Of all the types of sets that are sought after in the collector world, I have noticed that the typical '70s and '80s 12" black and white sets are passed over almost all the time. I know many of them are low end and certainly not rare but they generally aren't made any more. They often go unbid on Ebay are even passed over in thrift stores. I used to be able to get a quick $25 dollars for one but today they have absolutely no resale value.

Do any of you collect them and will they ever catch the eye of the collector market as a whole? They don't take up much room and they are easy to obtain and repair. I would think they would have occupied a collector niche by now. Any thoughts?

I dunno... for me, those 12" B&Ws don't particularly interest me. Depends on what is special about it. If it has tubes in it, I'll definately take it.
I have 3 12"s right now. One is a late 60s Panasonic Speed-o-Vision. One is a late 70's JCPenny (RCA), but I kept that one as I like the woodgrain finish with the big dials, has a removable screen shield, headphone jack, and AC/DC power. The latest one I own is a 1982 Zenith 12", but it is the one with the digital tuner.
I have one of those mid 70s 9" Zeniths you always see on Ebay as well. It seems rather well built.

The next one I find in the trash I vow to plug it in and turn it on at work, and leave it.....just to see how long the damn thing lasts. It's the eternal question, right behind the how many licks to the center of a Tootsie roll pop......

I really don't get into "collectibles" but I have observed trends about the things that people consider such...it seems like most of the old TV's, appliances, and even cars that are collectibles are those which have a lot of decorator/style value and that represent what was "cool" or "trendy" at the time, such as the Philco predicta, JVC Videosphere sets, "muscle cars" and so on.

The 12" B/w sets really had no fantasy value, they were purely utilitarian, so only the few of us who appreciate TV technology/history really have any interest. Back when a new B/W set was 99.00 and a new color portable in the 200-300$ range you could sell a 12" b/w portable for $25 as a utilitarian item but I think it is the advent of, say, 13" color TV's for 49.95 at Wal-mart that did in that market.

I lost all interest in 12" B/W sets when I couldn't get $5 for a clean working one (about 13 years ago). I was glad when I no longer had to use a 12" B/W for anything and I never want to see one again. I remember these sets as fondly as 2 head VCRs and AM only radios.

I have a 12.6 incher (visible screen measured diagionally) from 1950 that I think is "collectable".

If someone wanted to they could build a huge collection of these very cheap and with little space. But there are only a few that most would give a second look. There was the RCA mini-console, some of those "mod" designs, the red/white/blue GE, some of those Motorolas with the handle on the end are kinda neat. I seem to recall a Zenith covered in cowhide & didn't someone make a denim covered set? None of them were real exciting, though. I have a few, because I just have a hard time throwing something away when it's perfectly good. I did have a grungy GE from about 74, mostly tube, that I parted out. It had hv problems & was so poorly/cheaply made that I just couldn't see putting any time into it. I have an older version of the same set which is clean so it stays. (a little note: the older set lists the Syracuse address on back & has a GE crt with GE EIA #; the newer one was stamped Portsmouth & had a GE crt with an EIA for Clinton out of Chicago, IIRC. I did save the crt, for what reason I don't know)

In reading (and agreeing with most content) in the previous answers, I proclaim that their time just isn't here yet.

But take warning, those who MIGHT want to collect these later... It wasn't long ago at all when the alleys were LINED with 21" round color TVs. The era of placing collector value on the cheap plastic series-filament 12" B&W TVs will be here at some time in the foreseeable future!

Just like the Cadillac Diesel cars of the late 70s and early 80s... A couple years ago you could get Pick-A-Part to take one. A Seville Diesel recently went on eBay for $12,000, and why? Because they're now all gone and now somebody wants one!

Charles

My family had one of those 12" Zenith sets from about 1975, the cabinet is black/white plastic and looks like the typical "spacey" 70s Zenith. I think they always turn up on EBay in green and pink, usually from people who think they're "one of the first TVs", with starting bids around $100.

I send the auction links to my mom (who still has it in the laundry room) for laughs.

OMG, swear to God I didn't read this link

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61637

Until AFTER I made the above post! But yes, that's the set I meant and starting bid is $99!

