Zenith on ebay - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Charlie · #1 03-16-2004, 12:23 AM

This model must have come right after the porthole sets. I don't recall seeing one like this before. Kinda nice looking. Says the cabinet needs work, but still looks pretty decent in the photos.

Look at the size of the power transformer in that thing! It's huge! That set must make the meter spin mighty fast!

http://cgi.aol.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...&category=3638

***Eric H*** · #2 03-16-2004, 12:47 AM

Nice, but... missing the control door and a brightner on the Toob!

Charlie · #3 03-16-2004, 12:51 AM

Ahhh... you're right, Eric. I didn't even notice the brightener. Guess my eyes didn't get past that power transformer!

Chad Hauris · #4 03-16-2004, 07:03 AM

I found one of these in the trash when I was in high school. It had no tubes in it but the tubes were common enough that I was able to come up with all of them to get the set to work. It still needs some work on the vertical deflection.

Jeffhs · #5 03-17-2004, 02:46 AM

The cabinet looks good to me as well. If the veneer damage is only on the sides, it won't be too noticeable. Should be easy to repair, I would think. The control panel door can be found on an old junker Zenith of the same model, so I don't see that as a problem either.

The set should work with a few minor repairs. It's a Zenith, and in those days (the set looks like early-to-mid-'50s vintage) the company made their sets to last. The brightener on the CRT is a dead giveaway that the tube is on its last legs, so whomever gets the set probably should, IMO, consider replacing it.

Chad, in the early '70s I found an old Zenith 23" console b&w TV in my hometown from which every tube except the 1J3 HV rectifier and CRT had been filched, but I was able to find replacements for all the missing ones (at a local branch of an electronics store, the now defunct Olson Electronics of Akron, Ohio). When I turned that set on for the first time after I plugged the last new tube in, I had excellent reception on all three network VHF stations from Cleveland, using rabbit ears, and better yet on the attic antenna in my home at the time. (The sound was excellent as well, and the CRT was very strong for a set that had been made in 1963.) Just thought I'd mention that, as you had mentioned in your post that you had found a Zenith with no tubes that you were able to restore, the same way I did mine. Strange, to me anyhow, how or why anyone would take every tube out of a TV that otherwise would work just as well as or better than any modern set, then put the set itself out for the trash. Obviously, they needed the tubes and couldn't care less about the TV anymore, even if it was working at the time.