I got a call from an estate liquidator today about checking out a vintage zenith TV. She's hosting a huge estate sale of mainly 40s and 50s items. She asked me to check out the set before she put it out for sale.

The set in question was an amazing looking 16" porthole console. Model 37t996rlp with 28f23 tv chassis, am/fm radio and early cobramatic changer.

The set has not been used in years but was stored inside. No chassis rust except for a small bit on the transformer housing of the power supply chassis. The interlock plug is frayed and the set has not been powered on. All knobs and trim pieces are intact, the cabinet is absolutely beautiful and even a glass top was made for it. All the original manuals and station guides are included with the set. The record changer is frozen up and the dial string on the radio is broken.

The television chassis looks like a very promising bet for restoration. The HV cage and back are present, only a few tubes have been replaced, and the chassis looks virgin. The flyback looks to be in good condition with no sign of overheating or arc-over. The HV fuse was intact. The HV rectifier tube is dead, but the other sweep tubes tested fine.

The strong point and real value in this set is the CRT. The 16AP4 was replaced at some point with a new RCA tube. Afterwords it was probably not used much. I could not find an EIA code on the tube.
The CRT tested as new on my beltron, and emission came up immediately at warmup. The tube registered .94 / 100 (a good tube being .85) and had a long life test.

The estate lady is taking bids and she's trying to get the best offer over $350 - but I'm not sure if that will fly. However, this is one of the most beautiful virgin looking sets I've seen in a good long time - so if you're after a pretty porthole it might be worth it.

The estate sale is saturday (11th) 9-4 and sunday(12th) 10-2. at 6 1 3 6 Arno Dr in San Diego. Contact Kathy Hawley at (7 6 0) - 5 2 1 - 1 8 8 1 between 9am and 5pm for any more info about the set or estate sale.

I'm trying to extract pictures from my phone I took and will get them up as soon as I'm successful at getting those uploaded.

-I am not affiliated with this sale- This is just a heads up for you porthole collectors.

If that's the one with the TV in the middle, it would be a Marlborough. A real beauty.

Here are some pictures. Sorry for the quality. My phone is obviously terrible.

Oooh, nice, I'm within striking distance but I just can't justify that asking price.
$250 might be do-able since it has a good tube.

It would be a nice companion to my Philco 49-1280 Combo, I'd have to stack them to make it fit in my house though.

sweet set.

Wow, same model was at an estate sale near Chicago: http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=249460

I'm in Cancun right now, so I couldn't nab it.

Just got this one for $150. Haven't dug into it at all except to unload it. PO said it worked, we will see when the time comes. Came with a glass top also.

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaahhh...I'll NEVER get a Zenith Porthole...Woe iz Me...(grin)

Just got this one for $150. Haven't dug into it at all except to unload it. PO said it worked, we will see when the time comes. Came with a glass top also.

Nice. Like to find one someday too.
Post some more pictures.

Carl

Here you go. Still uncleaned. So far everything looks OK. Picture tube is a Sylvania. Repair ticket from 1957 attached to the yoke.

I checked out the chassis and put it on the variac. Brought it up slow, no weird sounds, actually no sound at all, and we have a bright raster, much brighter than the photo shows as the flash went off, full screen, and the horizontal is locked. I hooked up the vcr and actually had a picture! Contrast is very bad and no sound. But......I'm extremely happy.

What picture tube does it use?

it's a 16". Didn't look at the number and the back is back on it again as I buttoned it up and started working on the DuMont again. So what year is it, 1950 or 51?

That's a 1951 model, 16GP4 is the CRT. I'd give the 6BF5 audio out tube a wiggle, that may restore your audio. Or maybe it's missing? It's located on the separate power supply chassis.

Thanks John,
There was a little scratchiness when the volume was moved but very soft. I'll check it out.

Did anyone save this set? Eric??

yeah, I'm wondering myself if anyone got that set. . .

If that TV was near me, it would now be in my garage:-)

Carl