Low number of tube type TV's around anymore

[Chad Hauris]

This past year of 2006 it has seemed like I have hardly found any tube type TV sets.
I think I got 4:
--Zenith 18" color console (estate sale--power supply problem, no power)
--Zenith 18" color table model (junk shop,horiz/flyback problem)
--Philco 23" color console (thrift store, horiz/flyback problem)
--RCA 16" B/W (Goodwill, working)

There were years in the past when I would get as many as 10-15 tube sets but it just seems like they are getting rarer and rarer.

Something that seems to have completely disappeared are tube type 50's and 60's radios except for a rare sighting at an antique mall. 15-20 years ago I would often find 5 or 6 every Sunday at the flea market.
I guess its good I stocked up on these things over the years as they are almost nowhere to be had anymore.

[compucat]

Tube radios and TVs used to be common not that long ago. Now it seems you have to go to Ebay if you want tube sets. The flea markets have all but dried up as far as tube sets go. Most of the recent pieces in my collection have come from Ebay. I remember in the early eighties seeing two Zenith color roundies next to each other in a flea market of all places. No way that will happen today.

[waltchan]

Or, a lot of people already threw them out.

[3Guncolor]

The last tube sets were made at least 35 years ago and with no way for the average person to have them repaired even if they wanted to they should all be out of service by now. Now I know there will still be a few here and there that are only turned on Sunday afternoon for 1 hour. I almost never see any for sale now unless it's a collector. Most people don't look at them like we do all they see is an old TV that's clunky and needs to be replaced with a new one.

[drh4683]

I can't tell you the last time I found a tube type color TV at a resale shop. Maybe once a year I'll run into a beat up portable b/w set. I used to go to all the resale shops in the suburbs to see what they had. You're lucky to find a chormacolor II now. I think they are junking most manual tune sets. Thats why I go to only estate sales now. Practially all of my old sets are from estates, either non working in the livingroom (to match the furniture) or hidden away in the basement. On rare occation, you will find one still working upstairs in either the living room or in a bedroom on the TV cart.
The most rare of all sets to find today are the table type or portable tube/hybrid color sets. They were pretty much for function only and served no other purpose. Once sets like those broke down, were easy to handel and throw away and at the same time, really had no effect on the interior decoration of the room they were in unlike a console. I cannot tell you how many houses Ive been in with an empty 1960's TV cart.
Last year I found very few sets, but I must say, I have been pleased with the amount of nice sets Ive found this year so far. Ive been fortunate enough to bring in 5 table color sets so far. Those being the '68 admiral 19", '72 zenith 18", '73 zenith 4 tube hybrid, '70 zenith 18", and the '71 silvertone 18". As mentioned, the table/portable color sets are the hardest to find. A good number of nice consoles were found too. Only 2 of the 5 sets worked when found ('72 and '73 zeniths) If I was not there to save them they'd all be long gone now.

Another dissapointing fact on finding older sets, many people who run estate sales throw the non working sets away prior to the sale in order to "declutter" the home. Ive tried to let all the people who run them know about saving them.

All I can suggest, is that you try to go to as many estate sales as you can, as thats the only place you are likely to find them.

[matt_s78mn]

I have also had a lot of difficulty finding tube type sets where i'm at in southeast Minnesota. This year so far, i've been far more successfull in finding interesting solid state TVs. I agree that estate sales are your best bet in finding stuff. However, at least around here, when you're looking for tube type tvs at the sales, I often run across the small b/w portables. The color TVs are usually from the mid '90s on up. Interestingly enough, three times this summer at sales i've seen big beautiful combo cabinets that had been made into bookcases and display cases. All three of them had tags on them saying "Free please take!" so there must not be much of a market for that. One advantage that I do have, though, is a coworker of mine works part time for one of the estate sale companies, and she will tell me when she spots something in a house they are prepping for a sale that she knows I would be interested in. As far as thrift stores are concerned, the only one in town here is a special program for low income and single mothers, so they don't take electronics of any sort, it's only clothes, household goods, and kids toys.