I have 4 of these. A 67 Magnavox, 68 Emerson, 70 RCA, and 74 GE. The Magnavox is a great set, I have it on my desk at home and watch it alot, it gets in a good channel 56, which is hard to get in and it is about the only channel I ever watch. The Emerson and RCA (it's one of those Canadian RCAs) are rather cheaply built sets, while they work, they don't work all that well and I never use them. The GE is one of those mostly Compactron on circuit-board sets (with I think a soild state audio section). I've heard alot about these falling apart, but this one still has all the original tubes and works great (it looks as if it was used very little). I too, pick these up if they are tube sets, but tend to pass them by if they are solid state.

I generally avoid any tube sets built on pc boards. My mid 60s Zenith 12" is hand wired. I can run it all day and not worry about heat damage. The solid state sets seemed to be well made through about 1976. I have a 1978 Quasar (Matsushita made) that is a bit on the cheaper side. The worst of these sets I ever found was the early 1980s Samsungs. They had a great picture but the flybacks would fail after about a year or two and the cabinet screws holding the back on would strip the plastic case after the first time they were removed. When I used to work on these, I hated returning a set to a customer on which I could not even tighten the cabinet screws.

Although I like these sets to use and collect, I am rather selective about each acquisition. I hate cheap junk, even if it's vintage.

I have 2 of these sets, a 9" Zenith from '77 and a RCA from '73. The Zenith needs a new flyback but the RCA works great. It's the t.v. I use daily in my workroom.


Dumont-First with the finest in television.

My TV collection started out with the 12" b/w sets I could easily bring home! I had quite a few at one time, but many got sold on ebay, back when you could make some good $ selling stuff (around 1998-2000).
I still take the little 12 inchers when I run across a nice one. Two weeks ago I found a '73 RCA 12" portable at an estate sale. Mint condition and worked! With instant on, the CRT was still good (was never plugged in!)
My favorite 12" portable b/w sets are zeniths from 1965-70. Nicely styled cabinets and built as well as any other set they made. There were no exceptions with zenith, everything was well built. My 12" b/w TV line up:

1965 zenith M1210U
1966 zenith N1210U
1966 zenith solid state (very first solid state b/w for zenith)
1974 zenith hybrid
1973 rca

The pics are my 2 favorites , both '66 zeniths. One on left is a 100% solid state set, super rare and expensive when new. The one on right is the more common tube type set.

The set used in my avatar is one of those mid '60s Zeniths and the build quality is tremendous. You're right about Zenith. They put quality into every model no matter what the price point. I also like those mid '70s solid state GE sets with the one rounded corner in the upper left of the screen. They were labelled "Performance Television". The cabinets are made of very thick plastic and they hold up really well. There is one on Ebay right now that I may bid on, yellow case in excellent condition.

Start buying up all those zillions of cheap 12" black and whites and store em away-in 20 years people will be wanting them, likely as not!

I dunno... for me, those 12" B&Ws don't particularly interest me. Depends on what is special about it. If it has tubes in it, I'll definately take it.
I have 3 12"s right now. One is a late 60s Panasonic Speed-o-Vision. One is a late 70's JCPenny (RCA), but I kept that one as I like the woodgrain finish with the big dials, has a removable screen shield, headphone jack, and AC/DC power. The latest one I own is a 1982 Zenith 12", but it is the one with the digital tuner.
I have one of those mid 70s 9" Zeniths you always see on Ebay as well. It seems rather well built.

I bought a Zenith 12" solid-state B&W TV in 1978 that lasted 22 years, and was still going strong when I threw it out in 2000. (By contrast, I bought a 12" tube-powered portable TV marketed by the former discount chain Kennedy & Cohen in 1975 that lasted only three years before it burned up.) The only problem I ever had with it was the UHF channel selector detent mechanism, which broke and froze the UHF tuner on one channel (as bad luck would have it, a blank station in my area). TV itself was working incredibly well--excellent picture, sound and everything else on its monopole antenna, and I lived in a semi-fringe area at the time. I had even recovered the ebony cabinet with woodgrain contact paper. The last five years or so I had it I was using it as a monitor for a Commodore 64 computer. The only reasons I pitched the set when I moved in 1999 were, one, I moved into a very small apartment and found I had no room for three TVs (I brought my Zenith Sentry 2 19" with me and bought a new RCA shortly before moving into the new place), and two, the Zenith had awful reception on its monopole antenna with no provisions for cable (the TV reception here is terrible, which is why almost everyone in this town has either cable or satellite). However, I wish now I had held on to that Zenith b&w portable, as it was one in a million as portable TVs go. I paid only about $60 for it at a discount store near my former home, but never had five minutes worth of trouble with it, the fact that it had a circuit board notwithstanding (in fact, the entire set, IIRC, was on one huge PCB--including the flyback). This was one of the best little TVs I've ever had. I don't know if either of my color sets will even come close to lasting 22 years :dunno:, though my Sentry 2 Zenith was made almost 11 years ago and is still going great, good picture on cable and all. It's in line to replace the RCA when the latter eventually goes belly up. Who knows, the Zenith just might make it. Hmmm. :scratch2: I'll just have to wait and see.

