The 1974 Zenith Chromacolor 4-tube hybrid console w/ Space Command 500!

[drh4683]

This is the 1974 Zenith Space Command 500 4-tube hybrid console that was on craigslist last week that member Paul Knaack found and posted in the curbside forum. (Once again, a special thanks to Paul for finding and posting the link)

The set was way up north in Rhinelander, WI and a good friend of mine was able to pick it up for me. I visited he and his wife on Sunday and brought the set home then.

The set was left behind in the living room of it's original home and when the new homeowners moved in, they were going to throw the set away without even giving it a second thought. They called up the local dump telling them they had leftover household items to get rid of and one of the items was a TV, but they were informed that there would be a $17.00 E-waste fee for the TV. The new homeowners refused to pay the fee and instead decided to list it as a freebie on craigslist! Fortunately they called about dropping it off first, so it was spared the rough handling. They just took the set out of the house last week for the first time when it was listed in the ad.

You never know how something is going to turn out until you see it in person. It could have easily been a well used set that needed a lot of work. But not so. The set was basically preserved in "like new" condition from a very clean well kept home. The original owner is still around, she's 95 and moved into assisted living. She and her husband bought the set new in 1974 and it was one of those TV's that was bought basically to serve as a piece of accent furniture for the living room that nobody used. The regular TV viewing was in the back room of the house, so that's how this set got preserved.

What makes this such an unusual set is that it's very late, in fact, final production 4-tube hybrid chassis, the 23EC15 and features the space command 500 remote. It's a cool set because it really represents a transitional period in domestic TV manufacturing when things were going from quality built cabinetry to cost cutting / cheapening to compete with foreign makes. There is something very unique and appealing to me about an "end of an era" model just as there is something very special about a first. This set is housed in a rather cheap and flimsy "economy" cabinet, but I think that makes it cool because how many of these survived? How many were actually even sold in the first place? Almost all of the cabinetry is plastic except for the top which is only veneer over presswood! Otherwise, wood is only used where absolutely necessary for structural bracing of the plastic pieces and to support the chassis. Even the caster brackets are simply screwed into the plastic base apron! What I like is that Zenith decided to cut costs on the cabinetry instead of compromising and cheapening up the chassis. They did this because it was easier at the time to cheapen the cabinet than to retool the entire chassis production lines; an effort that didn't finally materialize until the first System 3's were introduced in 1978. However, even if the chassis is still representing that traditional "handcrafted quality", the way the components are arranged still indicate that an effort was made to consolidate components to fit perhaps more than just one model (cost savings), or it was perhaps just a quick and cheap way to use up an abundance of remaining parts still in inventory.

Notice how the space command motor drive assembly is not part of the tuner mounting assembly like it always was in previous years. It's a completely separate drive assembly, supported by a metal brace off the rear of the chassis. The motor drive is linked to a standard bandswitch tuner simply by a long shaft that spans almost the entire depth of the cabinet! The TMA is the same as that of a non-space command set. So this arrangement was like a quick mod to make a basic set into a space command.

Also notice how the deflection yoke frame is not mounted with those long spring wires back to the CRT mounting brackets as was done in previous years. On this set, Zenith simply used some double sided foam, stuck the yoke bracket to it and then took long strip of that stuff and haphazardly wrapped it all the way around the tabs to give it a little more adhesion to the bell.

As stated before, the chassis itself being the 23EC15 marks the very last color chassis using tubes in Zenith production. This set was built in Chicago, but by 1974, Zenith had their own feeder plants operating in Mexico which built deflection yokes and duramodules. Zenith's plants in Mexico would soon take on more and more production. (EDIT 8-18-15 @ 9:46 est: Based on a discussion further in this thread, it appears that this set was most likely manufactured in or around mid-April, 1974)

I am probably the first to take the back cover off the set since the day it was it was made. The horizontal output tube is still siliconed down to the chassis.

And of course, being a Zenith, a cheaper version or not, it still works just fine with that razor sharp Chromacolor picture after 41 years!



74_Zen by drh4683, on Flickr

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[drh4683]

Additional photos:

DSC03828 by drh4683, on Flickr

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[drh4683]

Additional photos:

DSC03843 by drh4683, on Flickr

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[wkand]

The whole thing...WOW!!

The set - Only thing better would have been NIB!!!

Very little dust inside the set. it is hard to believe anybody even lived there. There is not much wear on any of the furnishings or carpet.

Not many like that up here in the Great Northwest!

BTW I love your mower collection!!

Congratulations!!

[Arcanine]

Wow what a beautiful set. I've not ever seen one so amazingly clean for it's age! It looks like it works like brand new.

[Electronic M]

Amazing! The more I see the more I regret not trying to get it.

I don't see the oblong can cap...Does it not use one of the VRT regulating power transformers?

[dishdude]

Wow what a find that was!

