Hi from Sue (& my hubs, Roger) in Central NY! We love old things of any kind, and not too long ago we got a tube stereo with help from AudioKarma. That's how we found out about this place, and got the idea to acquire this old TV beastie. We think it's a Zenith from about 1966, but that's just a guess. Neither of us had color TV growing up in the '50s & '60s, so color was a must on the theory that it's never too late to have a happy childhood!

It's not coming for a week or 2, but according to the seller it's a model 15331-U. We don't know the chassis type (anyone?) we see here on other posts that chassis number & information is needed for finding service information and manuals. It's a bit bigger set than some that we've seen.

At this point all we know is that it sort-of works, as you can see at least the picture tube does light up green. Other than that we expect to soon find out if this thing will be a fun project (with lots of help!) or a gigantic boondoggle; hopefully not the latter!! Hubs has worked on some radios and he put together kits in the '60s, so at least he can solder, and now being retired he has lots of time! So hello! I just hope this wasn't a giant mistake, we really want to watch the old shows of our childhood on a TV from the same time... See the USA in your Chevrolet... !
Sue in NY

A few more pictures of the '66? Zenith:

Opinions and comments regarding the suitability of this make & model would be welcome! We knew less than nothing when we bought this; talk about going in blind! But we love saving old things and this one would likely have ended up in a landfill!

Neither of us had color TV growing up in the '50s & '60s, so color was a must on the theory that it's never too late to have a happy childhood!
Amen to that.

Ah a Zenith, top of the heap for early color sets, and it's a runner, good start. A beginner would probably be totally screwed with an early color RCA, especially if he/she got it with the intention of using it regularly.

No older Zenith color set is a boondoggle. Great find!

Welcome aboard Sue.
Zenith is a nice choice. Easiest to deal with. Your chassis number is on
the warning tag on the right. Always use it when asking questions.

First thing is lets get an idea how the pix tube is & take it from there.

There are 5 color controls on the reat to the R of the cord.
On the brown fiber board there is a G & B control. Leave them alone
for now.
On the main chassis there are 3 more R, B, & G usually marked " screen".
Turn all 3 all the way down CCW & remember where the green was.
Turn one way up. It should give that color only.
Turn back down & turn another up should be that color only.
Due the same with the 3rd color. Take pictures of the 3 different colors
& post them.
You can now put the G control back.
Now you can try one more thing.
With the G back where it was turn up the R & B about the same place.
If the CRT is real strong you should get almost a B&W picture.
Tweak the controls & try to make it as B&W as you can.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Welcome! :wave:

I was looking at that set on Ebay just recently. I am glad it is going to someone who wants to preserve it. I have had a 1965 Zenith round tube color tv for the past ten years. It has been in regular use all that time after I restored it. Mine uses the 25MC33 chassis. They are great sets and worth the effort to restore. Once set up correctly, the picture and color quality is unbelievably good. I still am wowed by the color quality on mine and it needs some maintenance. If you want a vintage tv you can actually use regularly and enjoy, Zenith is among the best there is.

We can't wait until it comes, weather permitting (we just had a bunch of snow) they hope to deliver it in a week or 2, we're about 2 hours away from the sellers.

Does this model look familiar to anyone?
I think I got lucky, (I hope) since we know virtually zero about old TVs! I'm so excited to fix it up and use it as intended!

Thanks to all for the welcome, and Tom C and Mr. Zeno for your tips, as soon as we get it home we'll try those out!

The only thing I'm not super thrilled about is the cabinet design, which is kind of modern and in a dark wood. We feel lucky to have found this so we didn't hesitate for a second, as we've been looking but there's never been one anywhere nearby, but all of my furniture is a lighter maple-wood, Early American Colonial style, and I would love to be able to put these "guts" into a cabinet that would be a better match since it'll be put in our Living Room and used as our regular set, along with our old tube stereo and other 1950s & 60s vintage Early American maple furniture. Is there anyone with a similar Zenith set but in a maple wood style out there?

Here's my DH's vintage play toy, and he has a few old radios too:

Here's my DH's vintage play toy, and he has a few old radios too:

Nice 68 Chevy, what engine, 250 , 327 . As for the zenith, hopefully all 3 guns are good and not just the green gun.

I had to ask hubby what engine it is, he says 327 4 barel? It only has 70 thousand miles and runs like a Swiss watch, and it's as solid as a rock, and pretty much original.

I found an old picture here of the style of cabinet I'd like to find, down below. I wonder if it's possible to find one now, 50 years on!

here's the cabinet style, Early American, that I'd love to have so it'd match our stereo and the rest of our furniture, the Zenith that we found won't fit in with them too well! LOL

Well, the picture isn't that old. See this thread: http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=264151

People have different tastes but prevailing sentiment around here seems to be that cabinets such as your Zenith are some of the more desirable. Maybe someone will be willing to work a trade with you.

You could probably have the cabinet refinished to match the lighter color of your console stereo. Another likely expensive option is to have a custom cabinet built for it in your preferred style. There are not too many sets I would be willing to do that for but a Zenith roundie is definitely one of them.