I just got a 12" Zenith b&w at an estate sale today, it looks early 80's, manual tuning, all soild state, it works great. The antenna on top was mostly broken off, and with it only extended about a foot, it pulled in a clear ch56.

I just finished servicing a 1978 Quasar 12" B&W set for which I paid $5.00 at a thrift store. I passed on it twice before because the white cabinet was all brown splotches as though something had been spilled onto and into it. When I got it home, I found that the brown stuff was all ove the inside as well. I can only presume it was nicotine. The picture and sound were totally unstable as all the controls were severely dirty. The set was complete so I decided to restore it.

I dissassembled the entire set, washed the cabinet inside and out, cleaned every surface of the pc board and tuner assembly and used Deoxit on all the controls. The only thing I had to replace was the power cord. Now the set looks and works like new. There were very few scratches on the cabinet and the Novus plastic polish really makes it shine. For a little bit of effort, this set that sat unwanted for months in the thrift store now is in like new condition. I know these sets have little collector value now and certainly no monetary value but I can't help but like them, especially the ones from the Seventies.

They don't take up much room and they are easy to obtain and repair. I would think they would have occupied a collector niche by now. Any thoughts?

It's kinda like a '78 Plymouth Volare... slant six and four doors... not exactly a collector's dream these days. :no: But, if it's slant six is still cruising by 2020 (and it probably will be), people would probably fight over that same Volare. :boxing: Scary isn't it?!

It's kinda like a '78 Plymouth Volare... slant six and four doors... not exactly a collector's dream these days. :no: But, if it's slant six is still cruising by 2020 (and it probably will be), people would probably fight over that same Volare. :boxing: Scary isn't it?!


It is just too bad that so many otherwise good examples get thrown away before somebody wakes up and decides they're collectible. It astonishes me that people throw away good working tv sets simply because they no longer want them. When I decide to part with a working tv set I sell it or give it away. The disposable consumer mentality has caused poeple to no longer appreciate what they have.

I think there are really 4 categories of products out there

1. Contemporary item...currently available, no special collector value.

2. An item about 30-35 years old that people think is outmoded or old fashioned and thus really doesn't have collector value (Lawrence Welk and Herb Alpert records, late 70's Plymouth or Mercury, 12" black and white TV)

3. An item from the past which was "cool" and reminds middle aged people of childhood fun (Mid 60's Ford Mustang, other "muscle cars", etc.

4. An item which is so old that most people alive have never used it when it was new and thus is now only really collected by specialists and doesn't have as much "collector" value as it once did (T Model Ford, Victrola, old tractors)

I think items can pass through this cycle as they age and thus have times when they may be collectibles and other times not.

Chad, I totally agree with you on that point. I collect a lot of old stuff, small appliances, whatever and occasionally put stuff on ebay. Interestingly, the harder to find stuff from the 30-40's doesn't sell near as good or at all as compared to stuff from the 60's and 70's which can bring in some good coin. I put it down to aging boomers (myself included) trying to recapture some of their youth no matter what.

Once, the only collectable radios were from the twenties and then, later, the early 30s. Now the market for those is going soft. And yes, it's the same with cars. My Dad often talks about how much a model T was worth back in the seventies but now most of the folks who knew drove them when they were new are deceased.

12" bw sets, along with other seventies/eighties stuff, will become valuable when us Gen X'ers are in our fifties and have cash to spend. Yeah, I can imagine, 20 years from now, being 54 and wanting to relive my youth by finding the first tv set I ever bought new. (a mid-80s Midland 12" bw from Western Auto) (Come to think of it, that set remains the ONLY television I've ever bought new!)

