in the back bedroom. This house is all original and the owners passed away. Looks like this set sat here for quite a long time. Complete with 2 remotes. Haven't had much of a chance to look at it but it's clean. Looks very similar to my 1968 Magnavox. Anyone have any ideas about this one?

http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx37/infinitereality9/maggie.jpg

This weekend was very successful, I found alot of interesting and rare items.
The first sale was in Westchester, 11019 Nelson St. This happened to be the home of a former Motorola employee. I picked up a radio I've wanted for a long time, a 10T28 table radio from 1960, including its original papers. Next to that was a mid 60's Motorola Transistor AM-FM portable, a true Motorola, as it was made in USA. I got the inside story on the table radio. The lady who lived there was in administration at the Franklin Park facility. According to her story as told to me by the people running the sale (Susan Gallagher is still with us, but now in a nursing home) this particular radio was the model that Motorola photographed for this model's advertising. So if this is indeed true, it has some significant history behind it. Its like new and works great. Susan is 91 now.
I was curious if there were any Motorola TV's in the house considering she was a former employee. I was told no such TV's were in the house. I decided to look around anyway. Sure enough, there was a Moto TV in the basement. A super clean 14 incher color portable from '72. It was just sitting on a cart for some other 1950's TV that was gone. Everything in this house was perfect like the day it was made, nothing was touched it seemed like. That little TV was only $6.00! As I brought it up they asked what I wanted the TV, and I pointed out it was a Motorola as well and the acted all surprised as though nobody knew what it was. The radios all work perfect, but the TV has bad caps on the vertical board (nothing new) as the vertical is folded over twice, but the picture is bright and clear with good color. Its a TS-929 chassis, which is a tube hybrid.
The next sale I went to was in Glenview, at 345 N. Branch Rd. In this house I spotted a clean little 19" Zenith space command 300 portable from '63 just sitting on the floor in the basement. It was $5 half price.
Sale three was in Lincolnwood, 6401 N. Kilpatrick, another not so common TV find, a 1973 Admiral 12" tube type color portable. This one was just sitting on the floor too. $10 took that home.
Sale four was also in Lincolnwood, at 6956 Kenton. Here I found a 1973 Admiral "Solarcolor" console, which is still an all tube type set. Very cheap cabinet, the TV had no mass to it at all. The circuit board looks like GE portacolor, just a big PC board with a bunch of compactrons on it. It works too, still hooked up to the antenna in the front room.

Sale five was by far the best and most unexpected find. As soon as I saw the house, it said "Old TV inside", as I walked in, I stepped onto green carpeting....You know what that means! Then the ladys running the sale who knew me said "theres an old 60's TV in the basement for you, its free". This was about 20 minutes before the sale ended as it was late in the day. Really quick I just glanced around the upstairs to make sure nothing of interest was up there. I then proceeded to the basement. When I got down there, I saw a TV screen with green halo, but I didn't recognize what the kind of set it was until I got closer to it. Once I saw the make, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. A 23" Motorola table model color TV in a steel cabinet on the factory cart!!!!! I FINALLY GOT ONE!!!! And its a Quasar II, which is the hybrid works in a drawer chassis. Two birds killed with one stone here as I always wanted a quasar II and a steel cabinet moto table set. Finding this Motorola TV made my day, very much like how me finding that 23" '69 Zenith table color set in Blue Island did last year.
This moto is in great shape too. Looks like nobody ever serviced it. All original tubes are still in it, no missing parts including good antennas. This thing is a tank too, just like the Zenith. A real boat anchor to move by yourself. Upon closer inspection, I was pleased to see every paper tag and label was still present and complete on the back cover. Missing model tags drives me nuts. It was also indeed the factory cart as it had special cut outs for the large rubber feet to fit into.
So Im driving to the last sale all happy because I finally found a steel cabinet Motorola color TV thinking its pretty much a done deal for the day.
The last sale was in LaGrange Park, 1213 Raymond. I walked into this house and again, another Motorola item spotted. Motorola's first consumer portable Stereophonic phonograph. It sounded great as it was playing a Bert Kaempfert album. It was funny as everyone loved this record and I kind of spoiled the sale for everyone when I shut it down to put it all together to buy it. Got that one for $15.00 at half price. I was really surprized someone didn't already buy it.

