Since trying Howard Restor-a-finish this summer I've been on a bit of a kick to make things look better...In this trend the following story transpired...

Some may remember the 1964 Zenith portable I bought at an estate sale in Chicago with it's original stand...Well the stand was on the floor of the basement when I found it and was not in nearly as good shape as the TV.

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN1125.jpg
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN1126.jpg
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN1152.jpg

The cart was VERY dusty, and worse still it had RUSTED badly especially on the bottom. The metal parts were plated metal(I'd guess nickel or chrome) and the corrosion had not only dulled the finish, but had actually peeled the plating off in several places near the bottom.

The stand was also very rickety due to two problems.
The first was that the front wood support for the TV had a split on one end that followed the grove for the tension rod which was not bracing the tension rod to actually allow it to tension! The second was a damaged thread on a securing nut for one of the tension rods which just would not stay screwed on.

Some might have tossed the original stand with it being in such sad shape, but this did not deter me.

I glued and clamped the split and with the exception of a clamp mark a bit under the size of a dime(I could have kicked my self for that) it was a complete success. I was considering replacing the damaged nut with a different looking non-original one, but since I had nothing to loose I tried to really get that nut to tighten on, and in the process the damaged section of the thread broke off leaving the good usable sections of threading in tact. The nut effectively fixed it's self!

Next I had to decide what to do about the corrosion on the metal parts. Since re-plating is out of my budget I went for the next best option....Chrome spray paint. I separated the metal from the wood(except for the tips on the side handles which after polishing looked good enough), and after vigorously scrubbing the surface of the metal with 00 steel wool I spray painted the metal. Once the paint was dry I hit the wood with howards and reassembled the stand. The result can be seen below.

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN1854.jpg
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN1855.jpg
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN1856.jpg
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN1857.jpg
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN1859.jpg

The result IMO looks GREAT and fairly original.
What say you?

BTW the TV was working as found and currently falls under my "If it ain't broke, then hope it stays that way!" policy.

Looks good Tom! Nice job. That tv looks sharp on that cart now.

I'm glad you redid the cart, too. This TV looks right on a cart. I used to see alot of these sets back in the day... Dirty tuners, mostly.

I'm glad you redid the cart, too. This TV looks right on a cart. I used to see alot of these sets back in the day... Dirty tuners, mostly.

Yeah, I probably should clean the tuner....Though what is being seen in the newer picks is a combination of a lousy improvised signal source creating snow, and my camera making it look far worse than it is.

I've got a non UHF blond vinyl version with space command and no cart as well....All I need is the fully loaded version and the bare bones version to have all the significant variations of this model. Egad I'm really becoming a Zenith freak ain't I.

Looks great and of course, having the correct cart makes the assembly complete.

Bravo!

HAVING that cart really does make the set!

I would even have a set like that in my strict "no big sets" little flat I live in if I could have it be completely retro like this. Nothing worse than cool retro stuff sitting on "microwave carts" or whatnot. These carts were neat because of the wheels. Reminds you that a TV was REALLY an investment.....and the family would move one around rather than having five or six TV sets.

What is the chassis number on that one Tom? Something with an M in it?

I have a 1964 VHF-only 15L37 that looks similar, but no stand. I plan to watch the debates on it next month.

I also have factory books on these B&W workhorses, not that you ever seem to need them.

What is the chassis number on that one Tom? Something with an M in it?


14M27 on the pictured one, 15K37 on the SC set. I have the sams for the SC set and 'I think' the Bietmans for the one with the stand....I have not really compared them, but the only glowing differences(asside from the SC and UHF options) are that the one with a stand has an extra side knob, and uses an actual B+ rectifier tube. The newer one(based on the silicone B+ rectifiers) actually could use a good service someday as the width takes a long while to fill out, and it sometimes don't start up with HV. I don't use them much so unless they decide to quit giving halfway decent performance I'll keep them as they are and save my resources for the many dead sets awaiting my care.

AiboPet: Folks were more open to carts then for two reasons aside from the investment. Subscription TV systems that tied sets to the cable outlet(or satelite) were rare then, and lugables like my 18" set were meant to be able to be moved around regularly(the cart only serves to take lifting it out of the equation).

AiboPet:Also I've been meaning to you say that a small apartment is not a real excuse not to collect big tube consoles. I was stuck in an apartment for a couple of years until a few months back when my folks (whom I'm living with to help keep college expenses down) bought a house. They only let me use my room and half the wall space in the garage before we got the house, and I had to get creative to fit everything I wanted to store.
Here are some pictures that give the idea of what I did to get the 8 or so TVs, ~40 antique radios, two cabinets of stereo/video equip, seemingly ton of LP's, and much much more random stuff in to my bed room, and still have room for the bed + floor space to do repairs.

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN0429.jpg
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN0538.jpg
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN1368.jpg

I intentionally avoided taking a pic of the whole thing as I always had enough things going on that it was never organized enough for me to consider it worthy of being photographed....case in point you can fit as much in a space as it's volume will allow, and you can still fit a TON into a room yet retain plenty of floor space if you think 3-dimensionally and get shelves/stack things. What you can fit in to a space is only bounded by what you find(and can organize) to be acceptable (and of course the laws of physics:D).

That said there are smaller tube color sets like the table top roundy above, this 20" set(on right, below) that are manageable and can be watched by many people comfortably from across the room, as well as sizes as small as 11"(color sets smaller than 20" are generally less common). http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN0843.jpg

They also made monochrome(black & white) tube sets in a WIDE variety of screen sizes, with screens anywhere between 3" and 20".
There are many cabinet styles and screen sizes to choose from that can be had cheap. If you keep your eyes open you can find models that are unobtrusive enough that you might decide to keep 5 tube sets around....There is some really nice stuff out there no matter what styles you like.