12" bw sets, along with other seventies/eighties stuff, will become valuable when us Gen X'ers are in our fifties and have cash to spend. Yeah, I can imagine, 20 years from now, being 54 and wanting to relive my youth by finding the first tv set I ever bought new. (a mid-80s Midland 12" bw from Western Auto) (Come to think of it, that set remains the ONLY television I've ever bought new!)[/QUOTE]

I can relate to that. My first set was a mid 60s Zenith just like the one in my avatar. It was given to me by one of my Dad's coworkers when I was 15 as a last resort before going to the trash. It was missing a couple of knobs and had some weak tubes but I treasured that set. After six months, the flyback went out and as a kid had no money to get it fixed. Twenty years later I find one just like it in a thrift store complete and restorable with a good crt. I don't plan to let this one get away.

Funny to think... Go to WalMart, buy a new TV (just buy a standard NTSC CRT set since they're so cheap) and put it away somewhere without opening the box. Wait 40 years, get it out and hook it up (would need a converter for the HD signal), and see if it turns heads when guest come over and see it operating!

Then list it on ebay...

2006 RCA 25" CRT color TV with original box, remote, and paperwork. Was in storage for past 40 years... never turned on till last week! No, this is not HD, but will work with converters found on ebay.

No, this set DOES NOT have voice command... hadn't been invented yet. You actually have to push buttons to operate this set! Imagine that! This set DOES NOT have 4-D, holo-view, or virtual-vision. Those hadn't been invented yet, either.

This set operates on 120 volts and consumes a whopping 110 watts of power! WOW! 110 watts!!! What were they thinking in those days???

Great conversation piece in original black plastic cabinet. No scratches! Like new!

Of course, today, this sounds silly. But, in 2045, this could be a big deal! It would be like when Doug found the late 60's 25" NOS Truetone that was never sold.

Charlie I think you are on to something. These sets seem to have zero sentimental value to people as they don't have nice furniture cabinets so they just get tossed. There probably will be more of a chance to find tube type sets 40 years from now than the sets of today.

Has anyone ever seen some of the last Zenith(?) B&W sets? I remember seeing once a Zenith(?) 12" B&W still working atop someone's fridge in their kitchen (this was in about 94), and what I found really strange about the set was that while it had the typical rheostat bright/volume controls, it had a digital tuner with one of those random-access keypads on the front of the set! Idk if there had ever been a remote.

I can remember seeing one of the cheap made-in-china B&W sets in the corner of one of those "wall of TVs" displays in a Circut City in about 95 or 96. It still had knobs, where as every other set was colour and digital tune. It looked SO out-of-place. I think the price was like $40 where the 13" colour next to it was $50.

It's kinda like a '78 Plymouth Volare... slant six and four doors... not exactly a collector's dream these days. :no: But, if it's slant six is still cruising by 2020 (and it probably will be), people would probably fight over that same Volare. :boxing: Scary isn't it?!

I love Chrysler F-bodies! Although a 318 would be much better.

Once, the only collectable radios were from the twenties and then, later, the early 30s. Now the market for those is going soft. And yes, it's the same with cars. My Dad often talks about how much a model T was worth back in the seventies but now most of the folks who knew drove them when they were new are deceased.

12" bw sets, along with other seventies/eighties stuff, will become valuable when us Gen X'ers are in our fifties and have cash to spend. Yeah, I can imagine, 20 years from now, being 54 and wanting to relive my youth by finding the first tv set I ever bought new. (a mid-80s Midland 12" bw from Western Auto) (Come to think of it, that set remains the ONLY television I've ever bought new!)
I've only ever bought one tv new as well(1986 Sharp 19" color 19LP16 from the long gone Nichols in Salisbury with my graduation money,my first color tv of my own,turn knob though,not remote) though I'm not the tv collector you are.I miss the tv I had after that more(1967 Zenith 20Y1C38 console color tv I got for free)Sold the Sharp for $150 when I got the Zenith,the Zenith for $100 when I got a mid 1980s Panasonic 19" remote control set for free only needing a flyback.Used the rest of the Zenith money to get a used vcr from a local tv shop.I though it was great having both a tv with remote and vcr with remote in my room while my grandmother was still using a turn knob tv in the living room.She hated it when I did get her a remote tv,couldn't run it.The vcr was my source of movies with no cable available and satellite tv still out of reach without a lot of money to buy equipment(pre Directv and Dish Network) but the Zenith and many other Zeniths I fixed and sold were better built sets just not remote.

