Estate sale revealed 2 color sets & more!

[kx250rider]

I was aware of a LONG, LONG-drawn out estate settlement going on in Riverside, CA. The home and 1-acre property were 100% pack rat conditions, like those you sometimes see on TV news... The house belonged to a fellow member of the Vintage Toyota Owners' & Restorers' Club, so I had an inside scoop on the events. Ironically, I was out there in April and bought a bunch of Toyota parts, and a friend bought a fairly clean '67 Toyota coupe. I asked at that time if there were any TVs, but the widow said not that she knew of

Anyway, about 2 weeks ago, the widow's friend who is helping figure out how to dispose of all that pack rat stuff, called and said that they had dug into a back bedroom and found 5 TV sets! He didn't know what they were, so I was picturing 1990s vintage portables, or something. Then he said two of them were Packard-Bell consoles, and one was a round-tube RCA. So I was able to get a day aside yesterday and drove out there, without a lot of hope based on the condition of all the stuff I had seen there before (rusty, burnt cars, cars crushed by trees felled in the 1970s, rusted, flattened metal garden sheds full of rusted-through fenders, half-buried rusty engine blocks, etc etc).

But miraculously, these 5 TVs were all stored in this back bedroom, and buried for years and years behind stacks of magazines and boxes. A 1965 Packard-Bell 23" rectangular color set (very high-end model to have the rectangular tube), and a clean CTC-16B, a 23" late 50s Packard-Bell B&W console, an RCA metal mid-50s table model 21" B&W with ORIGINAL MATCHING STAND, and a Hitachi 9" color mid-70s portable, which was sitting nearest an old desk, and appeared to have been the most recent daily-use TV when the room was still accessable. It was still plugged into an extension cord, which stretched across the floor and had been crushed nearly shorted under junk! One other set; the RCA 21" B&W, was ALSO STILL PLUGGED IN and had a pair of rabbit ears on it. The three color sets (no photo of the Hitachi), are in excellent shape! Just a little dusty, and cataracts of course. The RCA metal B&W is doggone near mint condition, but is missing the back. It may turn up, and if so, I'll get a call. The Packard-Bell B&W is decent, but has a few scratches, needs speaker cloth, and is missing all but 1 of the knobs.

I got all 5 sets for $100, including good help to help get them carried overhead out of the house. I loaded them all up in the truck, and hauled them away. I was afraid to bring any but the Hitachi home, because I was informed last week that there are too many TVs in the house already, and I lined up a row of them to be removed to storage this week. So to be safe, I stashed yesterday's new acquisitions at a house we have under construction in Chatsworth, until the time is right to admit I got them

Charles

[jpdylon]

Great saves, and not too bad a price to boot!

If you plan on keeping the 16, I have a complete spare chassis with a good FBT if you want it, Gratis.

[John Folsom]

Nice find, Charles.

[Sandy G]

Great saves ! You lucky Dawg ! (grin)

[zenithfan1]

Holy sh*t! You done good! That 16 looks great. I bet it was fun looking and digging through all the crap, I've been to places like that and dug forever. Keep us updated on those excellent finds!

[Dan Starnes]

You did good!
Dan

[electronjohn]

So...are we to assume that you left all the old radios and vintage stereo gear behind?

[kx250rider]

Thanks for the thumbs up, everyone!

Originally Posted by electronjohn

So...are we to assume that you left all the old radios and vintage stereo gear behind?

I didn't see any decent radios or audio stuff... I assume that since the estate has been in limbo for 6 months or so, that other people have spoken for certain things. I did see one mid-30s cheapie 6-tube console radio (maybe a Sears, et al), with severe water damage, bashed in speaker grille, busted Eisenglass dial, and rats nest inside. Definitely nothing anyone would want, unless they needed an IF transformer, etc. Otherwise, it's all old magazines (not even collectible ones), boxes of cookware, parts of lamps, and you name it. There are still about 30 cars and trucks sitting there; mainly 1960s Toyotas and a few Crosley cars, and a '50 Oldsmobile base model 6-cyl sedan in ROUGH shape. Also some un-interesting 80s cars.

Charles

[mr_fixer]

Nice find! I'm wondering if this is every tv the man owned since his first one. Isn't each set about 4 to 10 years older than the next? The thought just intrigues me that you might own the machines that played every tv program he ever watched. I have sort of the same thing except with my old eye glasses which i have needed since 4th grade. Just a thought, Logan

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by kx250rider

This one looks similar to mine:



I recapped mine, and it works, though my CRT is nearly worn out. I didn't try to unsolder the cap leads from the circuit board traces, I just clipped out the old wax cap and J hooked the new cap leads onto the old cap lead stubs. You can't really get at the foil side of the boards...

[rick65]

Charles,

Your RCA set is from 1965. It called "The Monroe" Mark 10 Series GF-703
A charming Early American heirloom cabinet design with delightful decorative touches in the scroll gallery, spool-turned legs and warm, mellow wood finish. Selected hardwood solids awith Antiqued Colonial Maple veneers. H-331/2'; W-361/4'; D-263/4".
With "Wirelss Wizard" Remote Control, GF-703-R

[Carmine]

Man I would love that PB set.

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by Carmine

Man I would love that PB set.

My favorite part about that one is the hand wired chassis, much better than any PC board based sets.

[John Marinello]

A "veritable cornucopia".

[kx250rider]

I cleaned up the 5th set from the estate; a Hitachi from 1977. Model CU-150. These small-screen Japanese 70s sets are kind of getting rare, I think, and especially a 9-incher with AC-DC! Sony was the king of small portable color sets in the 70s, and they never made a 9" with DC power until the 90s (8" was their biggest). So this Hitachi was one of the few 9 inch color AC-DC 12v sets that I know of from that era. Panasonic had one in the 80s, but I can't think of ANY from the 70s besides this one.

This set cleaned up just about to mint condition, has the original AC cord (DC cord missing), but has good antenna rods and the original UHF loop. All that was wrong with it was dirty tuner & pots... CRT bright enough to blind you! The smoked plastic sunscreen is missing, so I asked the estate to keep an eye out for it. Or if someone here has one from a junker set, I'd be interested.

I'm getting intrigued nowadays by any color TV that has a huge color logo on the front and a "SOLID STATE" badge, as this set has.

If I have time, I'm going down to Chatsworth this afternoon with my toolbox and Variac, and I'll see what condition the other 4 sets are in electronically.

Charles