Once I got everything home, I had to check into the 23" Motorola set. The CRT wouldn't even budge the needle on my RCA CR 3 tester. I raised the heaters to 8 volts for about 30 minutes and the guns came back up. Without rejuvenating the cathodes, I can get about 6-7 on all three guns which track well. So I tried to power it up- NOTHING, totally dead. My first thought was to jump the power switch but it was fine. I then jumped the breaker with the correct 3.5 A fuse. Sure enough, the breaker failed open and wouldn't reset. Static/hash came from the speaker and the tubes started to light up. A very bright picture started flashing from a state of full picture to no vertical sweep, then some smoke started to appear as I saw the 6CW5 vertical output tube flash like a flashcube. I shut it off right away and tested the tube, dead short. I put in a new 6CW5 and all is well. I still cant figure out what was smoking but it was definitly a resistor by the smell. Its still a work in progress, Im glad it came to life with a pretty good picture and the color was good. It will need to be taken apart and recap it so its free of those horrid "ERO" caps that are scattered throughout the set on various boards. The set has intermittent flashing/agc issues which is caused by those junk ero caps leaking. This one was built in October, 1970.

I have a few other things to take care of first before I can put all my free time into this one. The fact that I found so much motorola stuff all in one weekend was quite unreal, just finding two motorola color TV's alone is unheard of.

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I was pretty happy to find this moto, so I got my picture taken next to it before I took it out of its former home. By the way, as for the twin RCA's from a few weeks ago, I havn't looked at them yet other than knowing I have power supply problems in the one as it hums out of the speaker! Not a common occurance in TV's! Thats also a nice magnavox find you got there Shawn!




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What a day! That 23v Moto is a real beauty. They are just loaded with character. The 15" Moto is a set I have wondered about. I don't recall seeing one-I know lots of companies just had them built overseas. Did they build this one here?

I have a 12" Admiral like that, but rebadged as Airline. Put it on the list for "worst color set"! Nothing particulary bad about servicing it, just really cheap and it shows in the picture. I had a Solarcolor console like that once-there is something that I find depressing about those. Small, flimsy chassis, plastic everywhere, from a grand old name that was on its way out. I will say that every one of those 70s Admirals I used to have worked, just not great.

That steel Motorola is a dandy! I've only had one Motorola steel table model TV. It was in a beige steel cabinet and used the 23EGP22 CRT. I got it around '89-'90 and it worked except for a bad CRT. I ended up scrapping it out and my Dad used the cabinet to stick the dog food bowl in. I think the cabinet is still behind my shop. Now, I know I should have kept it; but, what did I know at 13?

Motorola TV's have not been common finds in comparison to other brands. The nicest one I ever had was a late '60's 23" console that was given to me by some older people. It was still in their unused living room and plugged in when I got it. The only thing wrong with it was some minor CRT cataracts. I think I sold that one for $50 (that was back when you could still do that).

I like that Motorola record player as well. I would like to find one of those; but, about the only place I see them is on ebay and they usually go for more than I can afford.

The cart that the Moto was on is the EXACT same one that our Zenith CCII has been on for 30 years. I also came across that same cart at a yard sale in Seattle, and bought it for 50 cents.

Wow, great finds! It is really strange to come across that many Motorola's in a single day.

I had an RCA set that looked like this one...

