Oh aye, very cool, and very sad...(Predicta owners look away)

[H2s04]

The work that went into this PC case mod is very good, but it still bothers me to see a very nice free-standing Predicta get dismembered like that

http://onomy.com/blue/predicta.html

Why do people have to do this??
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Big Dave]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!



Someone get me some Alka-Seltzer quick.

[Eric H]

I think we should all E-mail them and express our distress at their destruction of a classic TV set!

OTOH the cabinet doesnt seem to have been harmed much, maybe someday it will be put back proper, my only fear is it will "inspire" others to do the same e.g Dharma and Gregs fish tank

[andy]

...

Ok, I'll be brave. I'm the person who did the bulk of the work on this Predicta, so feel free to rip into me if you feel the need, but hear me out, before you do.

First, I did not find this set during some miraculous time travel...in pristine shape, with low hours, fully operational...no, the thing was old and filthy and mildly battered, hadn't worked in decades, and was in need of a great deal of TLC. In case it isn't completely obvious, I gave it that. The cabinet was lovingly restored. The mouse turds were removed from the interior. I spent more time with a Q-tip and tiny brushes and a dental pick than I care to remember. The knobs were painstakingly cleaned, as were the filthy areas of the blonde wood finish surrounding them. The paintwork was carefully redone. The head unit was carefully cleaned and polished. Aesthetically, the set is worlds better off than it was a couple of months ago. I think you're making some pretty faulty assumptions about what it was like when I got it, based on how it looks now.

Let me ask you...if I stumble across a '57 Chevy, up on blocks, that hasn't run in 10 years, what am I to do? The motor is siezed, and I don't know if it's been bored before, but the numbers match. The body is rusted out in spots, and rodents have made the interior their home for longer than the thing was ever driven. Am I obligated to return it to dead stock? Where do you draw the line? Can I use brake pads that aren't asbestos? Is it Ok to put modern rubber compounds into the components that would benefit? Are folks who put modern mechanicals into classic cars guilty of defiling them? Can I powdercoat things? Can I use Imron paint? Can I install seat belts? It's a slippery slope. I know. I love old machines with every ounce of my being, and I'm not sure I know how to answer questions like these.

This Predicta was that '57 Chevy. It's not like Philco only built 10 of them. It's not like this was the best remaining example. No destruction was involved. It was a beat-up old set that I lovingly brought back to life. Not the life that you might've wished for it, but it's a proud, incredible object again.

I do worry about inspiring other people to use too many of these classic sets for novel purposes. I agree that it would be a shame if that were to happen, and *particularly* if it's done poorly. I *did* take considerable care to do as few things as possible to this set which couldn't be reversed. I saved all of the components (even though the Predicta showed no signs of life when I got it, they may be useful spares for later, or for somebody else). I love these sets, and I'll be bringing another one back to full standard operational glory one of these days.

Ok...have at it...tell me there are no parallels between automobiles and consumer electronics...tell me that the only valid thing to do with an old machine is to take it back to original factory condition...ignore technical service bulletins that fixed Philco's engineering errors...set aside all modern materials...use only period instruments while testing components (where is there a drug store with a tube tester?)...fear the Russians...pretend it's 1958...Duck and Cover!

In automobiles, the place for the purist is the Concours de Elegance, where cars lose points if a fastener shows signs of having ever encountered a wrench. There are also Hot-Rod shows, where the machines are obviously well-loved, too. Is one set of enthusiasts more right than the other?

I honestly don't know.

Scott

[Chad Hauris]

I personally don't mind modifications such as this...it was very well done and serves a functional purpose for its owner.
It is not like there are no more of these sets around...it is not a detriment to their historical preservation that this one was modified into a computer.
Myself, I always try to restore a set to functionality as a TV, because I enjoy the technology of old TV's and find it interesting to watch them...however, others may not be so interested in the old TV technology itself.
I think there is enough room in the world to accomodate people that prefer modern technology combined with old aesthetics along with people that are strict preservationists, and those in between.

[Carmine]

Ok I'll take a stab at this as a preservationist, auto hobbist, and someone who has done something similar...

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...threadid=17244

I wonder first of all, why not use one of the re-pops as a starting point? To 99% of the world, they look just like the real-deal. Perhaps you could have even purchased an empty re-pop case at a cost savings, or discounted with a (little) cross-promotion at the event. Even if you had to pay full price, the unrestored Predicta Pedestal probably would have brought enough eBay money to pay for the telestar repop.

Secondly, why choose the (more rare/valuable) pedestal style? Seems rather impractical for a PC application anyways. To get the monitor down to a "normal" height, you'd have to hide much of the cabinet behind a desk. Seems that a "holiday" model would have been a better choice.

Telestar Holiday

On the plus side, it does appear that the workmanship is of very good quality, which would make this project much more acceptable to me. Even though my "modern" porthole project seems rather crude looking in the during photos, (Sawzall and all) I assure you that it's well detailed in the execution. Most guests think it's a very high-dollar Zenith from the 90s.

I don't know if the automotive analogy applies, since no one is building re-pop '57 Chevys. If enough of my Porthole set had survived (face mask, knobs, bezels, etc. not to mention chassis and CRT) I probably wouldn't have converted it. Those Chevy's were cranked out by the damn-near millions, and didn't have the "issues" of the Predictas which spelled a small survival rate. A better analogy might be a '56 Packard... If turned into a hot-rod, that would make me very sad.

