How Did You Get Started Collecting?

[Kiwick]

My uncle played a major part in starting me on electronics, i was about 3 years old when he took apart my portable phonograph to show me how it worked, i was so fascinated! it didn't take long for me to understand how to use a screwdriver and my poor little phonograph was soon strewn all over the home, incredibly though, it survived in pieces inside a box and i rebuilt it to like new conditions a few years ago!

My uncle also took me to the many small (illegal) dumps along rural roads and we had some fun at dismantling old TVs (usually 60s B/W sets) my favourite item was the speaker, i started collecting TV speakers then and i still do it today, i have a ridiculous quantity of them! probably over a thousand.

At some point we took home an entire set, an early 60s 23" Emerson, and we fixed it (it just had a loose aquadag strap) and this became my personal TV set for many years (i still have it) but my parents forbid my uncle to drag home more old TVs.

Then in 1995 when i was 16 years old my grandpa bought me an Haflinger pony (the one in my avatar) with a little cart so that i could move around on my own without riding a "dangerous" motorbike, big mistake! that little cart allowed me to drag home dozens of old TVs, this got me in serious problems with my parents and they cyclically shackled the cart, but at some point they gave in and built a shed for my old TVs!

After this, i almost took home each and every TV i found, i have about 80 sets now, and i still use that old cart whenever i find a big TV or console stereo which doesn't fit in my tiny hatchback car, although that cart is pulled by a mule now as the old Haflinger pony is enjoying retirement.

[truetone36]

It all started with a Zenith suitcase portable phonograph that I bought for $1 when I was 4 yrs. old. Then a Apex Model 30 console radio when I was 7(I still have both). I got started collecting TV's when I found a big blond Dumont and a CTC-7 at a flea market that was closing down when I was 9. I bought those for $5 each (those were the days!). Before I knew it I had filled every bit of extra space. I've thinned the herd a few times, but I still have stuff stashed everywhere. Much to the wife's dismay I have almost 100 TV sets, 14 console stereos, approx. 70 old radios, boxes and boxes of parts, even a RCA transcription TT. My wife says I'm a hoarder. I say, "Who, me?"

[67Zenith]

Originally Posted by Kiwick

Then in 1995 when i was 16 years old my grandpa bought me an Haflinger pony (the one in my avatar) with a little cart so that i could move around on my own without riding a "dangerous" motorbike, big mistake! that little cart allowed me to drag home dozens of old TVs, this got me in serious problems with my parents and they cyclically shackled the cart, but at some point they gave in and built a shed for my old TVs!

After this, i almost took home each and every TV i found, i have about 80 sets now, and i still use that old cart whenever i find a big TV or console stereo which doesn't fit in my tiny hatchback car, although that cart is pulled by a mule now as the old Haflinger pony is enjoying retirement.

The Halfinger pony in the avatar is really beautiful.

[67Zenith]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

67Zenith, you are lucky to have that opportunity....the old timers know things that we can never learn from a book !

Speaking of old timers, I lived on 1st Avenue in NYC until 2006 and there was a small tv repair shop on the avenue, I think it was called Jensen's TV Repair. I don't know if it is still there but it was an amazing experience to walk into the shop. There was a sign that said "since 1954" and also a huge illuminated RCA Victor sign over his work bench. The counter had an old 1950s style NCR cash register on it and on the wall was a 1950s Western Electric "Space Saver" rotary telephone - both the register and phone in working order. Behind the counter was a doorway leading to the stock room, the doorway was covered by green drapery and I'd watch him part the drapery to go back there and look for parts and all I could see was a wall of old tube boxes. He wouldn't let me go back there to see all his old stock. He wasn't the friendliest guy. He did good work though. I don't know if his shop is there anymore, he was up in years in 2006. I asked him if he really had been there since 1954 and he just said "yep". Had he been friendlier it would have been nice to talk with him but that old guy was all business, no talk.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

Same here. The few " old timers " (say, over age 70) that I made friends with in this hobby are now gone, as are their shops and resources.

Same here... For me, it was a few retired World War II tech guys who lived in the neighborhood, and would often be seen puttering in their garages with old HAM equipment or old TVs. I befriended a few of them, and that was a great benefit in learning about older stuff, that I couldn't ever have learned in tech school in the 80s.

