Like others, the first ones I had weren't "vintage" at the time. About '80 or so my aunt & uncle gave us a spare set they weren't using. It was for my sisters and I but it was in their room so I never quite claimed it. It was an early 60s GE portable, 19" briefcase style, one of the first to use Compactrons. A good set, actually. Eventually the tuning got too weak to pick up anything, I'm sure it was just a bad tube. I suppose it ended up in the trash at some point
By about '83 another uncle gave me a set of my own. It was a late 60s GE table model, I'm going to guess a KC chassis or something like that, big, heavy metal cabinet 23v set. I had a love/hate relationship with it! It was a real poor performer in most every respect but it was at the same time very cool (to me). I complained about it so much that my Dad hauled it away; he told me it was going "to the woods" but one day a lunch lady at school (her son worked for my Dad) told me, with much joy, "I have your old TV!". I've often wondered if she still does! I'd sure like to have it back.
But, as I said, those weren't considered vintage to me at the time. That honor goes to this set: there wasn't much for this nerdy kid to do, living out in the country with no close friends. Most Saturdays I would ride my bicycle the 2 miles into town and browse around the antique stores. (well, it was that or the hardware store! Sometimes I'd venture into the TV shop-I should have hung out there more) Anyway, the largest antique store was/is in a big old 2 1/2 story building but only the first floor was open to the public, or so I thought. I'd probably been going in there for a year or more when one day somehow I figured out that the second floor was open, they just always kept the door closed. I wandered up and found the place stocked with some very cool stuff. As I neared the end of the row I spotted some furniture arranged just like a typical 50s living room, and guess what was at the center? A '54 RCA Victor 21" bw console! I had only seen pictures of sets like this and my little heart beat fast. There was no price marked so I rushed downstairs and was told $25. I had enough saved up and so, just like that, it was mine! Better yet, they agreed to deliver it between 3-4pm Monday, right after I got off the school bus but before my parents or my sisters were home! It was weeks before anyone knew about that set. The TV actually worked quite well. It did have "conehead" syndrome but back then I didn't know the first thing about replacing caps or anything like that. This all happened around '85 or so. I watched many an episode of Mr. Belvedere on that TV. Sometime in the early 90s I tried recapping it and afterwards it didn't work at all. The cabinet gotten pretty beaten up over the years and I'm not sure what I did with the knobs. But, there it sits, in the TV room. Someday I'll get it going again.