To me, part of what makes a piece of vintage electronics (or vintage car) interesting is the technonolgy itself. The glow of the tubes, the warm-up time, the HV crackle, and so forth. The idea that a near-dozen vacuum tubes and a spaghetti of electrical wire eventually does the same thing as a micro-circuit. To me, if you need to add disc-brakes, tilt-wheel, fuel injection and a CD player to an old car to enjoy it, you should simply admire from a distance, for you don't really want the time-machine effect, but simply a better looking new car. Items like newer tubes and capacitors are just consumable parts, like tires, shocks and brake linings. Replacement doesn't change the design intent. (Of course with cars you have the added safety factor, nobody could get killed watching a picture with jittery vertical hold.) As an aside, I've never understood why people who would ride a motorcycle feel the need to add seatbelts to an old car?!?!

But you of course have the right to do as you please, just as one could paint flying saucers into the background of another artist's painting. Just not something I'd do myself.

Good job on the workmanship, and I wish you sucess. However, I do hope you won't be flattered by imitation!

[Sandy G]

Well, Scott, you kinda kicked a hornet's nest-but Welcome to AK ! I appreciate the workmamship & ingenuity it must have taken to adapt a 1950's Predicta into something the designers could never have imagined in their wildest dreams. I'm a bit of a preservationist myself, & would be a bit teed off if this had been a CT-100 f'instance, but I think there's enuff Predictas out there we can spare a couple for something like this. Helluva lot better than sending the whole mess to the landfill-everybody loses then. Maybe if you really get going on this, you might be able to afford yr own moulds where you wouldn't "kill" any more old sets. I'm sure modern ABS plastics w/all the correct mounting jigs built in would be far superior than nearly 50 year old styrene...-Sandy G.

It was previously said that no one is re-popping '57 Chevys, well there in fact is (or at least was). IIRC they are/were up in Canada and made an exact replica of the convertible which you could place on either the original or late model chassis. There's also another outfit which makes the parts to convert a 4 door post sedan into a hardtop coupe.

There are literally enough reproduction parts out there to build a brand new car from the ground up.

Based on the above and the fact that there were far more '57 Chevys built and that far more survive percentagewise as well as in sheer numbers than the Predictas, the comparison between the two is faulty.

Anthony

[Eric H]

Hi Scott, welcome to AK.

I think we can all appreciate that it's your set and you're free to do as you want with it, this is however a TV collectors forum so you have to expect we would bitch about it.

True enough it's not the only Predicta in the world, not even particularly rare, there seems to be a Pedestal set on eBay every week. Still it's a much harder set to come by than say, the 17" Princess model, which to me at least would seem to be a better choice for a computer conversion.

We understand the work involved in restoring the case, take a look at this site, (bet yours wasn't quite this bad? )

http://www.nappepin.com/predicta/predicta.htm

I would hope at least you saved the parts or offered them for sale so someone else could fix their set.

Sandy mentioned the CT-100, in a way it might be better to use one of those since there are far more of those sets than there will ever be picture tubes to get them running again, barring some miracle rebuild process.

Eric

Thanks, everybody, for some thoughtful discussion on this...like I said, I *did* muse about whether to *do* this, and then some more about whether to let people know it had been done.

I'm no stranger to rare machinery or the preservationist mentality. I own two cars that are homologation specials (with less than 1100 in the US, before half of them were wrecked and 3/4 beaten to within inches of their lives), I ride a motorcycle of which only 200 exist (16 in the states), and I could go on. [By the way, there's no parallel between driving without seatbelts and riding a motorcycle...in the latter case, leathers and a helmet are *much* better protection than the interior of a '57 Chevy, whose steering column *itself* is a deadly weapon in a crash.] It's always tough, deciding whether something is going to become a garage queen or be treated as it was intended.

Does anybody actually have production numbers on the various models of Predicta? How about the numerous finishes? The options (e.g., UHF)? Does anybody know how many survive, in some form or another? My suspicion is, although there are probably only a few functional ones around, that there are probably quite a few tucked away in attics and such...everybody who ever would've purchased one of seen on knows they're special. I'm just curious, and I *would* like to avoid ever doing anything stupid to a really rare variety.

I didn't use a Telestar reproduction because I didn't have time to be on their waiting list. I'd definitely talk to them before doing many more of these (not that I'm really planning on it anyway), because it *would* make me feel better not to work over the genuine ones.

The reason it's a Pedestal is that it was never intended to really be a general purpose computer. What we made for the client was a very classy gaming console...kind of a cross between a Playstation and a beautiful piece of classic office furniture, like an original Eames chair of some sort. The fact that it's also a general-purpose computer inside this initial configuration is kind of gravy. A desktop box wouldn't have been appropriate for the project (and the Princess isn't very attractive, either).

Enough for now.

Scott

[Carmine]

no parallel between driving without seatbelts and riding a motorcycle...in the latter case, leathers and a helmet are *much* better protection than the interior of a '57 Chevy,

Since the relative virtues of "slam around the interior of an older model sedan" vs. "slide along the pavement in good leathers and a helmet" is a bit off topic, how about we agree to disagree on this one?

When you boil it down, both suck pretty hard.

slm

[Eric H]

Scott,
the Predicta seems to be one of the most plentiful vintage sets out there, at least if you go by what eBay has to offer every week.

They have been collectible for a very long time and therefore I would guess there are plenty of survivors, many of them still work or can be made to work.

I think the rarest are the Continental ( a Danish Modern variant of the pedestal) and the Penthouse which has a seperate CRT housing connected by a long flat cable.

I have a "Holiday" model myself, mostly because it seemed a TV collector just should have a Predicta. it's not particularly my favorite set though.

I have heard rumors that Philco dumped a lot of unsold stock into the ocean back around 1962
They had a lot of CRT problems and some have said they drove Philco into bankruptcy.

Eric