I found this TV in a thrift store about six years ago, gutted it since the original guts were beyond repair, and stuck a 1991 sharp inside it.

... (http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-1950-Admiral-Television-TV-Console-Retrofit_W0QQitemZ230024193755QQihZ013QQcategoryZ3 638QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Great set to play a tape of some fish swimming in a fishtank on that screen!

Some people are ignorant. Others should just be shot.
Tom

Some people are ignorant. Others should just be shot.
Tom
Touche!!!!

To play devil's advocate here: It did save the cabinet from the landfill or fish tank duty.... Well, if I was going to install modern guts in a vintage TV cabinet, I might as well use a VGA monitor driven by an HDTV receiver box like the $200 ones Samsung sells. :-)

At least he only wants $50 for it.

...

Yes. :yes:

It makes me shudder to think about what this person's definition of "beyond repair" was. That's definately NOT what I would've done to a nice ca. 1949 Admiral console. :no:

Dumont-First with the finest in television. :yes:

Check out the 10" Philco on this page:

http://www.vintage-electronics.com/index.htm

Says it was a prop from the movie Avalon.

Does'nt "H. Poster" do similar "butchery" to these early sets?? What a complete shame!

Does'nt "H. Poster" do similar "butchery" to these early sets?? What a complete shame!
I don't know Harry well, but I'm not sure you could really criticize his actions in the same way. Harry sells and rents TVs as movie props, etc. There's a legitimate need for that kind of service and I think there's a difference between someone conducting a legitimate business and an ignorant collector or decorator destroying and devaluing a set to make something they mistakenly think is nicer.

I would even consider installing a color set in a funky 40s or 50s vintage cabinet, but only if I happened to find an empty cabinet I liked and didn't have to trash a restorable set to do so.

'Course, if they own the set, they're free to do whatever they want. (And you could always make the case that for every set they destroy, yours go up in value!) I don't like seeing restorable sets gutted for any reason, but Harry has ferreted out an enormous number of sets that have made their way into the collector community so I wouldn't be inclined to be too hard on him for doing what he does to provide service to his customers. That's just my two cents on the matter.

--Dave

Dave is right that harry poster helps out the collectors by selling chassis and parts to them. Also some collector may see that freak show admrial on e bay and have a chassis for it. I would think there is a way for someone to repair the hole that person drilled in the front for the ir remote sensor. That thing is a mess and why do they put in sharp tvs. I think that is the third one I have seen with a sharp tv in it.
Just horrid.
Ed

Definitely dont mean to bash H. Poster, I went on his website once and saw that he converted some of these old sets to color conversions and that was all I had to see, that was the last time I have been back to look. Im sure Harry tastefully converts these sets but that Admiral on ebay is just a disgrace! I could only imagine all the extra holes drilled and parts removed from the cabinet to make this set work! Bad enough we see to many of these sets turned into fishtanks....I guess the next thing we will see is plasma monitors shoved into these old sets!

Don't make me post a picture of my Philco with a Toshiba in it!

:lmao:

In my own defense (not that I need one) It was a non-working set, and I gutted it before I even knew what AK was, much less knew anyone was interested in old tube-type TVs. I'm in to tube audio now, and it still pains me that I didn't save the amp and tubes from that set. I think most people who do these things aren't malicious, they're just ignorant that anyone still wants them. In this age of iPods and Plazmas, who can blame them?

Why didn't you give us the e-Bay link for this frankenstien monster.

Bad enough we see to many of these sets turned into fishtanks....I guess the next thing we will see is plasma monitors shoved into these old sets!

I hope I don't get in trouble with you guys for installing a Col-R-Tel convertor on my 12 inch 50-T1104 Philco. They are only about 5 years different in age. ;^)
Cliff

Why didn't you give us the e-Bay link for this frankenstien monster.


I did, but I easter-egged it somewhat. I was too appalled to make
viewing his (potentially profitable) auction an easy thing to do. :no: (http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-1950-Admiral-Television-TV-Console-Retrofit_W0QQitemZ230024193755QQihZ013QQcategoryZ3 638QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

I hope I don't get in trouble with you guys for installing a Col-R-Tel convertor on my 12 inch 50-T1104 Philco.

Cliff,

You're on solid ground, unless you decide to install a very thin fishtank inside the color wheel!

--Dave

This is just dissapointing. My 17" RCA portable is in terrible condition and it's still not beyond repair. I think he was just lazy. It's a damn shame too because the cabinet is in great condition.

...

Its possible Harry has very little requests for any early tv color conversions hence why you dont see the parts for sale.