Sometimes I think it's a good thing that I don't find them very often because i'm way too much of a pack rat!!

What's sad though too is that in this city of 27,000 people, we are down to one tv shop. When I moved here 6 years ago, there were three. It's depressing that they never ever have anything I'm looking for, and I've had a common VCR belt (that one would think it would be common sense to stock) on order for over two weeks now.

[andy]

The last tube set I saw at a thrift store was a Goodwill in PA about 2 years ago. It was an 18" Zenith chromacolor (mostly tube) which still worked very well. I think I paid $5 for it just after it came into the store. I had to wait a couple of hours to pick it up because the loading guys were watching a football game on it. I gave it to Polarman when I had to have a clear out prior to moving.

I saw a nice 40's projection TV at an estate sale here in CA. I would have bought it, but I can't afford to load up on large things like that while I'm still renting (the memory of my last move is still fresh). I did get a free 19" early 60's RC B/W from the same sale that now works very well. There was also a free RCA XL-100, but I never liked those sets.

One nice thing about CA, it that you're not supposed to just throw away a TV, so they're more likely to be offered for free at estate sales just so they don't have to deal with them later. TVs that do end up at the side of the road tend to stay there since the garbage man won't take them.

[Big Dave]

This year has been good for me. I scored a CTC-9 (free), 17" Predicta (dead CRT), a third 16" RCA with metal tube, two more Zenith BW sets, one Zenith color roundie and another Philco. I almost forgot my DuMont (a real one made by Allan B. DuMont himself). I know color sets are getting very hard to find. In all honesty, I don't expect my number of color sets to even come close to the BW sets. With our company back in service, there may still be a CT-100 or something with my name on it, but I breathe normally.

[bgadow]

Locally there seems to be only one estate sale outfit; I finally tracked the owner down and gave her my card. In the last year I have spotted one tube set at a yard sale (early sixties Admiral bw combo, overpriced & oversized), I picked up an RCA 19" tube color set from Goodwill (thanks to JCFitz who spotted it)-I think it ended up on the floor by mistake. I found a couple bw sets from the sixties in a TV shop. My other finds were found at an auction (of a large radio collection) and some sets that a tube audio guy found, and we did some swapping. No other tube TV sets at yard sales or flea markets (last summer I spotted a 4-tube Zenith). For me, the best stuff used to come from used furniture stores. Every one of them used to have a corner dedicated to electronics and it was always old stuff. These guys seemed to deal with lots of estates/estate auctions. In the early 90s I was bringing home late sixties tube color stuff like crazy. Now almost none of them have any sets at all, not even black boxes. I think they were getting burnt too much on sets breaking. The last place I went in had a few late seventies things on the floor so I asked and the clerk got all excited-we have just the set you are looking for! Really retro, she said. Turned out to be an early 80s Emerson. Yesterday I spotted a console behind a local thrift store. 80s RCA. I didn't think it would be too interesting as I know a fellow who volunteers there and he keeps me in mind. That's the thing-build a network of people who are looking for you. One member of my "network" called me over the weekend regarding an Airline TV that was about to be tossed. Unfortunately I missed the call but don't know yet if I missed the TV.

The whole trouble, and we've discussed it before, is: tube type TV sets have no value to 99.99% of the population. If there were poor people willing to pay $40 for a New Vista Color console, well, they would still be on the market. But even the most downtrodden person today can have a 19" color Tv with remote for next to nothing or nothing, so why bother with such an old-timer? If the sets we love are going to be saved, we have to go out and find them and save them. Right now those remaining sets are located in living rooms & basements belonging to people who are reaching the ends of their lives. Or they are located in the back of a few of the few remaining TV shops. Either way, their days are short.