It had a push button that had chroma, tint and contrast pre-settings on it.
Ah, the dreaded "one-button color" common in the 1970's. My grandmother's 19" Hitachi she got for Christmas in 1974 had the good version of one-button color. The button simply switched to a second set of brightness/contrast/color/tint controls on the back of the set. When I visited and she let me watch the set, I adjusted the controls for a good picture and left the other set of controls with the garish settings she (and just about everyone else I ever knew with a color TV from the 1960's through the early 1980's at least) preferred. I could just put it back to "garish" (or "get your money's worth from having color"; see the above comment about dates) with the push of the button when I was done watching.

Great stuff Doug.

Estate Sales, per se, aren't a big thing around here for some reason. Oddly, the dozen or so I was able to attend this year were devoid of major electronics. You'd see a living room full of furniture and an obvious gap where the console was, or two speakers but no stereo.:dunno:

The 15" Moto is a set I have wondered about. I don't recall seeing one-I know lots of companies just had them built overseas. Did they build this one here?

Yep, this one is the real deal. Built at the Franklin Park plant with domestic parts.

Holy Cow! What a haul!
That old Admiral color console is my kind of set - like those old 70's sets a lot - and an Admiral to boot!

how do you find out about estate sales?

<snip>
another Motorola item spotted. Motorola's first consumer portable Stereophonic phonograph. It sounded great as it was playing a Bert Kaempfert album. It was funny as everyone loved this record and I kind of spoiled the sale for everyone when I shut it down to put it all together to buy it.

<snip>


LOL!! Somebody shares my musical tastes!

I gotta know what album it was.

P.S., congrats and good luck with the new acquistions.

LOL!! Somebody shares my musical tastes!

I gotta know what album it was.

P.S., congrats and good luck with the new acquistions.

You two are NOT the only one's that know who Bert is...or like his music.

And at this time of the year..songs like "jingo Jango", "Toy parade", "holiday for bells" , "Jumpin' Jimminy Christmas", and others-EVERYONE has heard them, whether they know the names of them or not.

Also, I figure you both know names like "Hollyridge strings", Percy faith, Franck Pourcel, James last....the last one in particular has some of the BEST Christmas music, (and normal music too, as do all of the others), there is... his "Christmas Dancing" album is awesome!! Most of them are "German Christmas medleys"--but they sound great, and VERY unique.

ALL of these and MANY more like them-- are on my Ipod.....and my MP3 files.

You two are NOT the only one's that know who Bert is...or like his music.


I have a few of Bert's records. My favorite tune of his is Swingin' Safari.

GREAT finds Doug! Especially the "Works in a Drawer" Motorola:thmbsp: I'm glad you finally found one. It feels really good to "cross one off the list"

those horrid "ERO" caps that are scattered throughout the set on various boards. The set has intermittent flashing/agc issues which is caused by those junk ero caps leaking.

Sad to know that those little greenish German bastards are also found in US sets.

European sets are infested with them, they can cause severe damage as they DO go dead short, so don't use the set for any lenght of time before you've replaced all of them with modern caps

Two estates turned up two old TV's. The first sale was at 8307 W. Knollwood in Palos Park. A wealthy 1950's modern subdivision (My favorites). The sale was jammed with people waiting outside as I got there right when it started. I got the usual number and waited patiently while everyone else complained and started yelling at the estate sale people to let more people in at a time. After about 40 minutes of waiting, my number got called. Finally some peace and quiet. Those people complaining gets on my nerves very quickly.

Everyone entered the house on the lower level. Right when I walked in, I found something rather unusual. An RCA roundie table TV as part of a custom made shelfing unit. It was a 1964 model CTC-16, gold metal cabinet set. Very rarely do I see this type of thing and in the past, the TV was considered to be "part of the house" and was not for sale. I got lucky on this one and the TV was for sale. Why shouldn't it to begin with, right? It was all wired into the outdoor antenna still, plugged in and it still worked with a good bright picture, so its obviously a low hour TV. One of the guys helping with the sale pulled it off the shelf part way so I could detach the antenna and power cord and then helped me load it into my truck. Being in a shelf like it was, the TV was well preserved in mint condition. This is the first time I picked up a true table model roundie. They wanted $50 for it, so thats what they got. It looked really neat in that old shelving unit though, like it was right out of a 1960's Ad.