Charles

[Findm-Keepm]

As many of you know, my Dad was a TV repairman for over 40 years. I grew up in a house where the garage was the TV shop (until Dad went "legit" in the 70's) and the coffee table magazines were Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics, and Electronics Technician Dealer. Dad welcomed us all kids into the shop to learn - I was forever entertained at the tube checker, a Sencore TC-141 - and I still remember common tube settings!

I got my first "save" at 12 years old. It was a GE 21" BW console from the 50's - a two piece mahogany cabinet. I found it at a yard sale for $1.50. Dad re-capped it for me using caps I salvaged from junk sets while he worked. It sprang to life and served as a summer set/summer space heater in my bedroom until I was convinced to sell it at a yard sale for $15.

My collecting really kicked off in my 40's - I now have a RCA CTC16 roundie, a GE Portacolor, a Setchell Carlson 23" BW consolette, and a 7" BW Motorola set that needs to be restored. I've also picked up a ton of vintage test gear along the way - 5" Oscilloscopes (9), Signal Generators (3), Color Bar/Crosshatch generators (4) and a bunch of other assorted gear and parts.

Semper Receiveratus Thermionicatus....

Cheers,

[zenith2134]

One old guy who stands out in my memory was a WW-II type tech as well. He and another guy owned a small shop that was in town since the 40's IIRC...lots of cool stuff in there !! I remember my fascination when he showed me a battery-powered boatanchor radio...heavy as lead and used odd batteries that he no longer had. We spoke of Radio Row NYC, tubes, and vinyl records. The other guy in that shop never, ever said a word and was constantly working on stuff. He also sat extremely close to the workbench TV (an old Hitachi color) and watched golf in the background.

Anyway, the shop was a real estate office the last time I passed by, and I have been informed that my friend lost his battle with heart disease.

One can only wonder what became of all the service lit., tube caddies, radios, etc !

[Carmine]

I lived with my grandparents as a kid in the 80s. My mother and father we always around, but they both worked, so I stayed with the grandparents instead of "daycare". Like many Italians, the basement was a "duplicate" of the upstairs (just without any bedrooms) complete with bath, kitchen and living room. The basement had all the old (50s) blonde furniture, i.e. Old Stomberg-Carlson 1946 Am/FM1/FM2 radio, Western Electric phone, Zenith tube TV, 1940s Philco fridge, etc.

Upstairs was very late-60s, danish modern. There was a 1968 Zenith console, and I remembered there were a bunch of extra Zenith tubes in yellow boxes stored in the drawer of my grandmother's solid walnut danish-mod end table. I was generally not allowed to touch things in this room, lol. The TV room had the daily-watcher Chromacolor set. They only bought quality stuff... No imported junk in that house.

My parents, God love 'em, were like most "young" people. They had hideous particle-board simulated-wood 80s furniture. Even as a kid, I thought this stuff was ugly and cheap compared to the stuff my grandparents had. They did have a Zenith Chromacolor II. Even so, it was a price-leader 19" el cheapo. Not very interesting to a kid who has seen the inside of a 20-tube, 23" color Zenith with all it's dial lights, tubes, little hidden doors and real wood.

My grandfather was the kind of guy who could fix his own TV, and when he couldn't, he always "knew a guy" who usually lived in an interesting neighborhood. He fixed his own cars, did his own cement work, built stuff from wood, tended his own garden and we made our own sauce. We barely watched TV, and when we did, it was something that was already old like "I spy" or "Kojack".

My friend's parents drove boring, small, gray, ugly cars. My grandfather had a beautiful jade-green Chrysler New Yorker. His older brother had a tri-tone copper Mercury Grand Marquis coupe and visited often. We listened to Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Louie Prima. They were WWII vets who smoked camels and let me sit in the car, and took me "places" with them.

Is it hard to imagine who I would take after?

I'm glad to say that things remain largely the same in 2009. He doesn't drive his (Hemi) 300C very far any more, but we did get our cars together for a group shot recently...



My grandmother has passed, but the furniture remains the same. He has a total piece of crap 32" RCA set now that I want to replace with a decent flatscreen. (If there is one) I hate that his generation is dying off so quickly. The "stuff" helps me remember them.

[67Zenith]

Carmine: I love the story about your grandparents. Your grand dad sounds "top drawer", as they used to say in the 1950s to express the best of the best. Nice that their Danish Modern furniture is still in place. What happened to their 1968 Zenith 23"??

My whole place is 1960s Danish Modern (mostly handed down by relatives who once had good taste) and the furniture is solid as can be, still looking great today.

