Curtis Mathes portable

[Charlie]

After returning home from the ship a few days ago, my neighbor across the street gave me a television that had been in her bedroom since new. She told me it was seldom used... usually only when her great-grandson was there and he played video games on it.

The set is a Curtis Mathes 19" model M1959RW; manufactured May 1986 and made in Japan. Still has the remote. It has 0-9 pushbuttons for the tuner, pushbuttons for volume and power, and pots behind a door for the picture controls.

I brought it home, plugged it in, and it works flawlessly! The picture has nice rich color and great contrast!

I will be taking this to camp for a daily watcher.

This is actually my FIRST rectangular color set. I don't really consider it to be a "vintage" set (although some people on ebay would probably list it as an antique), but it is 20 years old and plays damn good considering all I did was plug it in!

[zenith2134]

Hi Charlie
Nice set. Awesome to find the remote with it! Probably not an 'original' CM since yours was built in Japan, in '86, but who can argue with the picture quality on a 20 year old tv? Perhaps it was made by Sanyo or Hitachi; as I had both types of their mid-80s sets which had extremely similar control/tuner schemes as yours, as well as the same channel display and surrounding window style. Both were around 1985 or so.

I really enjoy this hobby, even if there is no fix involved, such as the case here. Plus, that television is 2 decades old and still plays wonderfully, which I always admire when i pick something up. For what its worth, my last find was a 1985 quasar 10" tv with the swivel base and the remote that is a miniature tv set. All i did was plug it in and adjust the vertical height very slightly. Awesome little tv! Anyways, enjoy it and all the rest of them that are waitign somewhere to be found. Good day!

[Tony V]

Hi Charlie,
Nice set and definately like the price Usually when i think Curtis Mathes i think of the floor models with the faux wood cabinets. Nice to see an example in a portable as i've never seen a CM in one. Seems like the tv's from that era were the last of the good sets. I have a 13 inch Quazar(panasonic) with remote from the same period and it has outlasted every modern set that i have owned including new ones. It has never had the back off and the color has never needed touching up. Hopefully you'll get the same service with yours as it will keep the hours down on your other sets.
Tony

[superdeez]

Heh, that's about the same story as my Magnavox! Is that one of those big rectangular remotes that takes a 9V?

[Charlie]

Super: The remote isn't very big. It's about an inch taller than a pack of smokes and takes to AA batteries.

I have this set up at my cabin now. I had bought a new 20" Maggie last year for the cabin, but it was never the same after Rita. Everytime something kicks on (A/C, heat, refridgerator), the volume takes a nose dive and then slowly comes back up. Also, the vert height stretched out about an inch or so top and bottom. Sooo, the new Maggie is now in the closet and the CM sits in it's place and plays great. If another hurricane blows thru, maybe I'll break out the Maggie since it's already kinda messed up.

Tony: I've seen CM portables of this type before. A friend's parents had one when I was in high school. I'd guess it was from the early 80's. Also, I recall seeing a 1960's black and white portable in that old TV shop I used to dig thru. It was either a 17 or 19 inch table model.

[Tony V]

Charlie,
I've seen the 60's portable sets too but was unaware that they still made portables/table models in the 80's. Nice set!
-Tony

[jstout66]

Nice set Charlie! I've got a Curtis Mathes console from the late 70's, that I'm using in my office right now, unfortuanetly the picture tube is weak, so I'm probably going to give it to the Salvation Army. The remote on mine is huge and takes 4 AA batteries.