After looking through CL ads for the past several years I have come to the conclusion that it may actually be easier to score 1950's set then a 1980's set. At least in my area that seems to be the case.

Its exceptionally difficult to find a nice console set from the 80's, specifically the early 80's. When they do turn up they are somehow in much worse shape then those form the 50's and 60's.

So whats the logical explanation for this? Well my guess is people kept things much longer back in the 50's/60's and took better care of their possessions. As for the fate of many 1980s sets....well they probably ended up in the kids rooms when families bought never Tv's in the 90's, or they simply went to the trash. Either way a majority of sets from the 80's did not get the same care as sets from decades past.

I have a feeling that within the next 20 years or so a good 1980's console set is going to be exceptionally rare.

Your thoughts on this?

50s,
All I know is that I've only ever seen one 80s console, a Zenith that my father-in-law
purchased new about 1988 and still owns (although it is now used as a stand for a Visio flat-screen. I'm hoping to save it after he passes on). I don't think console sets were that popular then, so perhaps fewer were made?

Around here it's tough to find anything older than about 1985, unless I'm just not looking in the right places.

Check http://buffalo.craigslist.org

There are consoles from the 80s EVERYwhere here. Of course, nobody in Buffalo has any money. Chrysler K cars and old Cutlass Cieras are still common on the roads here.

In fact I have an RCA Colortrak 2000 console from '86 in my living room that gets daily use. Nice set. They last forever. I did consider your point about the 70s and 80s consoles a couple years back, and you're right....what isn't desirable and is tossed out on a grand scale today will be valuable and sought after in 20 years. But in 20 years, I'll be approaching 60 :eek: , and I have no intentions on warehousing a bunch til then :)

Or do I, hm.

...

I see this happening also... I used to see tons of 80s sets on CL and in the local free papers, but no more. Now people are calling 80s sets "antique" and asking $$$$$$. I won't pay it, but evidently someone is. If you want to get hold of a future museum piece, get an early plasma set from the 90s. Those are already all dead, and disappearing FAST. Without question, there are far more 40s, 50s, and 60s sets on CL than 80s in SoCal, and also in Dallas. Not sure of elsewhere.

Charles

I still see plenty of '80's and newer consoles around here. A few weeks ago, a friend gave me an early '90's beat up RCA console. It worked fine; but, was beat up and since no one wants consoles anymore, I junked it. I then told my friend that I appreciated him thinking of me; but, to please not bring any more '80's/'90's consoles over here. Since I told him that, he said that he had the opportunity to pick up 3 or 4; but, left them alone since I didn't want them.

At one time, a nice looking 25" console would bring a quick and easy $100-$200. Now, I can't give them away. The last console I sold was one of the last Zenith's from the early 2000's. It was in good shape and I was happy to get $50 for it from someone who wanted a console.

I see a lot of 80's consoles here (and 90's for that matter). It's probably a 10 to 1 ratio of 80's to 60's consoles in Austin. I didn't know anyone was interested in them. With a few exceptions, most 80's consoles were generally low end sets made for older people who still wanted a console. I still see those awful RCAs with the digital tuning, but no remote every so often. Personally, I would rather have a table top set than a cheap plastic and particle board 80's console.

Zenith's last consoles in the early '90s were in the type of cabinet you describe, with a very small chassis that left most of the cabinet empty -- except for the CRT, tuner and speaker. I remember seeing these consoles in a TV shop, now long out of business, in my hometown about 20 years ago. These were definitely not the same quality Zenith consoles as the ones from the '70s and earlier. The newer sets aren't worth repairing because the PC board "chassis" is so small, and the CRT may well be an obscure Japanese 150KBxxx tube that is probably impossible to find nowadays, so even if the tube goes bad, these sets usually get trashed if the least little thing goes wrong with them.

I don't see any really old TVs in my town. The last old sets I saw here were a 12" RCA b&w portable from the '80s, and a 25" RCA color console from the late '70s. I've seen a few newer sets out for the trash, however -- two 25" square-corner table sets probably from the '80s and a Magnavox 23-25" table model from the late '80s or '90s, but nothing older than late '70s. There are people in this town who have lived here 50 years or more, so I would expect they might have vintage or even antique TVs in their basements or garages; if they do, they may be holding on to them or may have gotten rid of them years before I moved here. There were more old TVs out on the curbs in my hometown in the '60s-'70s, mostly '50s-early-'60s models, than I have ever seen where I live today.