Something to keep in mind - a vintage tube TV (especially color) is always a 'work in progress' prone to inevitable failures/breakdowns. If you don't have an experienced techie on call for service/repairs, there's always the collective wisdom here on VK. :)

I found an old picture here of the style of cabinet I'd like to find, down below. I wonder if it's possible to find one now, 50 years on!
Yeah I really like that style too. Sets like that can't be that hard to find, I got my daily watcher in near-mint condition when it was a bit over 39 years old; it's pushing 42 now. Also it's a Canadian set and top-of-the-line for its time so the style was popular up here too.

Refinishing and custom builds are good ideas too, especially the latter. I don't think maple stain would look quite right on wood that isn't maple.

Nice Zenith! Well-worth getting back into top shape.

Thanks to you all!

We like the American Colonial cabinet style, so I'd prefer to find one rather than try to lighten up the one we found, but of course we'll preserve it and won't change it in the meantime until we can find what we want, and even then would save the old cabinet. A swap would be ideal if someone wanted the more mid-century modern look of this one we've got.

I have a feeling we will soon be looking for a vintage TV guru to massage this one back to a long and future life, hopefully someone within a few hours of Bingahmton NY! (we're 1 hour S of Syracuse, and 1 hour N of Scranton PA).

This one is a bit above our pay grade, DH is more about old cars and old furniture, besides some house wiring, a 1930s Zenith radio is the most ambitious electrical project he's thus far undertaken. He's more into working on things than writing on the computer. All of the old stuff we own, including our 1955 ranch house, is a work in progress, so that much we are used to, one becomes more of a steward, not just the owner, it's the nature of the beast!

we will soon be looking for a vintage TV guruYou could contact a radio/TV collector club in your area and ask for a repairman recommendation. Here's a list of US clubs:

http://antiqueradio.com/clublist.html

Even if the nearest club isn't next door, they might know someone closer to you.

Regards,

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
https://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Thank you for that idea Phil!
I'd just wonder, though, if color TV repair might be different enough from their usual experience with old radios that most folks who are also into vintage color TV might be more prone to congregate right here?

Nearly every radio collector club has a TV guy or 2 in its membership...I'm with the WARCI, ARCI and have visited and or been a member of at least 3 other clubs (one of which is not even around anymore).

Counting myself there are at least 5 TV guys from VK that are WARCI regulars, and some folks who are into TVs that DON'T visit VK.

You never know who may be at an antique radio club meet...Some swap meets have enough non-radio electronics that it really gives an interesting window into the diverse interests electronics hobbyists have.

I had one of those early American ones as you pictured; it's been swapped around a couple times since then among some of the members on here. Somebody still has it! I agree that you couldn't do better, from a dependability state, than Zenith. Truly great sets.

That's good to know, I'd have to call it beginner's luck!

If anyone does have an Early American cabinet or set they can part with please do let me know!

Can a roundie be put into a later cabinet? It seems like it would be best to try to keep it all Zenith if at all possible.

There are various issues with trying to put a roundy in a rectangluar cabinet.... probably the worst being a much shallower cabinet on the rectangluar sets, and possibly the CRT masks having different size cabinet openings. Probabily of success is less than 30% unless doing major carpentry is an option, or an original level of build quality is not desired.

I've never been to Syracuse but I am in the Liberty ny area if that would help at all with your finding someone to help with your color set.

Hi Timmy: We're in Endicott (Binghamton) right up Rt 17 aka I-86, about an hour S of Syracuse, just 7 or so miles from the PA-NY state line!

I've never been to Syracuse ...

Syracuse is my college town, graduated in 1978. Back then, Syracuse was a city so small that they only had 4 TV channels :D I grew up near NYC, which had 7 VHF channels. And a bunch of UHFs, which my 1950 Admiral could not receive.

Binghamton was smaller yet, worked there around 1980 at a defense contractor. Endicott was a company town, IBM the company.

Syracuse is my college town, graduated in 1978. Back then, Syracuse was a city so small that they only had 4 TV channels :D I grew up near NYC, which had 7 VHF channels. And a bunch of UHFs, which my 1950 Admiral could not receive.

Binghamton was smaller yet, worked there around 1980 at a defense contractor. Endicott was a company town, IBM the company.
Wasn't Binghamton the place where McIntosh was located. :scratch2:

Yes, McIntosh has been here since 1952, and is still here, but their stuff is well beyond our station in life!!
IBM had 15,000 people here and it's where it started, now down to 800 employees in rented space. Endicott-Johnson Shoe was once the biggest in the world, 34,000 souls worked there, many from Eastern Europe and Ireland, but they've been out of business for 20 years now. But it's still a nice place to live, BAE British Aerospace and Lockheed have a big presence, and Binghamton University is a top notch institution and contributes a great deal to the community.

Well it looks like the seller won't be able to meet us in Syracuse to deliver the set this weekend :-(( I'll post some more and better pictures as soon as we get it home. I thought we had more from the seller but it's only from the back of the set. Does anyone have a guess of the actual year it is? We have no numbers to go by yet.
"Anticipation, anticipa-aa-tion.... is keepin me waitin"!"

