Estate Sale Finds in 2009!

[AUdubon5425]

Nice job!

[N9ZQA]

Wow, Doug!

That set looks great! Glad you were able to bring it back. It certainly cleaned up well. What do you use to get the smoke smell out or does it leave with the dust? I've run across quite a few sets that were pretty fuzzy inside.

We had the same set when I was growing up; at least the control layout. I think ours had speakers on each side of the screen.

-Jim

[radiotvnut]

Very nice job, Doug!

[joemama99]

That really is great,doug!What exactly do you use to get them that clean?

[zenithfan1]

Great job Doug! Another Zenith saved! Looks beautiful man, can't even tell it was a smoker set. The black '63 Zenith roundie I restored took countless hours cleaning like you did with it totally disassembled. Imagine what a persons lungs look like after all the years of smoking. Every time I open a set like that I thank God I quit smoking. Been more than a year now

[Phil Nelson]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I did, however, see that "green halo" around the edges of the screen

Is that the beginning of a "cataract," i.e., separation of plastic cover from the CRT face?

Phil Nelson

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by Phil Nelson

Is that the beginning of a "cataract," i.e., separation of plastic cover from the CRT face?

Phil Nelson

Yes, it is. The green halo is a bit more stubborn and reacts well with the "hot wire" method of safety glass removal. I leave it if it's only like this one is. It really don't do much to the picture until it creeps in about 2", that's when it really gets green and can be seen in the picture.

[drh4683]

Went to two sales yesterday, turned up another nice clean set. The sale was at 508 N. Main in Mount Prospect, IL. There were no pictures of this set on estatesales.net, I just got lucky and saw it sight on scene when I decided to go this this sale.

In the basement I found a very unique space command 400 color set from '68 in the corner. I say unique because this is the only rectangular color TV model zenith offered as a space command 400 and only available in '68. Interestingly, I did find this exact same model at an estate sale on 7-8-06 in Berwyn, which I bought and restored but couldn't get rid of the mildue issues on the cabinet. I was so dissapointed with that one because it was in a damp basement. I no longer have that one, another collector has it who can apparently deal with the mold/mildue issues it had.

So yesterdays find is near mint from a nice clean basement was nice and dry too. Right as I was pulling the set away form the wall, the people running the sale say "its the TV guy". I kind of laughed like yeah that me as thats pretty much who I'm known as at all these estate sales around here. They even offered to help me move it up the stairs and into the truck which was great. I got it for $20.

I didn't see the remote for it, but as soon as it was scooted away from the wall, there it was, sitting on the floor underneath the TV! Its the regular space command 400 remote too, no "color TV" or anything on it. So seeing that remote also answered my question if the 68 sc400 remotes should have been the regular plain "400" or the one that said "color TV" like the '64 models. I'm under the impression this set was zeniths cheap attempt at giving you a color set with remote control as basically all the color sets were using space command 600 by 1965.
I then saw a table full of old zenith radios, none which I bought ($50 for a plain 60's table radios that werent in great shape was a bit too much!) I did see a box with many RCA tube boxes. Right away, I recognized all the numbers as ones being out of the color TV. Sure enough, most of the tubes in the boxes were the original zeniths. Inside one of the tube boxes was a receipt from May, '79 when he went to Tri-state electronics in Mt. Prospect (still in business, I go there all the time!) for a bunch of RCA tubes he bought. In fact, some of the tubes he bought were still brand new in the box. There were some other tubes in there, like a 6DW4 and 6JA5, so I know they also had a 4 tube hybrid at one time but its probably long gone as it wasnt at the sale. A couple empty TV carts though as usual. He apparently did a shotgun tube recplacement to fix a problem as he was a do it yourselfer but not a TV man. Fortunately I got most of the original tubes to put back in the set to keep it original.

As I went to pay for the TV, the guy at the register told me they had some papers for that TV. He goes sifting through a folder next to the cash box with manuals and gives me an envelope with all of the original documentation for the TV. I couldn't believe it. Even had the hang tags and the sticker that went on the CRT. It was bought new on November 25, 1967 at Fujawas Furniture in South Bend Indiana. Wonder why they bought it there though?They used to live on the north side of Chicago as can be seen on the registration, and then moved to Mt. Prospect which was not that much of a move.

This should be a nice one to work on, clean non smoker set and from a house with baseboard heat. There is almost no dust inside the set! It should have alot of potential, havn't tried it yet, but I checked the G2 controls, and all were set low, so that give me hope the CRT is still strong. Its got the 20Y1C48 chassis, which as I've said recently, I find so many set with this chassis for some reason. '67-'68 must have been a huge year for Zenith TV sales in the Chicago area. I would guess many of the networks were broadcasting many color programs by '67. Alteast my dad tells me he remembers lots of stuff being in color starting around '67. (my grandparents on dads side bought a motorola color TV in 1966, which apparently started a huge argument between my grandparents my dad told me. Grandpa bought it as a gift and grandma said they couldn't afford it, but then saw the pictures in color for the first time and the rest is history....haha.