Does anyone knows once these sets are converted where poster puts all of these tv parts at?? I'm curious as tv parts are not for sale on his site.

I would think you could contact him by sending a e mail { use the link on his site} or just check him out on e bay. He sold some color roundies not to long ago. I did check out his site again, It looks like they do a nice job on the cabinets but it still sends a chill up the spine.

The other day when I was reading this thread about retrofit tvs, My brains dumb lock broke .. AGAIN.. {see picture} I ripped out this tvs chassis and tube. Then threw them in a junk pile in the back yard next to the junk car and the dirty bathtub.
Cleaned the cabinet and Installed this color mouse. The only problem is I have to bang on the side of the set to get the mouse to move and even then it just falls over. Oh well.. Scooby seems to like it. :sigh:

A Sparton isn't...er, wasn't it? Such a nice cabinet to be empty like that. Another chassis "beyond repair," eh? *sigh*

You get points for honesty.

A Sparton isn't...er, wasn't it? Such a nice cabinet to be empty like that. Another chassis "beyond repair," eh? *sigh*

You get points for honesty.
You are right it is a sparton and I was just joking around. Found the empty sparton cabinet at a junk store in olean. I may find a chassis and tube for it someday.
Ed

AH! Y'got me!
:beerchug:
Cheers....

Hi All! It Harry Poster here, from harryposter dot com. I see the current discussion, and couldn’t let it go by, without offering my side of it.

I realize that most collectors find it heresy to ‘butcher’ an old TV, but there is some redeeming value to my Posterizing these sets (Color Conversions).

First, let me say, that any TV I pick up is offered online. If it’s complete when I buy it, I offer it As Found, complete, untested. Any collector, or hobbyist can buy it that way. I also offer sets as Empty Props, complete, but minus the CRT and chassis (which, if salvageable, I offer to collectors, or list on ebay, usually starting very cheaply). Nearly every set I sell as a Color Conversion, with the CRT and chassis pulled, and a new, color TV, mounted inside, has the extra parts offered for sale, if they are at all useable.

To be fair, about 1/2 the sets I buy, I get empty. If I buy them from a collector, I occasionally pay the same price, but ask them to keep, and reuse, the chassis and CRT. Often, a collector will have the TV cabinet, empty, and they just don’t want to find the parts needed to restore it. Also, when I get sets from the old TV shops, many just have the empty cabinet, or the cabinet and some miscellaneous spare parts.

Plus, there are those clunkers, with mouse-ruined chassis, tops destroyed, or chassis, knobs and trim lost years ago, that are salvaged, cleaned and refinished, or painted, and then offered and sold as props or CCs. And, like several recent sets I’ve sold, early color TVs, pre-wars, interesting or unusual older sets, all stay exactly as found, and are offered on my site or online. Even the 1960s and 1970s TVs that are still working, are sold as a Working TV, the way it was originally marketed.

Over the years, hundreds of individuals have spotted my page, realize that old TVs are saleable, and then ask the value, and where to sell their sets. Nearly always, I try to give them a realistic value, and suggest the local Radio Club that’s appropriate. A few lucky times, I’ve been able to buy a TV set from a local individual, who would otherwise dispose of the TV on recycle day.

Even the sets that end up as my Color Conversions, make an impression. I’ve had people say, 'Wow! I saw Avalon' (yeah, I propped that), or Driving Miss Daisy, or the Henry Ford or Disney Museum, or the JumboTron with a print ad, 'and it’s great. I love those old TVs, and never realized they were still around'. If reliable vintage sets were not available, many movies and museums would not have used any set at all.

Thanks to all that responded to this thread, and hopefully, even if you hate the process, you’ll see that occasionally, it’s justified, and actually creates interest in collecting vintage televisions! More than a few people on this forum have bought vintage TVs from me. . . including many Pre-wars, CT-100’s and a Westinghouse 15”, experimental color CRTs, 621’s and 630’s, 8-301W’s, Flying Saucers, VideoCapsules, and lots of tubes, CRTs, chassis, knobs, and..and..and.

Good to hear from Harry on this...while I hate to see any old tv gutted, there is a real supply & demand problem with most of the common sets. With your average bw console from the 21" or larger era there are just way more sets out there than collectors that want them. Like many on here I have a pile of such sets that are available cheap or for free but nobody wants them enough to come get them. This past weekend I stumbled upon an attic with numerous mid-fifties sets. The guy was hesitant to let anything go, and for now I am not pushing the issue because I don't have room for another half dozen such sets. (I will just keep in touch, to make sure they don't wind up in the dump-short of that, they are just as well off gathering dust at his place)