I couldn't help but to LOL when you stated that your parents had 1980s "hideous particle board, simulated wood funiture". It made me laugh because the relatives who handed down their great Danish Modern furniture to me all bought particle board junk from discount outlets when they retired. I just don't understand it!

[zenith2134]

Me neither, 67-Z. Sorta like when my old nighbors give me their minty old records, since their kid or grandkid bought them a shiny-new iPod ! Hehehe . . .

Great story, Carmine. My grandparents had some American and some Japanese sets, but the main thing was that they believed in repairing stuff and hanging onto cherished items, instead of just getting new things. We need this mentality nowadays more than ever.

I love old furniture, the type with the intricately carved faces and designs. Hernia-central on moving day but it's built to also serve as a fallout shelter in a time of need !

[Eric H]

I bought my first set, an 8-TS-30 at a swap meet in the late 70's, I wasn't a "collector" at that point, just interested in what looked like the oldest TV ever to me.
I added a couple more sets along the way, a 721-TS and an 8-T-241 I think, (whichever one had the sliding doors) still not really collecting as such, also I had no idea how to fix them at that point.

I sold all three of my sets in 1996 or so figuring I'd never be able to find parts for them or figure out how to repair them.

Then I found the Rec.antique.radio+phono newsgroup, after that I found the Antique Radio Forum, then I found another old set and I was off again.

Then eBay came along... now I have no free space left.

[3Guncolor]

I by fate still have the set I grew up with a set my father puchased new in 1963. It is a dead on twin for the set Charles has posted about. Space command 400 just like his. As a little boy I watched Batman and Bonanza in color on that set. It was the only set in the house untill 1974 when he puchased a 25" Zenith CCII. The set was moved to my brothers room, I think that's what saved it because if I got my hands on it would have junked. I have never fixed up the set but I turn it on now and then. It is watchable. Someday I will get the remote working again and change the CRT.
I also started early and was very much into electronics even before high school. In my teens I worked for a Zenith dealer from 1975 to 1980. I did just about everything as a helper there learned a lot. More then I learned in school.

[67Zenith]

Zenith2134: The minty old LPs sound real good! And since you get them for free from senior citizens, that's even better! Side note here - a guy in his 80s in my apartment building recently passed away and his grand daughter cleaned out his apartment. She was tossing out a box of about 30 reel-to-reels from the 1960s - all the greats, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, lots of instrumentals like Jackie Gleason mood music, etc. I asked her for the box and she laughed and gave it to me. She didn't even know what they were! She asked me "how do you play those things?". I told her I have a 1966 Webcor. She shrugged her shoulders.

3Guncolor: Working for a Zenith dealer from 1975-80 must have been a great experience. Looking back, I wish I had worked part time at one of the local tv dealers or tv repair shops but as a teenager I was totally involved in learning about the mechanics of V8 engines. I worked at a place called 1001 Auto Parts and then at a Phillips 66 service station where I learned a lot about cars of the 60s and 70s - but I always regret not having put any time into learning about tv repair when I was younger. I guess someday I will catch up!

[analogguyinadig]

My mother became ill Thanksgiving Day 2002. She died Thanksgiving Day 2003. That year was the worst year of my life. (Those of you who have had to watch a kind, loving parent die slowly, by degrees, know what I mean). One of the things that provided me with some solace during that period was music. I primarily listen to vinyl, and the only place you can find vinyl nowadays, is at thrift stores, garage sales, etc. Well, one day I was at a thrift store looking for some LP's when I noticed an old Marantz receiver sitting on the floor. It had a sticker on it that said it was non-working. The price was $2.00. I bought it on the spot. Now, here's the thing: up to that moment, I never, never, worked on vintage electronics. I knew nothing about fixing them. Zero. Zip. Nada. To this day, I still don't know what possessed me to buy the thing. Nevertheless, I took it home, and began to dismantle it. I took it completely apart. Then I put it back together. Guess what, it still didn't work. But....... BUT......while I was in the process of dismantling it and putting it back together, It took my mind completely off the misery my mother was in. It was therapeutic. After she passed away, dismantling and reassembling vintage electronic equipment was no longer therapeutic, it became a fun hobby, a hobby I enjoy to this very day. Oh, by the way, I have figured out how to make them work. Probably the strangest post you'll read on this thread. But heck, you asked.........

[analogguyinadig]

Don't know how it posted twice?????