I'm 90% sure you have a 1965 Model but I have not seen that control panel style before. Most of the 1965 color sets used a 25MC33 chassis and had the channel numbers light up within the VHF selector knob's "round gray center window".

5331U would be the official model number, based on your earlier post. the knob behind the tuner on the back cover suggests a space command set but I see no remote chassis in the other pictures.

My 1965 Zenith roundie uses the 25MC33 chassis. I have had one for ten years now and it is a very good performer.

The text on the HV sticker looks vaguely like 25MC33. It may be a set with motorized tuning but no Space Command...I saw a thusly equipped monochrome set once.

From the rear view photos, it looks like there's no auto-degauss. What year did Zenith go to auto-degauss? (RCA started in 1964 and presumably Zenith did likewise. But can't say for sure).

From the rear view photos, it looks like there's no auto-degauss. What year did Zenith go to auto-degauss? (RCA started in 1964 and presumably Zenith did likewise. But can't say for sure).

My 25MC33 1965 model has auto degauss but I never hear the brief hum that one often hears on solid state sets. I don't know it the tube sets do that.

Hi Timmy: We're in Endicott (Binghamton) right up Rt 17 aka I-86, about an hour S of Syracuse, just 7 or so miles from the PA-NY state line!

I believe I'm 89 miles from Binghamton , I'm at exit 102 my 17 aka I86.

That's very good to know Timmy, there's no doubt we're way over our head with this one!

That's very good to know Timmy, there's no doubt we're way over our head with this one!

Na , it's not that bad it will pay off when you sit down and watch an old show on that set. :yes:

That's most certain, but we're no doubt going to need to turn to someone who knows what they are doing to avoid wrecking it, as they say "first do no harm"!
Furniture refinishing we can do, electronics, not so much!

That's most certain, but we're no doubt going to need to turn to someone who knows what they are doing to avoid wrecking it, as they say "first do no harm"!
Furniture refinishing we can do, electronics, not so much!

Did you get the set to it's new home yet ?

Yes we did Timmy, it's so exciting! I added more information and pictures on another thread, where it seems I should have continued on with things here.
Still learning!

I think it's wonderful that there's people who are interested in preserving these important historical artifacts, as that's what they've now become! It seems that there's always a few people with the foresight to understand the real significance of important technological milestones, and television was no doubt one of the most important of the last century, yet so few have preserved what's left of these great examples of 20th century America progress! As I said at the beginning, we never had color tv in the '50s and '60s, and it had a powerful allure. My Mom was widowed when I was 10 and didn't have a color TV until around 1978. So it was always a very special thing to have to me.

Yes we did Timmy, it's so exciting! I added more information and pictures on another thread, where it seems I should have continued on with things here.
Still learning!

I think it's wonderful that there's people who are interested in preserving these important historical artifacts, as that's what they've now become! It seems that there's always a few people with the foresight to understand the real significance of important technological milestones, and television was no doubt one of the most important of the last century, yet so few have preserved what's left of these great examples of 20th century America progress! As I said at the beginning, we never had color tv in the '50s and '60s, and it had a powerful allure. My Mom was widowed when I was 10 and didn't have a color TV until around 1978. So it was always a very special thing to have to me.

Yes whenever I see a set like yours it brings back certain memory's for me since we had a set similar to yours in the 60s but for only about 2 years when the crt went bad and was to expensive to fix and then it was black and white from now on back then. It's really to bad how many of these tvs were sent to the curb or dump, it's like throwing away some of the past but at least we all are out here to preserve what's left. :thmbsp:

Yes, it's a wonderful thing when something like these early color sets are saved from oblivion and brought back to life! We've done that with some old Amana RadarRanges, 1950s appliances, and tube radios and stereos as well... but for us this TV is our ultimate save!

Yet another question, this time coming from my hubs, Roger: are critical functional parts that will be needed to keep this particular 25MC33 chassis working relatively available? What would be a source for them? (We probably should have asked prior to buying it!)

This is my RCA CTC11 from 1961 in an early American style.

Oh I love that cabinet style, we so hope to find a cabinet like that!

here's the cabinet style, Early American, that I'd love to have so it'd match our stereo and the rest of our furniture, the Zenith that we found won't fit in with them too well! LOL

Ha! That first pic is of the Zenith roundie I trash picked a few years ago. It's still sitting in my garage waiting for a new CRT, and the cabinet is rough. I found A much better condition Roundie with the same 25mc33 chassis back in 2015 in a danish modern cabinet and restored it to working condition. It's about to become a daily watcher in the private cigar club I'm working on opening in the building where my recording studio used to be.

Funny, we have the sought-after Danish Modern style in the large high-end Hi-Fidelity model, but would love an Early American all tube Zenith set and a smaller size would be good for our little '50s ranch house as well. Would anybody like to trade?

One of the main reasons the old Zenith's hold up so well is the tubes are mounted on the top part of the chassis and the passive components are mounted on the bottom side of the chassis, less direct heat from tubes.