Yeah, I'd like to have one of those odd-duck Sears color sets from the early-mid '60s we had B4 my dad got that Porta-Color...Thing was JUNK...it was made in Japan, I think...Never have seen one on You-Know-Where, so maybe they're all gone...think it was a 17" or 19" or something like that...Sears lost their butts on that thing, we bought the Extended Service Plan...we had the repairman down here almost weekly...I really think the damthing just didn't like us...My dad sold it to a co-worker, he had it for years, & it never gave any trouble...

I love Chrysler F-bodies! Although a 318 would be much better.
I miss my car I had in high school.1977 Dodge Aspen R/T.360 w/Holley 750 4 barrel.Had a big cam,dual point ignition,shift kit in the automatic tranny and dual exhaust with glass packs.It would fly.I once burned all the tread off the rear tires power braking in the school parking lot.Trouble is it was too much for me to handle and I ran it off one too many roads trying to take curves too fast.Was in near mint shape when I got it.My uncle as a joke wanted to know if he wanted him to get a mallet and dent the roof when I got rid of it,the only body panel not dented he said.Shame I tore it up.It would be worthy of taking to a car show these days if it was in the condition I bought it in.I had a Volare station wagon after that I bought cheap.Much slower than the Dodge so I didn't wreck it.It overheated so bad once it seized up when the lower radator hose busted.Started and ran the next day.New thermostat and hose and I was back in business.Drove it another year.Those iron block Chrysler motors were tough back then.

I seem to recall GE or RCA offering red, white and blue 12" B&W TV's during the 1976 Bi-Centennial. Anyone have one of these?

I seem to recall GE or RCA offering red, white and blue 12" B&W TV's during the 1976 Bi-Centennial. Anyone have one of these?

I've got one of the red-white-and-blue bicentennial GE 12" B&W sets; it uses the SF-series tube-hybrid chassis. RCA also made a red-white-and-blue B&W portable for the bicentennial, but doesn't seem to be as common as the GE one. The RCA was a solid-state set; I don't know the chassis or model #, but the 'regular' version of that set is very common; the cabinet has rounded sides and is usually white in color with a black front facia.

Not to be left out, Zenith also offered a 'bicentennial' 12" B&W set, but rather than change the cabinet color to red/white/blue, they took a different tack. If I remember correctly, the plastic cabinet of that set was printed in a way that resembled wood flooring, superimopsed with part of the Declaration of Independence.

I had one of the red/white/blue GE sets when I was a teenager. I recall that I had ridden my bike into town and this yard sale had 2 bw sets. One was an Airline 9" and then there was this GE. I thought they were both interesting but only had money for one. It worked but something in it would overheat-I can still smell that scent if I think about it! I was pretty helpless back then when it came to fixing things so it got tossed. It occurs to me that among the 3 makers (GE, RCA, Zenith) the GE was probably the only one made in the USA.

That's right...it seems like all the RCA b/w portables starting in 1973 or so? were made by RCA Taiwan. Most of the later model b/w tube type sets also had tubes made in Taiwan or Japan. Not sure when Zenith started foreign manufacture of the b/w sets but I think all the tube type sets were American made.

That's right...it seems like all the RCA b/w portables starting in 1973 or so? were made by RCA Taiwan.

A small point of trivia: The Radio Shack TRS-80 computer's monitor was really an RCA B&W TV set minus the tuner, IF strip and audio circuits. The video cable entered the cabinet where the volume control would have been. The "TRS-80" badge on the monitor hid the holes where the tuner knobs went. It was a hot chassis set, and the video signal passed thru a high speed opto-coupler (6N135) for isolation.

And, don't forget - the optocoupler was powered by the computer. The thing took regular composite video - but was only meant to work with the Model 1 - It used a five pin DIN plug that carried the video signal and 5v to power the optocoupler. I guess there wasn't a convenient source of 5v inside the television...

Also, the hole the video lead went through was stil labeled with a V, for Volume. But, I guess, they didn't need to change the molding any, since V could also mean Video.

-Ian

A small point of trivia: The Radio Shack TRS-80 computer's monitor was really an RCA B&W TV set minus the tuner, IF strip and audio circuits. The video cable entered the cabinet where the volume control would have been. The "TRS-80" badge on the monitor hid the holes where the tuner knobs went.