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Amazing! The more I see the more I regret not trying to get it.

I don't see the oblong can cap...Does it not use one of the VRT regulating power transformers?

NO VRT--only a standard transformer. The VRT was used by Zenith ONLY on SS sets...BOTH color AND a couple of BW chassis...the 19/22FB12/13 and the 19GB1 are two I am SURE used it on BW sets. Pretty sure after the GB1 chassis was supplanted...Zenith weht to a SINGLE-BAORD...HOT CHASSIS...for ALL of their BW sets...EXCEPT fot the AC/DC powered ones.

[lnx64]

I am in LOVE with that set!! It's beautiful, and still performs like a champ I see!

[Jon A.]

Same sort of cabinet construction as mine, and the tuner drive is identical. How many of us can say we have a TV with a drive shaft?

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by drh4683

As stated before, the chassis itself being the 23EC15 marks the very last color chassis using tubes in Zenith production. This set was built in Chicago, but by 1974, Zenith had their own feeder plants operating in Mexico which built deflection yokes and duramodules. Zenith's plants in Mexico would soon take on more and more production. The RUN number as seen on the cabinet model tag displays "410C" which means final assembly of the set was on the 3rd day of the 10th week of 1974, or more precisely, March 5, 1974.

[

Why are the julian dates on modules / brackets AFTER March 5th? One module has a julian day of 4083 (March 24th) and the bracket above the remote channel indexes shows 4074 (March 15th). The final chassis stamp to the right of the fly shows 4102 day, or April 12th, 1974.

We used the julian day on the modules as a "serial number" when selling rebuilt modules - a tactic stolen straight from Zenith.

Zenith used internal julian dates on assemblies, and of course individual parts were marked IAW EIA procedures. The transformer was made the 10th week of 74 (March 3-9), so kinda tough to get it across town to Zenith and through all the wickets by the 5th...

I'll try to find the training manual that explained the date markings on Zeniths - it's around here somewhere.

[drh4683]

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

Why are the julian dates on modules / brackets AFTER March 5th? One module has a julian day of 4083 (March 24th) and the bracket above the remote channel indexes shows 4074 (March 15th). The final chassis stamp to the right of the fly shows 4102 day, or April 12th, 1974.

We used the julian day on the modules as a "serial number" when selling rebuilt modules - a tactic stolen straight from Zenith.

Zenith used internal julian dates on assemblies, and of course individual parts were marked IAW EIA procedures. The transformer was made the 10th week of 74 (March 3-9), so kinda tough to get it across town to Zenith and through all the wickets by the 5th...

I'll try to find the training manual that explained the date markings on Zeniths - it's around here somewhere.

Great points and observations. With that being said, this proves that the RUN number does NOT indicate the final build date of the set, but rather build date of the chassis "core" itself (parts that get permanently mounted and soldered to the chassis). This makes sense since the RUN number is printed on the chassis serial tag only and the serial number on the tag matches that of the number stamped into the chassis. Thus we're only talking chassis production here, not the date the set was actually built as I incorrectly stated before. The power transformer, being a component that would have been mounted when the chassis was built shares the same 10th week of '74 code like that of the RUN number, so that tranny was hot off the assembly line when it got mounted. Therefore, a power transformer should never have a date newer than the RUN number for an original set. Separate plug in components and sub assemblies such as the duramodules would have been installed at a later date and built in other plants, hence why those dates differ. From what I can see, the latest Julian date within this set is 3434102 (343 being the EIA code for "Zenith") which I also see on the convergence panel as well. The most accurate date when trying to estimate final TV build date is probably the Julian code that gets printed next to the chassis number ink stamp as it probably depicts the date in which the chassis was truly finalized with all sub assemblies installed. So with all of this being said, our best estimate with the info we have is that this set was probably built sometime in or around mid April, 1974.

I would really enjoy seeing any supplemental information you might have.

[Username1]

A prize tv for sure.... And that plastic cabinet front looks pretty good....
Turn it upside down and it looks like a chevy chevette....
I know the 4 tubers did produce an outstanding very hard to
beat picture.....

Nice set, and very nice presentation Doug....

.

[MRX37]

I am somewhat jealous.

Though I have my 1976 CCII as a close second.

[zeno]

Stunningly clean set. All origional tubes & the blue module
holder-downers still there ! Focus shaft not browned by heat
& wire ties in place ! Has this ever seen a repair ? or USE ??
Ah the yoke tape. I cant tell you when the fourth of July is
but for some reason I remember that damn tape. 883-13
About a foot of it came in a little Zenith box. Remember the
damper socket 78-1888-01 & used to know the plastic rivet &
grommet that held it in. Plus the disc cap & coil that often burned
with it. Must have known 30 ++ hybrid parts in the good old days...........
An outstanding find. Thanks for the memories.

73 Zeno