I would search harder for old sets but space is too limited. And with the market weak for these sets, once I have something I can't get rid of it. I have been more agressive in contacting TV shops lately. Most have little/nothing left but sometimes there are some surprises. Most recently I spotted a shop which looked to be long abandoned. A closer look showed them to be still open. A step inside was a step back 30 years. While there were plenty of treasures stashed away, the owner is not interested in parting with them yet. I'll keep looking. Each of us should-stuff won't come out of the woodwork forever.

[captainmoody]

Well you know.. If someone were to make a trip up to Detroit there would be a few mint working mid sixties color sets waiting for them! There's no shortage at my house!!

[Bobby Brady]

The whole trouble, and we've discussed it before, is: tube type TV sets have no value to 99.99% of the population. If there were poor people willing to pay $40 for a New Vista Color console, well, they would still be on the market. But even the most downtrodden person today can have a 19" color Tv with remote for next to nothing or nothing, so why bother with such an old-timer? If the sets we love are going to be saved, we have to go out and find them and save them. Right now those remaining sets are located in living rooms & basements belonging to people who are reaching the ends of their lives. Or they are located in the back of a few of the few remaining TV shops. Either way, their days are short.

I have wondered about this subject often as I continue to invest many hundreds of dollars and many thousands of hours into the few old TV's I have. I often think of the many successful people advising others to "follow their instincts" and I can't help but wonder if my instincts are wrong. I have seemed to be driven to obtain some TV's and make them just like they were when new, inside and out. I love the idea and I look forward to having any of them finished because the main goal I have is to occassionally watch vintage material on them and share them with as many people as I can interest. I wish to watch with relatives and friends to see the past a little. Many seem to think this notion is weird or maybe even mentally unhealthy. That is the impression I get as I show them the unworking old TV's and watch them try to look interested. However, I have not been able to show them the picture I keep claiming my sets can and will have.
I did not start collecting the TV's and the sales literature and the parts and the service info and the service equipment until after I discovered this website and found that others had the same unique interests. Initially I was excited to be able to associate with and learn from people who seemed to be genuinely interested in sharing themselves with others under this umbrella of "Karma". I was quite surprised as I read story after story from people like myself all the way up to those who have the highest levels of knowledge one can obtain on any given subject. I realized that these great minds know a great deal more than how to fix electronics. So, I thought I have finally found a place to develope healthy well-rounded friendships that could not just help me fix my toys but also help me learn more of whatever I need to learn in order to become a better person for others as well as for myself. I often recognize my faults and change whenever possible. It seems that most people need input from other healthy minded people in order to evolve.
If only I had kept my big mouth shut! I became to believe I was understanding the primary members of this website well enough to interact as I may do when face to face. I thought we could take the TV talks to related areas in life and maybe even throw in some humor. I had not put in nearly enough thought into the different ways others could percieve what I wrote. I have been completely misunderstood several times and now my questions and comments are usually ignored. I guess I am being "snubbed" again as I was by the TV men I remember so well at an RCA service class held at an RCA distributor way back. I was 15 and had worked with a neighbor who had been in the business for many years. I often wondered why this man who seemed to get along very well with many types of people would rarely, if ever, associate with other TV men. He sent me to the class and I was basically ignored and felt others did not want me in their presence. I thought maybe it was because I was a kid. Today I know that adults who care about others will actually put fourth the effort to speak and share knowlege. When I became 18 I was given his established TV company to operate and use as my own. I remember being alone with those TV's and while I like meeting the customers I became afraid that somehow, be it the fumes from the melting lead solder, radiation, or just being isolated from others, I may become like those seemingly selfish TV men I remembered from RCA. I could not take it and left it all to the dear and generous man who had long since lost interest in the daily grind of the shop. It closed soon after.
For anybody here that I have offended: Please consider that I did not intend to be disrespectful in any way and I sincerely apologize for the mistakes I have made. I will be more careful to imagine how my words could be misunderstood before I write them.
Please consider that I am someone who will continue to promote this idea of old TV's being worthwhile to restore and preserve. If you forgive me and allow me to participate here I can help in many ways. Sometimes I may know the answer to somebody's question. Sometimes I may have free parts to share. I beleive I will find people who would pay fair, if not generous, money for old TV's.
If I get some positive feedback I will post photos, etc.