I then went to another sale not too far away from the last one, at 443 Fisher St. in Munster, IN. It was a estate sale of a condo, which normally means nothing too old as far as TV's due to limited space. I was shocked to see yet ANOTHER vintage table TV! This time its a 1969 RCA CTC-38 on the factory cart STILL IN THE LIVING ROOM! That almost never happens. They must have watched little TV as it still works with a bright picture. This one was priced more appropriately considering the general public opinion on old TV's. It was $5.00. They must have watched little to no TV as the TV still works with a bright picture. I noticed the purity wasn't too good though. I pulled the back off when i got it in my truck just to see what condition it was in. It actually still had all original RCA tubes in there, even the 6GH8's. They will need to be replaced as the TV had no color as I was able to pull in a few low powered stations off the antenna.

This must be vintage table TV month. I don't think I've ever run across so many like I have in the last 2 weeks.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ta1B_ryr8bE/SyKV6FkWwHI/AAAAAAAAAvE/YHJ69gY3u8c/s800/DSCF0645.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_ta1B_ryr8bE/SyLhVuvFpZI/AAAAAAAAAwI/TA-7c2eLvhs/s800/DSCF0646.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ta1B_ryr8bE/SyLhV4Qv7PI/AAAAAAAAAwM/bilvp01c8r0/s800/DSCF0648.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ta1B_ryr8bE/SyKV6TWH0AI/AAAAAAAAAvI/OBVHanM82Ck/s800/DSCF0647.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_ta1B_ryr8bE/SyLhWObfC7I/AAAAAAAAAwQ/78p0_cYcAig/s800/DSCF0649.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ta1B_ryr8bE/SyKV6iJoK0I/AAAAAAAAAvM/a2zu0YPG0GI/s800/DSCF0651.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_ta1B_ryr8bE/SyKV60uwSYI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/bxPZI80zCBc/s800/DSCF0652.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ta1B_ryr8bE/SyQJnSjpudI/AAAAAAAAAyY/J9jOVEabXxI/s800/DSCF0663.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_ta1B_ryr8bE/SyQJnu7FeTI/AAAAAAAAAyc/td1i6BxuJek/s800/DSCF0660.JPG









.

000

those are some nice scores! congrats!!

I think that 1969 RCA is almost the one I grew up with. Ours was in a cabinet and had a 23" screen. I have been looking for that one! I believe my parents got ours in 1968.

Can you post a close up of the control panel and the color controls.

Much Thanks..

Amazing finds you have had in the past few weeks!
That '69 RCA / cart combo is a beauty.
I try to make as many estate sales as I can, but never find vintage sets of that quality.
Location must be the key.
I probably have to see 50 or more woodgrain/ bpc/ spc sets before I see one "vintage" set, and then the vintage is usually the early '80's.

Again, simply amazing finds.
Congratulations!!!

Extremely nice finds!

That CTC38 looks like the ones my elementary school had during the '80's. They were connected to Sony U-matic tape machines on roll around carts.

Really, Doug, these are the good old days! How much longer can this last? That 16 is a great find. Ashame that it has to leave that wall unit.

You lucky #!!*% !!...I doubt if there's ANYTHING remotely close to that kind of a score down 'round here...If there is, I've never seen it...

NICE find on that metal CTC-16! There were a ton of those in the upper income areas of Los Angeles in the 80s, but were practically all gone and replaced by the 90s. You NEVER see that cheap painted version either! I've probably only seen 2 or 3 total, as compared to 100s and 100s of the woodgrained metal cabinet CTC-16s.

Charles

Man Doug. Great finds!! Makes me miss my CTC-16. Weep. Lol. Asked my wife if she wanted to move to Chicago. Of course I got a big "NO"! Lol

Wow, Doug, you're sitting on a gold mine there in Chicago.

