1967 GE PortaColor found today with original cart!

[julianburke]

Today I headed to Chattanooga, Tennessee to an estate sale (from Knoxville) as several TV's were shown as were some radios. One was a GE PortaColor TV. I got there a little after opening and they were slow to let people in, the line was about 15 or so and and they let in only 2 at a time. (stupid covid 19) I thought Oh NO, I'll never get anything now.
Turns out no one was even looking at all of any of the electronics and there was a lot of electronic stuff in the basement. I found not only the little PortaColor but it was sitting on its' original Gusdorf roll around cart!! I have never seen a special made cart for a PortaColor! On top of that, the set is a 1967 model M213CWD that will clean up nicely. Physically the whole thing is complete with no damage and perfect built in rabbit ears, only needing cleaning and a better power cord from about 35+ years of sitting downstairs.
I haven't checked it out yet but will post pictures of it when it is cleaned up and fixed if necessary. Of all the crazy stuff, all of what I wanted was priced way much better than reasonable and all of the stuff I didn't want was priced way beyond outrageous, ie, a box mixture of about 25 or so dirty wax NOS capacitors that no tech would want priced at $75!!! Go figure.

The cart, the cart--I love that little cart!!! It is the original Gusdorf cart as there are two short wire fingers on the rear that are bent 90 degrees inward only to support the rear "feet" of the PortaColor which shows someone spent the extra money (about $25) for this little tabletop "kitchen" set of 1967. The set sits 100% perfectly on the cart.

The set and cart have not been cleaned yet but there was interest to see them ASAP.


http://www.videokarma.org/picture.ph...pictureid=3906
http://www.videokarma.org/picture.ph...pictureid=3905

[dishdude]

We need some pictures!!

[julianburke]

Photos for the Portacolor and stand found today. Has anyone else here seen, heard or have one of these carts? Does anyone have a Gusdorf or GE sales book that touts this cart? This was a complete surprise as I never gave thought that this accessory was manufactured specifically for this model GE set!

http://www.videokarma.org/picture.ph...pictureid=3906
http://www.videokarma.org/picture.ph...pictureid=3905

History of Gusdorf: https://www.stljewishlight.com/life_...0a650dda9.html

[Electronic M]

I'd like to see pictures too. I found a stand for my portacolor that looks correct...It would be interesting to know for sure.

[Electronic M]

I see I should have refreshed the page before making my last post.

My cart may be a generic one. It's a bit wider than the set but when I tried to fit my Zenith 15Y6C15 portable on it the stand was too small for that.

[zeno]

Gusdorf stands were the premium stands so I would be surprised
if they built a custom PC stand. As a rule custom stands have ways
of holding the set such as foot holes. Admiral often packed a
free stand with new sets. They were so bad & took so long
to build we refused to do it. The customer was given the unassembled
stand but often bought a Gusdorf. A wise move as the Admiral stands
often fell apart & the TV ended up on the floor.

73 Zeno
LFOD !

[dishdude]

It's unique! A cart for a PortaColor seems so ridiculous!

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by julianburke

Today I headed to Chattanooga, Tennessee to an estate sale (from Knoxville) as several TV's were shown as were some radios. One was a GE PortaColor TV. I got there a little after opening and they were slow to let people in after about 15 or so and after that only 2 at a time. (stupid covid 19) I thought Oh NO, I'll never get anything now.
Turns out no one was even looking at all of any of the electronics and there was a lot. I found not only the little PortaColor but it was sitting on its' original Gusdorf roll around cart!! I have never seen a special made cart for a PortaColor! On top of that, the set is a 1967 model M213CWD that will clean up nicely. Physically the whole thing is complete with no damage and perfect built in rabbit ears, only needing cleaning and a better power cord from about 35+ years of sitting downstairs.
I haven't checked it out yet but will post pictures of it when it is cleaned up and fixed if necessary. Of all the crazy stuff, all of what I wanted was priced way much better than reasonable and all of the stuff I didn't want was priced way beyond outrageous, ie, a box mixture of about 25 or so dirty wax NOS capacitors that no tech would want priced at $75!!! Go figure.

The cart, the cart--I love that little cart!!! It is the original Gusdorf cart as there are two short wire fingers on the rear that are bent 90 degrees inward only to support the rear "feet" of the PortaColor which shows someone spent the extra money (about $25) for this little tabletop "kitchen" set of 1967. The set sits 100% perfectly on the cart.

The set and cart have not been cleaned yet but there was interest to see them ASAP.


http://www.videokarma.org/picture.ph...pictureid=3906
http://www.videokarma.org/picture.ph...pictureid=3905

I worked on one of the early models with the early CRT.
The set was more of a novelty, than a practical color TV. A year later, RCA came out with the CTC22, for a few more bucks. That picture was really great when the set was new.
Around the same time, the Japanese small screen sets came out, for less money.

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

I worked on one of the early models with the early CRT.
The set was more of a novelty, than a practical color TV. A year later, RCA came out with the CTC22, for a few more bucks. That picture was really great when the set was new.
Around the same time, the Japanese small screen sets came out, for less money.

The CTC22 may have been the only all-tube small-screen color set that looked good, and lasted. It took Zenith a few years to get that small.

Unlike most of the others, when you worked on the '22 you KNEW when it was as good as it could be. Not so much with Toshiba-Panasonic-Sanyo etc.

Admiral, Philco and Sylvania made 15LP22 sets but I did not see them.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by DavGoodlin

The CTC22 may have been the only all-tube small-screen color set that looked good, and lasted. It took Zenith a few years to get that small.

Unlike most of the others, when you worked on the '22 you KNEW when it was as good as it could be. Not so much with Toshiba-Panasonic-Sanyo etc.

Admiral, Philco and Sylvania made 15LP22 sets but I did not see them.

The Zenith 15" set used an RCA 15LP22. It was a heavy beast and rather expensive. The transformer powered chassis was impressive and a lot better quality.
Philco had a 16" set that was built by Toshiba, almost the same as the Sears.
The Sears small screen sets were mostly Toshiba.
Sharp built a lot of lower priced sets, Midland, Wards, Western Auto and even Motorola.

[KentTeffeteller]

I'd say until Zenith got their small screen color set on the market, the RCA CTC 22, was the best of that genre, and even competitive with Zenith on this end of the market. The CTC 22 was a nice little set once dialed in right.