My "first" 80's TVs

[Captain Video]

I never had any particular interest on collecting 80's sets, until very recently I never thought of them as being collectable and such, I am way to familiar with them ( since I grew up with them ) to think of them as "vintage" or "collectable" . But , following the advice of the man who introduced me on this hobby, I began to be more careful. He told me that the 1980's were "the last period in which the factories wanted to show some creativity on cabinet design" and that, since no one gives a damn about them, 1980's TV sets are being destroyed at an alarming rate, to a point that just in a few years they will become rare.

So, one day I as at thrift store and saw this 1980's 14 inch Philips set. I immediately fell in love with this little thing, because looking at it I knew it was special - not only it was in excepcional well shape ( sets that age usually look very beaten up, it`s difficult to see, at least here where I live, a 20 year old or so set that is in good cosmetic condition ), but also, it was one of the very first - and so, rare - sets manufactured here with remote control ( some companies tried to make remote control sets here in the 1960`s , but a very powerful man made than stop, because it could hurt the audience ratings of his network ). It still had the remote, and the remote still works! Remote controlled TVs only started to really catch on here after the mid-90`s. This one is from around 1985. So I knew I had to grab it. Paid US$ 50,00 for it. In the pictures it is showing a 1980`s hit, the series "McGyver" .

Other set is a more popular TV, a 1986 Sharp, 20 inch, with no remote. This TV is in extremely good shape, cosmetically speaking. I was passing in front a TV repair shop, and it was sitting on the floor, with the screen facing the wall. I knew it was a 1980`s set, but decided to take a look anyway. It had a piece of paper attached with tape on it`s top. It said simply - "to the dumpster". I pushed the TV, and was surprised to see that it really looked well cared. I thought "well, I cannot let such a nice TV be destroyed" , so I talked to the womam in charge. She said that owner of the shop was traveling, gave me the phone number and a few days later I talked to him. He said that he was going to take the speaker and the deflection coil, after that I could grab it, OR, if I paid US$ 7,00 I could take it intact. I figured out that if he was going to take those parts out the TV was beyond repair, and I already had a 1980`s working set ( the Philips ), so I waited he take out what he want and took the TV for free.

The TV still has the little plastic tool that came with all brazilian Sharp models of that era. By experience, I know that everybody broke the little plastic pieces that hold the tool, and the little tool always got lost .