I live in a very small town (population 3215) outside the Cleveland area, where people seem to have either already gotten rid of their old TVs or may never had one older than five or ten years. I've been here ten years and have seen only two vintage TVs in the trash, one '80s-vintage RCA b&w 12" portable the year I moved here and a 1978 RCA console a year or two later, not to mention two vintage stereo consoles about a year ago just down the street from my apartment.

Honestly, I saw more old TVs, vintage 1950s-'60s and mid-late '70s, in the trash (mostly Zeniths, but other makes showed up every now and again) in my old neighborhood in Wickliffe, Ohio (east suburban Cleveland) than I see here. The popularity of Zenith TVs in my hometown was very likely due to the fact that there was a Zenith dealer (East End TV and Appliance) not far from my home at the time (1960s-'70s). The dealer left town, however, a couple of years ago and moved to another Cleveland suburb; I don't know if he's still there. :scratch2:

Thanks all,

The plain metal cabinet ctc-16 is indeed a rare one for me. I opened it up just to take a look in there today and noticed it was service in 1966 and again in 1970 per the repair tags. The chassis got pulled and brougth to "O'Briens TV" in chicago both times. Original name and address on the tag from where I bought it.
A little bit of hackage went on in there. The circuit breaker popped and someone rigged up a fuse in its place and just ran wires from under the chassis and wrapped it all in a wad of electrical tape just sitting on top of the chassis. It also has the dreaded oily mess on the bottom of the cabinet from the deteriorating lens seal of the 21FBP22. Needless to say, it will need to get pulled apart for a detail cleaning and proper repair. Im surprised yet again to find another TV with all original tubes except the horizontal output.

Also, the CTC-16 tube layout sheet thats glued to the HV cage is gone. Looks like it just cleanly fell off when it was being handled by the TV shop. Does anyone have a good clean one available? A PDF of one even works, I can scale it to fit and print it out.

Those are some nice sets! That 16 is awesome, I've never seen a gold one. One fine tv I say, almost sexy. :) I want the house it came from:yes:

What a great find! Nice set's.

That house with the roundie was pretty cool. Hopefully someone who appreciates mid-century modern buys it and restores/keeps it original. So many have been ruined by bad remodeling. My buddy recently bought a nice MCM ranch on Lake Michigan from the original owners. It needed quite a bit of work, because the old couple let things slide in their old age. Even came with much of the original furniture. My buddy is putting everything back into shape. I have been telling him he needs a Roundie. :)

Vintage furnishings are great. Anybody remember the old marble kidney shaped coffee tables, the ones with 3 legs set off with brass boots?

We did not have a lot of "stuff" back in the 60's but what we had was quality built and cool looking (like roundies). Now in the 70's things started to go down hill fast...

000

I'm in the market for my first house, and I would like something 50's/60's modern, but it is hard to find ones that haven't been ruined. Particularly in this tough housing market, there's a lot of pressure to do a cheap an cheerful remodel before even putting it on the market. They paint everything in sight white, replace all the light fixtures, and put down ugly fake wood flooring.

Me too, Andy. I'm looking for my first house as well. I've looked at quite a few different places and also looking for a clean original 50's-60's house. This particular house that had the 16 wasn't on the market yet.

Nothing is worse that finding a nice modern 50's house only to see it was ruined by someone tearing out all of the original kitchen and replace it with crap and everything gets painted white. There is something about the clean original 50's/60's house that makes it very comfortable and welcoming inside. I like the wood paneled basements with the 9x9 tile floors and the brass cone lights around the perimeter on the walls for example. Alot is to be said for the original kitchen with original appliances as well. Remodels look like hell most of the time and I personally think its ugly and it looks cheap.