Strange, but not as strange as the fact that I have yet to see even one flat-panel TV in anyone's trash. I'd think that, with the very short life span of early FPs and the fact that these sets are extremely fragile (knock one off its stand and nine times out of ten the screen will crack, not to mention that these TVs do not take lightning strikes well), there would be more such sets being pitched. However, with flat-panel HDTVs now being made with long-life displays (Zenith/LG advertises that its newest FPs have displays that will last 60,000 hours, which works out to 20 years if the set is used eight hours a day; if the TV is used less, the panel could last much longer than that), I don't think we'll see too many high-end (to say nothing of high-priced) flat panels in the trash -- at least not Zenith/LG sets. If these sets do show up on the curbs, it will probably be for other reasons, such as cracked screens, lightning strikes or chassis problems. Of course, there will always be the sets that wind up with smashed screens, especially during football season when fans, angry that their team's quarterback made a bad call, etc. throw a shoe or some other hard object at the set. Older TVs with CRTs can stand this kind of abuse (the worst that can happen would be that the safety glass in front of the tube would shatter), but FPs are nowhere near as forgiving -- unfortunately.

Zenith and RCA still offered consoles as recent as the early 2000's. Like I said earlier, I had one of Zenith's last models. It was in a particleboard and plastic cabinet, had a small chassis in the bottom of the cabinet, and used a Philips CRT. It had seen little use and was given to me after lightning struck it. It only needed minor repair and I sold it for $50. Most of the '90's era Zenith consoles suffered from bad CRT's and if I ever see another one, it will be too soon.

The RCA consoles of the '90's were OK, except for the usual tuner problems. The CRT's held up much better than a Zenith tube.

Even the last gasp consoles cost several hundred dollars when new. You could buy the same TV in a BPC portable cabinet for much less; so, that tells me that when you bought a console, you were paying dearly for the particleboard cabinet.

Even the last gasp consoles cost several hundred dollars when new. You could buy the same TV in a BPC portable cabinet for much less; so, that tells me that when you bought a console, you were paying dearly for the particleboard cabinet.

Sad isnt it? It used to be when you bought a console you were getting a much better quality set.

Yeah, the last several "Consoles" I remember seeing were so gotdang cheap 'n' nasty, I wouldn't have had one in my house...Plastiwood, or cheap printed applique, cheezy rinky-dink controls, 1/4" thick "Lu-Ann" wood-Whathehell IS a "Lu-Ann" tree, anyhoo ? Any o' youse byrds ever seen one ?- and the electronics on a board not much bigger than what a shirtpocket AM radio used to be on...Helluva shame to those of us who remember the great dreadnought Zenith, RCA, Magnavox, Motorola "Entertainment Centers" that went for megabux back in the day...

Still loads of consoles around here, for sale on CL or in the classifieds, or rotting on a front porch! I tend to get stuck with one about once a year thanks to a well-meaning soul passing one along to me. Eventually they will become somewhat hard to find, and somewhat collectible.

PA has lots of these transitioning from estates to thrift stores or worse (the curb). Upstate, many can be seen on the front porch, used for a table. Through the late 80's, some folks wanted a piece of furniture, not a plastic box. Some of the GE and RCA sets made before Thomsen killed RCA were very tough and outlasted the CRT in many cases. I have a 1986 Colortrak 25" table model from a highschool. This "Mural TV" has 2 video in/out panel and the single row of keys and filp-down aluminum door above the screen. It's a treasure of the 80's when "RCA was making television better and better"

i see the 'modern' looking late 80s consoles from time to time.

I have a 1988 vintage Sony 32 inch monster console in a closet... It is anything but cheaply made, it has a razor sharp picture, and s-video inputs, video input on the front for the mandatory 80s yuppie handycam, etc

It's a great console, stereo sound with speakers in sealed boxes inside the console etc, but it is enormous, and it blasted out too much conversation ruining CNN, 'hardball', during its long life at my grandpaarents house for me to like it