A guy brought this Zenith to my door this afternoon. He picks up used TV's and furniture and resells them; but, this one was too old for him (gooe)! It's a 25" Zenith Chromacolor II using the 25KC45 chassis. The date sticker is hard to read; but, it looks like this set was made in 1/79 in Mexico. I do know that the "K" line was the last vertical chassis. The set fires up; but the convergence is way off and the focus is bad. The best focus is obtained by rotating the focus control all the way to one end and the sharpness is still not acceptable. I suspect either a bad tripler or corroded CRT socket. The top of the cabinet has some bad places from something wet coming in contact with it. I'll either fix this and find some place to put it or I'll end up giving it to someone who will take care of it (as in, not using it until it dies and throwing it out).

I think the newest vertical chassis Zenith that I've seen was a 23" single knob tuned set from 11/79. Anyone have any confirmed newer sightings?

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2009_070325kc450001.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2009_070325kc450002.jpg

i have a ccII with the same vertical chassis and a single knob electronic tuner.very good set.it had a soft focus when i got it.convergence was way off also.replaced the tripler and resoldered some joints in the convergence board.tuned out really sharp and as usual,a very sharp,crisp zenith picture!!

I recognize that set - someone in the family must have had one.

I played with it a little tonight and have a fairly nice picture. For some reason, someone had the G2 controls cranked around 3/4 open, which caused excessive brightness and retrace lines in the picture with the contrast control turned down. I reset those controls and played with the convergence adjustments. The picture is much better; but, the focus is still soft. I'll look into that tomorrow.

BTW, the picture being viewed is of a LP analog signal with no antenna connected to the set.

No newer sightings, but my 25KC45 is from 12/78, built in Hermosillo, Mexico. I've got the single-knob tuner with the 6 UHF presets. One of these days I have to pull it apart and figure out where to plug in a video input.

It's probably got the best picture of any of my vintage sets; vivid colors and tack-sharp, especially with a signal from a DTV converter. Haven't had to do any major work other than cold solder joints on a module or two. The convergence is a bit off around the edges but I'm the only one who notices (or watches!).

-Jim

I had to check to make sure mine was still there and didn't get stolen. That's the EXACT same one I have! No date on mine and I can't read the serial. My convergence is off a little and there's overscan, but great otherwise.

When did Zenith first start using the plug in circuit board construction seen in the K series CCII's? A company in Australia used a very similar style of construction in the 1970's.

I have 2 of these. One is in a cabinet that's mostly plastic, and the other is just the CRT, chassis, tuner, and CRT bezel (particle board cabinet disintegraated long ago due to being stored outdoors for years) which I keep for parts. Yours looks like a nicer set than mine. Good save!

Good luck with it --I bought one of those sets (same chassis number) brand new in 1977 and it was the BIGGEST PIECE OF SH^& I ever owned. Out of focus and the reds would come and go.
Several boards were replace to no avail.
My happiest day was when I put it curbside and hurled a brick right in the picture tube.
James