As I was going out Christmas Eve, I went the other way from my house. I haven't gone that way for about a week. It was dark, but I saw a reflection about 10 feet from the road out in a little bit of weeds in this field. It was a TV. I had to stop and get it. Couldn't see what it was, but it had a wide cabinet and was bulky. I get home later, and find it was a 1981 Zenith. I was hoping it was at least mid 70s or older. I still like TVs from the very early 80s anyhow.

This TV must have sat there for almost a week. We have had a lot of heavy rain, some snow, and sub zero temperatures at night. When I picked it up it was frozen to the ground. I stuck a heater on it for the past 2 days to dry it out. All the metal shields, heat sinks, etc. had rust on them already. Once it was dry, it just had loose dust and dirt which I blew out with air.

Last night I tried it, and surprisingly, it worked perfectly! I didn't even have to adjust anything. Tunes perfectly too. It has digital tuning, not direct access, and has a fine tuning button. It also does white balance automatically by balancing drive emissions. Is this TV a System 3 set?

Could we see a screen shot?

Please oh, Please?

Good Score! And yes... It is a System 3

Crazy world when stuff like this gets thrown away.

Over the holidays we visited a friend of my wife's. She has a mid-80s Zenith console, "Advanced System 3", a stereo set. I have to say, that thing has outstanding color, among the better sets I've seen. Maybe one of the last decent sets they made? Aside from a very slight height problem I could find no defects at all in that picture.

Screen shot with Top Cat... :D

I love discoveries like that. I've got a 1990-vintage 26" ColorTrak console that someone put by the elevator at my apartment: "Free - works Great!" the sign said. The picture is flawless. A friend gave me a '94-vintage Magnavox that's not even close. He's getting it back.

Wish me luck as I attempt to post a pic.

Nice find, Beta Guy. :yes:

Yes, TV's can take a lot of weather abuse and still work great...just as long as the set is dried out before you plug it in. I too found TV's dumped in fields or by the railroad tracks that could have sat there for months or years but I got to work fine.