Zenith Spirit of 76 model?

[gonzothegreat]

I saw one of these when I was in Joliet,IL at a thrift shop on fifty-two up the street from the Inwood Rec Center. I tried to buy it but they couldn't sell it since it hadn't been processed through donations yet. It would probably be priced at $10 if anybody wants it. I won't get down there again anytime soon so happy hunting.

I found one of these little tv's for free at a garage sale. It works except for possible need of an antenae. Any idea of it's worth? The original decals are still on it. I don't know much about these type of things.

I found one of these little tv's for free at a garage sale. It works except for possible need of an antenae. Any idea of it's worth? The original decals are still on it. I don't know much about this kind of thing. [email protected]

[Jeffhs]

Originally posted by shari
I found one of these little tv's for free at a garage sale. It works except for possible need of an antenae. Any idea of it's worth? The original decals are still on it. I don't know much about this kind of thing. [email protected]

These were small (9 or 12-inch) b&w portable TVs made by Zenith for the 1976 model year, in commemoration of the American Bicentennial. I don't know how many of these sets were made, but I think this must have been a limited edition, as I haven't seen many of them since they were new. Not sure whether they were tube or solid state, though they did have the detented UHF tuner (all sets made after 1975 had to have this feature by law). I think these small sets were cute and worked very well, even in moderate to fair signal areas. I had a 1978 Zenith 12" SS portable in the black case that worked very well on its own monopole antenna, and I lived in a semi-fringe area at the time. I moved about 15 miles east of there nearly five years ago, to a definite fringe area for Cleveland TV; the small portable wouldn't work worth a plugged nickel here on its own antenna, and besides I had no room for it in the apartment I moved to and live in today (I have two color sets already, and there isn't an inch of wasted space in my apartment, so the small portable had to go). Hated to let it go, since it was such a reliable set (lasted 22 years and was still working when I got rid of it), but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Replacing the antenna on your set shouldn't be too much of a problem. If you look around a little, you should be able to find a replacement for the VHF monopole; there used to be tons of those universal replacement rods that screwed into the original mounting on the set, so all one had to do was unscrew the broken antenna and screw in the new one, and the set was good as new, or, in the case of these small Zeniths with the swivel that attached to the case by screws, all that was needed was to obtain a new antenna from Zenith, unscrew the old one, screw on the new, and the job was done. (Those were the days).

As for the UHF antenna, a standard loop or clip-on bowtie antenna should work well in good signal areas (I had a bowtie UHF antenna on my little set for years at my former home, and it worked as well as could be expected on the three [at that time] UHF stations from Cleveland).

I honestly don't know how much the "Spirit of '76" model would be worth today. Since it isn't an antique yet (it was made only 28 years ago), it wouldn't be accepted, obviously, in an antique shop, but I would guess it should fetch a few bucks or so at a flea market.

I'd say you got an excellent deal if you got your set free; most people outside the TV/radio repair or collector field don't know the real value of some of these older sets, so they either practically give them away, or else price them ridiculously high or very low. I have read here of some small tube-powered TVs, particularly small, cute 9-12" portables made by offshore manufacturers no one in this country ever heard of, going for $5 or less at garage/yard sales and flea markets, and some, which the owner wants to get rid of in the worst way, going for a song. Your set seems to fall into the last category, but never mind; if it works and you like it, that's all that matters. Replace the antenna on yours and it should work fine.