View Full Version : Anyone know when Wells-Gardner stopped making TV's?


radiotvnut
04-05-2011, 01:36 PM
The newest WG built set I remember seeing was an '81 Teknika branded 25" console that was cable ready with remote and still used a delta gun CRT. Also, this is the latest set I've seen, from anyone, that still used a delta gun CRT. I remember seeing another Teknika 19" single knob tuned color set from '84; but, I don't know if WG built this one or not. It was in a metal cabinet and used an RCA 19V inline CRT.

I remember the tube type WG sets that had the flat chassis with the plug in modules (looked similar to a Sylvania solid state chassis). Then, they carried over the same concept into the solid state era. Around '77-'78, WG used an upright modular chassis. The chassis in the set I mentioned above was a much smaller, cheap looking chassis that mounted in the bottom of the cabinet. It did have several smaller stand up modules that were very close together and it made troubleshooting the module almost impossible while it was still in the chassis. The only way to troubleshoot these was to pull the module and "hunt and peck" or run jumper wires from the module to the chassis.

Most of the WG sets I remember were branded as Truetone (Western Auto) and I remember seeing one or two Bradford branded WG built consoles.

sampson159
04-05-2011, 02:35 PM
i had several wells garners back in the shop days.a penncrest combo that had the best radio and turntable ever.it would rock the whole block!television was a hybrid with plug in modules and a rauland crt.very good picture with a green halo.i also had a penncrest 25v console.again plug in modules very similiar to sylvania.rauland crt that was excellent and delivered a great picture.trutone was also wells garner.same sets.cant remember any inline crts sets.the last one i saw was a bradford solid state manufactured in 1980.again modular with a no name crt.just the crt number.25vaqp22.pretty nice looking set.

bgadow
04-05-2011, 10:50 PM
For some reason I want to say they were made up until '86 but I don't know why. I was glancing through the Sams index; the last Truetone WGEC number is 1892-2 (1980) and Wards was prior to that. Under the Wells-Gardner listing they have numbers as high as 2286-3 (1984). Did Wards continue using the WG designation for them, until the end, or was there another suffix used?

That compact chassis sounds a lot like a 19" Curtis-Mathes we had. Made in the British West Indies, I've often wondered who was really behind that chassis. Probably not W-G, but guess anything is possible.

I really like W-G built radios from the 30s; I don't know that I've ever had one of their TV sets, though. I have a 13" Teknika from the early 80s. Seems like I did see their EIA number somewhere on it, but it is almost all Japanese. Maybe they did final assembly?

kx250rider
04-06-2011, 10:50 AM
They're still building game console monitors, and commercial monitors, but I don't think they've made consumer TVs for decades. I guess their first were the Sentinel and Airline 7" electrostatic sets, and probably their last were store brand sets from the 80s.

http://www.wellsgardner.com/

Charles