Australian Philco-Ford portable - Videokarma.org TV - Video

AndrewM · #1 12-07-2010, 03:58 AM

I've recently acquired this little TV which carries the local Healing brand but on taking a closer look at it, I realized it is actually an American Philco-Ford portable which has been modified locally for sale in Australia.

The tuner and power transformer are locally made and fitted items, the case and chassis appear to be original Philco-Ford manufactured parts.

It appears to have had an anti-glare screen at some stage judging by the cut-outs around the CRT.

bgadow · #2 12-08-2010, 10:55 PM

Pretty interesting! That is very thinly disguised...the solid state nameplate up top is the same as what Philco was using. I was thinking that all their bw portables were being made in Taiwan at that point; is there any mention of that? I'd like to know more about Healing.

AndrewM · #3 12-09-2010, 05:11 PM

I know this model TV was on sale prior to 1971 and my guess would be around the 1969 to 1970 period. The tube is a Japanese Toshiba but the rest of the major parts look to be American made.

The country of manufacture is not on the TV but the case underneath says it was moulded in the U.S. by Philco-Ford. Under all the dust is a copper plated chassis with Fairchild AX series transistors. The H.O. transistor is a GM-Delco device and the main filter can is made by Sprague. If it was built in Taiwan it would be from kits of parts supplied from the U.S. by Philco.

Healing is an Australian electronics company that was established in the 1920's. With the introduction of B&W TV here in 1956 they started to make TV's until the company went bust in about 1971. The company was then absorbed into the EMI company which sold HMV radio's and TV's here.

A lot of the local electronics firms in Australia did not have the resources to design TV's in the 1950's. Only the larger firms had the resources to set up manufacting and looked overseas for designs that could be adapted for Australian use. AWA supposedly used RCA designs, HMV was tied to the HMV group in the UK and Healing may have used Philco as their source of design experience. Some manufacturers did partnership deals and imported U.S. sets and resold them here. So we ended up with Admirals, Pope-Motorola's and G.E.-Kirby sets as well.

Kiwick · #4 12-10-2010, 01:51 PM

Philco-Ford also had an Italian plant where they made sets using this same chassis.

i have an Italian Philco portable buried somewhere in my barn, i recall it used an oddball IC on its chassis.

freakaftr8 · #5 12-10-2010, 03:38 PM

Good point. But did Italy import the plastic from the USA? That's interesing the the HOT is gm delco.

bgadow · #6 12-10-2010, 10:40 PM

This model might have been a little large for them to bother importing from Taiwan in the late 60s? I have a 12" bw Philco-Ford that is older and made in Japan, then some early 70s models from Taiwan. With those components I would tend to think it was assembled stateside. A real hodgepodge, anyway. I've seen something else that had a Delco transistor, but I don't recall where. I guess with the volume of power outputs they were cranking out for car radios they were well equipped for this as well. But strange that Philco wouldn't be making that in house? (a case of Ford buying from GM, really)

Kiwick · #7 12-11-2010, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freakaftr8

Good point. But did Italy import the plastic from the USA? That's interesing the the HOT is gm delco.

The one i have has a particle board cabinet. i think it's an American-designed chassis assembled in Italy with locally available components.

I'll try to dig it out and take some pics!

Hemingray · #8 12-12-2010, 05:46 PM

Does she work? Looks a bit rusty in places.

freakaftr8 · #9 12-13-2010, 03:28 PM

Very cool, love to see it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwick

The one i have has a particle board cabinet. i think it's an American-designed chassis assembled in Italy with locally available components.

I'll try to dig it out and take some pics!

AndrewM · #10 12-14-2010, 02:00 AM

I have not tried powering it up yet but I will in the near future and let you all know how it goes. The main chassis is copper plated so under the grime it is still quite good, Some of the other parts do have some surface rust though.

Kiwick · #11 12-14-2010, 04:43 AM

Here are some pics of my Italian Philco 10" portable set

Well, my memory is playing tricks on me, the chassis is not quite the same as used in the Australian Philco portable set.
I still think it's not a 100% Italian design, the layout is quite unusual and there are a few US-made parts, including a GE chip.

The GE chip:

AndrewM · #12 12-21-2010, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemingray

Does she work? Looks a bit rusty in places.

I've finally had a chance to power up the old Healing and it managed to show some life with a 1/2" raster across the screen so it has vert deflection issues but it proves the tube and HOT are good.

I've put this set on the sick TV list and I'll put it aside for attention later.

bgadow · #13 12-22-2010, 10:17 PM

I really like that Italian set! Odd to see a "wood" cabinet like that on such a small TV. Also, I didn't realize they used the Ford name over there. I've noticed that different companies ended up owning the Philco name in different parts of the globe, but maybe at that stage FoMoCo owned it worldwide? PhilcoDon Lindsly, what say you?

Kiwick · #14 12-29-2010, 05:44 PM

I don't know the exact and accurate story of the Italian Philco plant, but i know some facts:

The original Italian Philco plant was in Brembate near Milano, it was originally set up to make washing machines and other white goods under the Philco-Bendix name.
From the late 50s until the mid-late 60s they also made B/W TVs using a modified US-made Philco chassis installed into an Italian made cabinet with an Italian Raytheon CRT and Italian made "Irel" speakers
These sets were sold under the Philco or Crosley brands.

In the late 60s the "ford" logo appeared on their products and they opened a new Italian plant to make color TVs mainly for export markets such as Germany (we had to wait a few more years for color TV)

Philco apparently ceased making their own TVs in the mid 70s and began to have them custom made by several Italian and foreign manufacturers.

Philco also made a really amazing console stereo in this same plant in the late 50s-early 60s, based around a Graetz "fantasia 1022" 13-tube chassis with push-pull output, early models used a Garrard 4HF turntable and 6 Irel speakers in an open back cabinet, later models were nearly identical but used a Lenco L70 and 6 Goodmans speakers in sealed enclosures.
The sound quality from this console rivaled that of the most expensive Grundigs of the same era

Hemingray · #15 12-30-2010, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewM

I've finally had a chance to power up the old Healing and it managed to show some life with a 1/2" raster across the screen so it has vert deflection issues but it proves the tube and HOT are good.

I've put this set on the sick TV list and I'll put it aside for attention later.

Probably all it needs is some new caps in the vert circuit.