Thanks for your time!

[compucat]

Bobby,

I'm sorry you feel so isolated/ignored. I'm sure it is not the intention of this forum to be exclusionary. At least that has not been my experience. I too have always felt odd at loving, dreaming of, collecting and preserving these wonderful bits of yesterday. Compared to some here, I only have a mild case of the collecting bug. I think as long as we're all friendly, generous with information and anecdotes, refrain from profanity and don't put down each others preferred makes and models this will continue to be the great forum that it is.

[Jeffhs]

Back in the early '70s I had no trouble finding old tube-powered TV sets. My neighbors in my old neighborhood were putting out old sets for the trash almost every week; eventually I had a collection of old sets that filled almost fully half my basement; they were of every major U.S. make except Magnavox. Where I live now (a small northeastern Ohio village 35 miles from Cleveland), I see a b&w portable on a treelawn every now and again, but even those are becoming scarce (I did, however, see a color portable TV about two years ago in back of the apartment building, as well as a 32" Mitsubishi table model). I pass up those portables because of space limitations in my small apartment; however, if I were still living in a house I'd have snapped them up without thinking twice. The only console TV I've seen to date on any curb in this town, in the nearly seven years I've lived here, was a 1978 RCA color set, 23", IIRC; about a year ago, I saw two stereo consoles just a few doors up the street from my apartment as well--didn't pick them up because of their size; I couldn't have horsed them down to my place myself, and even if I could, again there's the space problem.

The foregoing is why I now collect small antique/vintage radios, rather than televisions. One reason, of course, is that small table/portable radios take up far less room than even small portable TVs; the second is that old radios are still far more plentiful on ebay, for example, than are TV sets. Almost every vintage Zenith radio I have today, including an antique 1951 H511 table model, was an ebay score; the only one that wasn't is my C845, which was given to me by an AK member in the antique radio forum.

Antique and vintage television sets are indeed rare these days; let's face it, they will eventually become all but extinct, or at least extremely difficult to find. The sets we'll be seeing by the side of the road, on curbs, treelawns and such these days, and in the future for certain, will be small and not-so-small black plastic table model and portable color sets, as they go bad and are replaced by flat-panel HD TVs.

Today's televisions have little or no value to collectors, and there are few consoles anymore; today, folks put their large-screen offshore-built color TVs, stereo gear and perhaps a cable box and a DVD player in an entertainment center cabinet, kind of a 21st century version of a three-way console TV. (My avatar shows how I used a small oak utility cart to house most of my entertainment gear, except my stereo system which is next to my desk.) A friend of mine has his entertainment system in a huge floor-to-ceiling entertainment center cabinet that takes up almost fully half of one wall of his family room. The last time any American television manufacturer ever made a TV or three-way console anywhere near that large was maybe 50 years ago or more. These are the "consoles" of today (and the future), like it or not.

The few consoles that were made in the 1990s were manufactured by Zenith/LG. However, these sets, not to mention the black plastic Zenith/LG portables (and every other make of black plastic cube TV sets), are hardly collectible, as the console cabinets are now made of particle board covered with photo-finish material; the chassis of these sets are el-cheapo LG-made stuff as well that won't last more than a couple of years before going West. Please don't get me started on the CRTs in these LG-manufactured, rebadged consoles/table sets; they are every bit as bad as the TVs themselves, from what I've read here and elsewhere on other electronics message boards.