A good friend of my Mom's is a realtor and she knows exactly what Im looking for. Im looking for a nice brick ranch that has never seen remodeling. I'm being particular as I know what I want is out there. Ive been to so many estate sales in which the house was completely mint and original inside. So many homes like that are around chicago but for some reason, its hard to find them on the market right now. Once I get my own place, hopefully within the next year, I can then have a nice original upstairs and live like a human being. Its rather annoying to have all my things contained within my basement. Not suggesting my living room would become a workshop, but it will be nice to have a house to my own with all of my own things (and be out of everyone elses way).

You guys might remember what the basement looked like in my old house where I grew up from seeing background in my TV pictures. It was a ranch built in the 50's, had the wood paneled basement with the orange and white tile floor. I loved that house but I was still in school when my parents decided to make a move back in 2004. The house Im in now was built in 1990, so there is nothing too special about it. My plan is to get a house in the near suburbs of Chicago like where I grew up. The good news is, the type of house I want isn't going to cost a fortune as a dated house keeps the price low. Its a win-win situation for me :D

@ drh,

Very interesting stuff on the history of Motorola.

You seem to know the history of all the plants very well.

I wonder if you could tell me just where the two favorite Motorola products in my collection are from?:

21T34BA 21" B/W TV set, circa 1956.
(this is the one with the AGC problem).

45P3 "Pixie" subminiature tube radio. (has a sticker on the inside with 4545 W Augusta address, now Freedmen Seating.)

(as others have noted, your PM box is full).

I despise nothing more than a remodel in an old house! Keep it original! Thats why my 1979 style house stays 1979! Even the tile and all the redwwod and mohogany woodwork!

To me thats just as bad as gutting a vintage tv and replacing the guts with newer cheap crappy chinese BS or even better, a fishtank!

Well, SOMETIMES you hafta bite the bullet...My house was built in '46. The old lady that lived there when I bought it had re-done it in the early-mid '60s when she & her late husband moved in. The WHOLE HOUSE was a particularly nauseating shade of Insane Asylum Green, w/ soup-bean brown carpets...Even the lovely woodwork had been painted that "Gag-a-Maggot-offa-Gut-Wagon" green...The soup-bean brown carpets had at least protected a beautiful hardwood floor.Now, the house has its woodwork trim & floors restored to their former glory, & there's NO TRACE whatsoever of Rainmanville green...The house is in goldenrod, tan, & some white trim...

Most 50s/60s/70s houses around here were wiped out in Katrina. Those neighborhoods were cut in on land that was too low to build on in previous decades when drainage was poorer (they were up to 20 feet below sea level)

My house was built in 1964 and despite my intentions I wound up with white trim because stainable doors and trim were prohibitively expensive in 2006. All material prices were up 50-100%. Yeah, we were raped backwards and forwards.

It's a tragedy to think about all the luxury homes in Beverly Hills and Bel Air, which often had built-in hi-fi and TV, and have all but disappeared to progress in the last 15 years. I was in one home on St. Cloud Road in Bel Air, next door to Nancy Reagan's house, and it had a humongous built-in Rudolf Valentino hi-fi with McIntosh power amps, and a Tannoy 15" speaker in each room. Had also a built-in CTC-5 RCA color TV in the library, and a juke box built into the basement with control heads in several rooms. Also a Thorens turntable hidden in a drawer near the control center in the ballroom. All gone now. Probably deep in the Lopez Canyon Landfill; Tannoy speakers & all. There's now an Iranian architecture palace with marble columns and stone elephants out front, and a copper roof with turrets. Probably has now a motorized lift-up plasma TV in every room :(

Charles

Check out Atomic Ranch magazine. It's awesome!

Sadly the days of East End TV and Appliance are gone. I remember when they moved into that shopping plaza at 30196 Euclid Avenue back in October 1972 becasue that is also when I started working there. and would continue to do so well into the late 70's. Yes, there were a lot of Zeniths sold.. and I remember stacking most of them in the relatively small warehouse in the back. The transistion was on from tube sets to the panels at that time.. so I still kept busy in the shop checking tubes for the older sets.. It was a great store with great people- survived the Kennedy and Cohen invasion in the 70's but could not go on forever.