Found a 1968 Motorola color console - Videokarma.org TV - Video

drh4683 · #1 04-18-2007, 10:15 PM

Found this TV for free in chicago craigslist yesterday. The guy simply said in his ad "3 old TV's for free, motorola, zenith and panasonic" I drove out to Evergreen Park after work today and took a look. Found this Nice tube type motorola 20" mini console color set. Dated July of 1968 on the chassis. Motos are the hardest of the popular brands to find. In all my years of going to garage and estate sales looking for old TV's (15 years) this is only the second motorola tube type color set I found.
It works but the tube is shot. Havn't attempted to heat up the cathodes yet though.
It was sitting in the basement all by itself on a tile floor. Everything in the house was cleaned out but the 3 TV's. The guy wanted to throw them out but his wife suggested craigslist before they got brought into the alley.
The other 2 sets were nothing too interesting, but I took them anyway. 1983 panasonic color console and 1975 zenith b/w solid state console. Those sets have burnt up CRT's too.
I wonder if the moto was replaced by the panasonic in '83? Could a motorola last for 15 years of service? Original CRT in the moto too.

truetone36 · #2 04-18-2007, 11:28 PM

Cool set! I've only found 4 Motorolas in 20 years of collecting, all were B/W
except for a 1964 color console which I have here at home now. The CRT is
really weak on my set, too. I believe the CRT's were the achilles' heel of
Motorola's early rectangular color sets.

Dumont-First with the finest in television.

veg-o-matic · #3 04-19-2007, 09:16 AM

Oooh, dat nice, Doug! Can't wait to see it after you work your magic on it.

One of those "mini consoles" would be great for my den, which is pretty small. I know RCA made them as well, and I think Ward's had a funky one with the UHF tuner sticking out the side, but did anyone else make the minis?

veg

radotvguy · #4 04-19-2007, 11:01 AM

nice set . Looks interesting , never seen a motorola color floor console .

bgadow · #5 04-19-2007, 12:40 PM

That looks nearly identical to the table model 20" I've got, but with that nifty cabinet. Could it have lasted 15 years? Well...from my experience it might have worked but with that "legendary" Motorola color picture! 15 years ago I had a pair of 23" table models from this series and they both powered up and worked but with awful, awful pictures. Anyway, the one I have now works okay. Pastel color that I just can't tweek enough. They are built similiar to a Zenith so should be reliable?

Carmine · #6 04-19-2007, 01:35 PM

How about a pic of that 1975 B&W console? That's getting pretty modern for a B&W console.

drh4683 · #7 04-20-2007, 05:19 PM

I really didn't want the other two sets. The panasonic is a cheap piece of crap from november of 83. Its sad how TV quality pretty turned to junk around 1980. Look at the inside of this set, its just a board screwed down inside a big partical board box. I guess thats why I like the old 60's-early 70's sets so much, as the space inside the TV cabinet was pretty much all used and built well.
I already junked the panasonic, CRT was shot. Probably would have junked it regardless. The zenith b/w is a cheapy. Plastic cabinet sides, wood top. Works, weak CRT and vertical size issues. I still have this zenith, if anyone wants it, its yours. Otherwise I'll save the chassis and tuner and junk the rest.
The photos were taken at my power equipment storage building.

Chad Hauris · #8 04-20-2007, 06:35 PM

My parents bought a Panasonic just like that in 1983...I disagree with the idea that these sets were cheaply built...just more minaturized. Never had any problems at all with that set over about 20 years of use.
Haven't seen a Zenith b/w solid state console...chassis looks very substantial, even has a power transformer.

Adam · #9 04-21-2007, 06:31 AM

I've come to the conclusion that early ss b/w consoles are actually amongst the rarest of sets. I've never found one myself. Those late 70s and early 80s Zenith console cabinets with all the plastic are cheap, but I like what I see of that chassis. As a rule I like to avoid solid state, but if I ever find one of those closer to me, it might be an exception.

kx250rider · #10 04-21-2007, 12:19 PM

That B&W Zenith is a VERY rare set. I've never even seen a solid state B&W console whatsoever. This set, and the ever-elusive Zenith 19" B&W portable with digital cable-ready tuner & remote from the early 80s should be saved!