The foregoing is why I also have said before in this forum that those of us who collect old antique and vintage TV sets should keep them, as they are becoming very difficult to find. As the Big Lots ad says, "When they're gone, they are gone". The same may be said for the old TVs some of us, like Doug, drh4683, have in collections. Once you give up any of these old sets, they will be gone forever, so I would think twice before getting rid of any of them. Of course, if you are disposing of old sets to make more room in a basement, for example (Doug has mentioned here having to thin out his TV collection for just that reason), that's OK; the same if you are moving and must reduce or even clear out an entire collection, as I had to do back in 1972 when I moved (the first time). It nearly broke my heart, for example, to throw out a 23" Zenith K2739 (1963 vintage) that I had retubed and gotten working like a fine Swiss watch only about a year before (gee, I wish I would have kept the tubes--they were practically new). I was able to keep three old sets when I moved (a 1961 Philco Briefcase 19 nineteen-inch portable, a Sharp 12-inch b&w set I had bought just two years before which was my daily watcher for awhile, and a 1964 Silvertone roundie), but the rest of them went out for the trash about a month before the move. The Sharp and Philco portables (and the Silvertone color set) had to be trashed as well when they eventually developed serious problems (I wasn't in a position to do much serious troubleshooting in those days and this was long before the Internet, not to mention AK), although the Philco didn't really bite the dust until some time after I moved back to my old neighborhood in 1975. By then I had purchased a cheap 12" b&w tube-type portable which was my daily watcher until two years later, when something shorted out (I turned the TV on one afternoon and saw a plume of white smoke rising from the air vents in the back of the cabinet). That set was replaced by a Zenith SC300 19" portable, which I should have held on to because it would have been a collector's item by now as well. The SC300 was replaced two years later (!) by a 12" Zenith solid-state portable that lasted over 20 years, and was still working very well when I got rid of it in 2000, the year after I moved here (no room for three TVs, as I mentioned in another post). I've seen an earlier model on ebay, the Zenith "Spirit of '76" 12" portable made in 1975 and offered for sale the following year, in honor of the U. S. Bicentennial. That set was a limited edition and is almost certainly a collector's item today, as it had a replica of the U. S. Constitution (the document) gracing the sides of the cabinet. If you are lucky enough to have one or to have won one in an ebay auction, hold on to it, as they don't make them anymore. (BTW, that set was manufactured to the standards of Zenith Radio Corporation, Chicago, by Zenith of Taiwan.)

I haven't seen the likes of those sets since then. For example, I had an old (probably '50s-vintage) 21" Philco "Microgrid 390" console that worked very well until the socket came off the neck of the CRT, a white 21-23" Admiral table model with the control cluster under a trap door on top of the set, an Admiral 21-23" console . . . and the list goes on. These sets certainly would have been collectors' items today; I haven't seen an Admiral TV in the trash, either in my old neighborhood or here, for example, since trashing my white table model 34 years ago.

Come to think of it, it has been several years since I've seen any name-brand TV set in the trash--no, I take that back. I did see a 12" RCA portable near my apartment the first year I lived here (1999), probably made by a subsidiary of RCA, not Thomson, I don't think, as that TV looked like it may have been made a decade or more before--besides, Thomson makes only color sets now and doesn't do b&w anymore, if they ever did. The few b&w portables available these days are the small 5" AC/DC sets with AM/FM radio that sell for $11.99 or less in discount stores, and aren't worth repairing when they go bad. They aren't collectible either, except for the 5" Zenith AC/DC set with radio that shows up on ebay now and then, but some folks might say even that set isn't worth collecting. Liking Zenith radios/TV as I do, I might bid on the next 5" AC/battery Zenith I see on the bay, but I'd better be careful. It might get me started collecting old TVs again.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by Bobby Brady

The whole trouble, and we've discussed it before, is: tube type TV sets have no value to 99.99% of the population. If there were poor people willing to pay $40 for a New Vista Color console, well, they would still be on the market. But even the most downtrodden person today can have a 19" color Tv with remote for next to nothing or nothing, so why bother with such an old-timer? If the sets we love are going to be saved, we have to go out and find them and save them. Right now those remaining sets are located in living rooms & basements belonging to people who are reaching the ends of their lives. Or they are located in the back of a few of the few remaining TV shops. Either way, their days are short.