Correct! Also, this is apparently why the cabinets of TRS-80 computers ended up with that distinctive "battleship-grey" exterior color. When Tandy approached RCA about buying TVs (*) to use as monitors for their new 'home computer', RCA informed Tandy that the plastic cabinet for that set was available in either grey or simulated-woodgrain finish. Tandy chose the grey color, and then had the computer cabinets made up to match that color. ...And the rest is history...

(*) I read somewhere that the first run of TRS-80 monitors was actually made up from "leftover" sets that RCA had in the warehouse when they were doing their regular model changeover (hence another need to use a "stock" color for the cabinet). Keep in mind that Tandy didn't figure that the TRS-80 computer would be much of a seller-- at first, they only produced about enough so that each Radio Shack store could have one to display, but figured most of them would probably sit around unsold for a while.

And, don't forget - the optocoupler was powered by the computer. The thing took regular composite video - but was only meant to work with the Model 1 - It used a five pin DIN plug that carried the video signal and 5v to power the optocoupler. I guess there wasn't a convenient source of 5v inside the television...



To get some +5V internally, all you'd need to do is wrap a few turns of wire around the flyback ferrite core (like the way they got filament power for tube high voltage rectifiers), rectify and filter it and use a voltage regulator IC to get local isolated +5V. I've done this in a few hot chassis TV sets to get baseband video into them.

Also, I found it easy to feed regular composite video along with some +5V into my brother's TRS-80 monitor. Fed it Star Trek video from a VCR playing back a videotaped Star Trek show. Thus "computer geek heaven, Mr Spock using the ship's computer presented on a computer monitor". :yes: :thmbsp: :D :banana:

Tandy didn't figure that the TRS-80 computer would be much of a seller-- at first, they only produced about enough so that each Radio Shack store could have one to display....How right you are. In 1977 I attended the Radio Shack press conference in NYC to introduce the TRS-80. They had me on a list to receive one. When it arrived a few days later, the shipping invoice had been altered. They had replaced a Radio Shack store address with mine.

It was an important launch for Radio Shack. Tandy himself attended.

That TRS-80 is one of the things I could never quite toss out. It was up and running about a year ago. That RCA b&w monitor is a bit dim and tilted, but never required service.

Not sure when Zenith started foreign manufacture of the b/w sets but I think all the tube type sets were American made.

I don't know when Zenith actually began manufacturing small SS portable TVs offshore either. However, I had a Zenith 12" b&w solid-state portable, bought new back in 1978, so they were already building their small portables offshore by then, or perhaps a year or two earlier (I see SS 9" Zeniths from 1977 and even '76 on ebay quite often, and I think--but I am by no means certain--the Spirit of '76 portable was solid-state as well). Mine was a darned good set, though--lasted me 22 years and was still working very well when I got rid of it in 2000. Should have held on to it, as it would have been a classic by now, if not actually collectible. I think that, or the Spirit of '76 model (again, not sure), was one of Zenith's first solid-state b&w portables. Zenith must have made a blue million of these small portables in the mid-to-late seventies, though, as they pop up on ebay all the time. The only thing I didn't like about those portables was that they used one large PC board for the entire set, rather than using a hand-wired chassis.

I guess by the mid-'70s the hand-wired era had ended for Zenith; witness the extensive use of circuit modules in their Chromacolor and Chromacolor II large-screen color TVs by this time as well. My great-uncle bought a Zenith Chromacolor II 25" console in 1974, had a few repairs done on it (including a new CRT under warranty when the original cracked after the first six months), but the set just kept going and going...like the Energizer battery. The set was still working, as far as I know, when he moved several years ago, but since the place he moved to was much smaller than his former home, the Zenith had to go. I don't know whatever became of it, but if someone bought it from him or if it stayed in his family, the new owners wouldn't have been disappointed as that set, like all Zeniths before LG got hold of the company, had a great picture and even Color Sentry. It probably still does have a good picture to this day; as I have said here before, the older Zeniths don't die easily or without a fight. If only the new Z-branded LGs were this good. :no:

I am pretty sure I have some early 70s bw Zenith tube sets that are Taiwan made. I cracked one of them open and it had a handwired chassis that looked very much like the American ones. When I get a chance I'll take some pictures.

Not sure when Zenith started foreign manufacture of the b/w sets but I think all the tube type sets were American made.

Actually, at least some of the later tube-hybrids were made offshore; I've got a 1975 12" B&W Zenith tube hybrid that's made by Zenith Taiwan.