[Jeffhs]

Looking at those pictures took me back to when I lived in a 3-bedroom house with a basement in suburban Cleveland, and did a lot of work on old TVs I would find in my neighbors' trash. I had a bunch of old TVs in my basement, a lot of which were Zeniths. My favorite was a K2739 23" VHF-only console, which was a trash find in 1969. Someone had filched all but two of the tubes (the 1J3 HV rectifier and the CRT were the only tubes in the set when I got it), so I had to replace every one of them, but it was worth it. The set worked as soon as I connected the antenna and turned it on--a beautiful, razor-sharp Zenith picture on all three network stations from Cleveland. Unfortunately, I had to give up that TV about three years after I restored it (I moved to a place with no room for a big TV), and I missed it for quite a while after that. However, in 1977 I found a Zenith Space Command "300" 19-inch portable, again a trash find, that worked perfectly as soon as I plugged it in after getting it home. The set lasted a year or so, then the horizontal output tube went gassy, overbiasing the IF stages to the point where I was getting a very weak, washed-out picture on all channels in my area. The tube was some oddball type, 22JF6 or some such, that I couldn't find anywhere, so I put the set in my basement and, the next day, bought a 12-inch Zenith solid-state portable. That little set worked for 22 years and was still going strong when I got rid of it (no room, as by this time, late 1999, I had moved to a very small apartment and had brought two color sets with me; no room for a third). I certainly hope that whomever picked up that little portable from the trash area in back of my apartment got some use out of it, as it still had a lot of life left in it.

That 1969 Zenith SC600 you have is the same set that appears in the 1969 episodes of the '60s TV series Bewitched, seen in reruns these days on WGN America. I think the producers of that show must have had a liking for Zenith televisions, as every TV in the Stephenses' living room from the start of the series in '66 (when the show was being filmed in color) was a Zenith console. If you ever get the chance, I suggest you watch one of the Bewitched episodes on WGN America (it's on at, I believe, 1 p.m. CST; it airs at 2 p.m. here in the Eastern time zone) and look closely at the scenes of the living room. I saw at least two Zenith consoles there, an earlier model in the beginning and a Zenith SC600 from 1969 until the end of the series.

I miss the days when I used to work on old TVs, but I still do quite a bit of work with vintage Zenith radios (I have an MJ1035 with a bad volume control; one of these days...) and have a small collection of them here.

I enjoy reading your posts and always look forward to seeing them in AK's forums, as I'm sure I have mentioned before. You are doing a wonderful job restoring the Zenith TVs you have, and at the same time you are preserving the history of what I have always regarded as one of the best, if not the best television, stereo and audio manufacturers in America. As I have said many times here, it was a darn shame they had to sell out to foreign interests in the late 1980s. The day the Zenith Radio Corporation (it was renamed the Zenith Electronics Corporation in 1984) left Chicago and moved to Korea marked the end of an era.

[zenithfan1]

Great save man! I love it when the tags are there! I like the part about the largest picture in color tv, "Giant screen" boy have times changed.

[bgadow]

A very smart looking set, and the paperwork is worth what you paid for everything. I wonder if the owner of the furniture store might have been a friend or relative? I often think about how every set has a story...they may not all be exciting, but I think this one has a good one.

Got a call last week from a gentleman over on the next block. He asked if I'd be interested in some radios he has (sounds like typical late 40s consoles) and, oh, how about one of those early color TV's with the round screen-remember them? That one is buried in his storage shed. I'm going to be daydreaming about that for awhile!

[drh4683]

Picked up two sets yesterday at the estates. I went to an interesting sale in Park Ridge. It was a very old home built in the 1890's and was in very poor condition inside. I found out nobody lived in this home since 1991! That explained the vintage of the items I saw in there. Nothing changed in this house since about the mid 40's it looked like!
Anyway, I went up the walk up attic and spotted this 1952 RCA b/w table set. I never had one of these, and it was in such nice condition I had to buy it. Its a model 17-T-200. Everything at this sale was priced right, so they could clear it out. Tons of stuff in that house. The TV was $10. I did pull the back off to see how it looked. I was pleased to see almost all original tubes in there and NO brightener and NO hack repairs. These 50's sets seem to always be victims of the worst hack repairs, but this one looks to have missed it. I guess there is going to be alot of wax caps under that chassis?

The last sale I went to was at 9141 S. Hamlin in Evergreen Park. I found a set that rarely shows up, a Magnavox Color console from around 66-67. It was in the basement marked $45. The set looks to have not been plugged in for years, the cord was coiled up and held together with an old brittle twist tie. I then noticed two buttons on/off volume and channel. It then occured to me this was a remote set. I never had a magnavox remote set. Unfortunately, the remote was nowhere to be found. I assume it uses the phantom remote as the little retainer for the remote on the back of the set is only about 1.5" square. The set doesn't work, no B+, just lights up with no sound or picture. The drive motor and relays all work when I press the buttons. The set is like new still. Im friends with one of the girls who runs estate sales, so she took my picture when I was waiting for the TV to warm up. In fact, one of the older ladys who also helps run the sales was interested in knowing why I like these old TV's. She was probably the most rational people I've met at the estate sales. Before I answered, she looked at me and said "oh, you're not that old, you're from a generation that wasn't around when things from the 60's were new and common place, so to you its something new and interesting. I think thats great people your age try to preserve things like this". For once I couldn't believe what I heard instead of someone putting down the idea of "old TV's as useless junk what do you want it for?". This should be a good set to work on though, look forward to finding the right remote for it. Can anyone tell me what the remote should really be like on this? Is it a mechanical hammer remote, or is this the bellow type remote?

[electronjohn]

Nice looking little RCA you got there! Well worth the $10. Good luck with your new Maggie!

[bgadow]

A couple clean ones...I don't generally like Magnavox but that one has plenty of character...good find!

[captainmoody]

Been a while since I posted, so here are a few of this years finds in Detroit. '66 Maggie with Phantom remote,'69 Zenith portable, '65 Zenith roundie (top one, found today), '67 Zenith with power tuning. Looks like I will need another house with a basement soon!