Charles

Carmine · #11 04-22-2007, 10:11 AM

I have to agree... That Zenith is an oddball that deserves saving, that's why I wanted to see it. So what if the cabinet is cheap, do you think anybody would pony-up the cash for an expensive B&W set in '75? Shoot, I don't think they ere even THAT popular in 1965!

Look like a hellava chassis too!

Those must have been made specifically for old-timers (in '75) who didn't want to fuss with color because they thought it was a fad! A S/S B&W Zenith would have to be one of the most trouble-free sets ever!

jln1966 · #12 04-22-2007, 12:39 PM

I saw a solid state b/w Zenith console at the curb in the town I work in last week. It had a plainer cabinet with legs instead of the full base. I left it. It has been picked up now. Guess I should have gotten it.
John

Jeffhs · #13 04-22-2007, 02:04 PM

I agree that solid-state Zenith TVs are among the most trouble-free sets. I had a Zenith 12" b&w SS portable (model J121Y) that I bought new in 1978; it lasted 22 years and was still working very well when I got rid of it (didn't need three TVs in my then-new apartment). I used that little portable as my main set for about four years, until I bought a 13" color Zenith; the small SS portable was relegated to use as a computer monitor from then on. The only thing that ever went bad in that SS Zenith b&w set was the detent mechanism for the UHF channel selector, but then again I had the same problem with my first Zenith color portable (L1310C, bought new in 1979). That color set worked flawlessly on the attic antenna in my home at the time, as did a Zenith set with one-knob electronic tuning that replaced it in 1982. The original Zenith Radio Corporation really knew how to make TVs to last; unfortunately, that all went out the window when the ZRC went out of business and was replaced by LG. I own an LG cell phone that works very well (even after having had a hard knock against a concrete sidewalk a couple of years ago), but I would think at least twice before even considering purchasing an LG TV, knowing the terrible reliability record those sets have. I have, however, seen flat-panel TVs advertised in Best Buy/Circuit City flyers with the Zenith lightning bolt at the base of the display, which surprised me. I thought that once LG took over Zenith, LG would have eventually done away with that logo for good.

Jeffhs · #14 04-22-2007, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drh4683

I really didn't want the other two sets. The panasonic is a cheap piece of crap from november of 83. Its sad how TV quality pretty turned to junk around 1980. Look at the inside of this set, its just a board screwed down inside a big partical board box. I guess thats why I like the old 60's-early 70's sets so much, as the space inside the TV cabinet was pretty much all used and built well.
I already junked the panasonic, CRT was shot. Probably would have junked it regardless. The zenith b/w is a cheapy. Plastic cabinet sides, wood top. Works, weak CRT and vertical size issues. I still have this zenith, if anyone wants it, its yours. Otherwise I'll save the chassis and tuner and junk the rest.
The photos were taken at my power equipment storage building.

Doug, I just saw the pic of the innards of the Panasonic console, and was amazed at the size of the "chassis" in comparison to the size of the console cabinet. What were they thinking, putting such a small PC board in such a huge cabinet? (I've seen this in 1980s-vintage Zenith and other makes of TVs as well.) The only thing I can figure that makes any sense to me is that Panasonic used that particular cabinet for most or all of its 1980s-vintage consoles and were not concerned about lots of wasted space.

I was also amazed to see the front view of the "cheap" (as you put it) Zenith console. I never saw that particular style of Zenith television in a console cabinet until now. This seems out of character for Zenith even by the early '80s, before the LG takeover, although many of their color sets and nearly all their b&w sets were being manufactured in offshore plants even by the mid-'70s (I once had a 12" b&w solid-state Zenith portable, 1978 vintage, that had been made, IIRC, in Mexico).

How times have changed.

wa2ise · #15 04-22-2007, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Doug, I just saw the pic of the innards of the Panasonic console, and was amazed at the size of the "chassis" in comparison to the size of the console cabinet. What were they thinking, putting such a small PC board in such a huge cabinet? (I've seen this in 1980s-vintage Zenith and other makes of TVs as well.) The only thing I can figure that makes any sense to me is that Panasonic used that particular cabinet for most or all of its 1980s-vintage consoles and were not concerned about lots of wasted space.

I think you were thinking that they used the same "chassis" in most of their TV sets, from table models to the big consoles. Well, one thing with the consoles, there's no issue of heat buildup from crampt quarters.... Economies of scale come in play here, if the small board has the perforance, why bother designing a special board for the consoles? Table models are the lion's share of production, and consoles are small bananas...