I have wondered about this subject often as I continue to invest many hundreds of dollars and many thousands of hours into the few old TV's I have. I often think of the many successful people advising others to "follow their instincts" and I can't help but wonder if my instincts are wrong. I have seemed to be driven to obtain some TV's and make them just like they were when new, inside and out. I love the idea and I look forward to having any of them finished because the main goal I have is to occassionally watch vintage material on them and share them with as many people as I can interest. I wish to watch with relatives and friends to see the past a little. Many seem to think this notion is weird or maybe even mentally unhealthy. That is the impression I get as I show them the unworking old TV's and watch them try to look interested. However, I have not been able to show them the picture I keep claiming my sets can and will have.
I did not start collecting the TV's and the sales literature and the parts and the service info and the service equipment until after I discovered this website and found that others had the same unique interests. Initially I was excited to be able to associate with and learn from people who seemed to be genuinely interested in sharing themselves with others under this umbrella of "Karma". I was quite surprised as I read story after story from people like myself all the way up to those who have the highest levels of knowledge one can obtain on any given subject. I realized that these great minds know a great deal more than how to fix electronics. So, I thought I have finally found a place to develope healthy well-rounded friendships that could not just help me fix my toys but also help me learn more of whatever I need to learn in order to become a better person for others as well as for myself. I often recognize my faults and change whenever possible. It seems that most people need input from other healthy minded people in order to evolve.
If only I had kept my big mouth shut! I became to believe I was understanding the primary members of this website well enough to interact as I may do when face to face. I thought we could take the TV talks to related areas in life and maybe even throw in some humor. I had not put in nearly enough thought into the different ways others could percieve what I wrote. I have been completely misunderstood several times and now my questions and comments are usually ignored. I guess I am being "snubbed" again as I was by the TV men I remember so well at an RCA service class held at an RCA distributor way back. I was 15 and had worked with a neighbor who had been in the business for many years. I often wondered why this man who seemed to get along very well with many types of people would rarely, if ever, associate with other TV men. He sent me to the class and I was basically ignored and felt others did not want me in their presence. I thought maybe it was because I was a kid. Today I know that adults who care about others will actually put fourth the effort to speak and share knowlege. When I became 18 I was given his established TV company to operate and use as my own. I remember being alone with those TV's and while I like meeting the customers I became afraid that somehow, be it the fumes from the melting lead solder, radiation, or just being isolated from others, I may become like those seemingly selfish TV men I remembered from RCA. I could not take it and left it all to the dear and generous man who had long since lost interest in the daily grind of the shop. It closed soon after.
For anybody here that I have offended: Please consider that I did not intend to be disrespectful in any way and I sincerely apologize for the mistakes I have made. I will be more careful to imagine how my words could be misunderstood before I write them.
Please consider that I am someone who will continue to promote this idea of old TV's being worthwhile to restore and preserve. If you forgive me and allow me to participate here I can help in many ways. Sometimes I may know the answer to somebody's question. Sometimes I may have free parts to share. I beleive I will find people who would pay fair, if not generous, money for old TV's.
If I get some positive feedback I will post photos, etc.

Thanks for your time!

Very nice article! I used to feel weird when I was a teen, and I was collecting and restoring TVs. The other guys would go to football practice or the Boy Scout meeting after school, but I would go after school (or once in awhile play hookey from school) to go spend time at some of the local TV repair shops... It caused me to be "different", but somehow that didn't bother me. I did it because it makes me happy. And I wound up making many lifelong friends who are also into old TV & radio.

Anyone who thinks collecting TVs is weird, wouldn't think so anymore if I admitted that I'm going to drive 250 miles and take a day off this Friday just to hear an old Federal Thunderbolt air raid siren blowing

Charles

[Bobby Brady]

Anyone who thinks collecting TVs is weird, wouldn't think so anymore if I admitted that I'm going to drive 250 miles and take a day off this Friday just to hear an old Federal Thunderbolt air raid siren blowing

Charles[/QUOTE]

I would do the same thing!

Thanks everybody for the encouraging words.

You guys are the greatest!