Estate Sale Finds In 2011!

[drh4683]

The estate sales thread continues...with a very long departure from VK, Im glad to be back. Yesterdays sale was at 6533 Kensington Ct, in Downers Grove, IL. My goal was to buy a work bench at yesterdays sale, but that was already sold. However, I stumbled across a rather interesting set that I would have never expected to find, especially in a somewhat newer subdivision. Its a 1973 Magnavox. Its the real deal when they were still made in Ft. Wayne, IN. Its a mostly all tube set, still using a 6BK4 regulator as well. It was sitting in the unfinished (dry) basement covered in light dust probably since the late 80's when this sub was built. No price tag on it, probably expected it to be junked after the sale. At a first glance I figured it was a solid state set but I was wrong. Its actually full of tubes. This one is about as low hour as anyone could hope for. It basically never got used, I was first to take the back off too. Its like new inside and this set works perfect still with a great sharp picture. They ended up wanting $20 for it. I drove home to get my appliance cart, but by the time I got back, someone offered to help me move it. The CRT is a magnavox with the 274 EIA code, so its really an RCA. Its a nice sounding set too, must be right at the tail end of Magnavox tube type chassis. A very unique set, but pretty decent quality too, even the cabinet. Just needs a wipe down with a damp cloth on top to get rid of the dryed water mark.

[Eric H]

Welcome back Doug! You've been missed around here.

Nice set!

[50scraze]

That's a nice looking set, very clean too.

[GeorgeJetson]

"drh4683",
I love your signature,"I tolerate the present by living in the past"
It's good to know I'm not the only one who feels that way!

Incidentally,I really enjoyed your videos on the Seeburg 1000 background music system and your 6cyl "Vista roof" Impala,in addition to your tvs of course!
I collect those background records too.

Congratulations on your find....nice Dodge in the background too!

[radiotvnut]

Welcome back, Doug!

That is a nice set that looks to have been used very little!

According to a Magnavox repairman who I used to know, the T974 was the last hybrid large screen color chassis. He added that the T979 was the first SS large screen color chassis. I actually have a T979 solid state Magnavox from around the same time period as your set.

[zenithfan1]

Hey! Glad to see you back around! That's a nice looking Maggie you stumbled across.

[sampson159]

been awhile!glad to see you posting again.havent seen a magnavox like that since the 80s.good looking set.

[compu_85]

It's got to be nice to pick up a set and realize you're the first one to have the back off!

-J

[Spinning Head]

Nice start to the 2011 estate sale thread. Glad to see you're back.
Is the UHF tuner continuous or does it have stops for each channel?

[captainmoody]

Great find! Glad to see you posting again Doug!

[drh4683]

Thanks all. Glad to be back on-line. The UHF tuner system is what I call the "odometer style" as it has two individual rotary drums that indicate each channel. I've never run across this chassis before, so needless to say its a nice piece to add to the collection. Lots of nichicons in there too...

[freakaftr8]

Hey Doug! Good to see you again! Nice Maggie too. Nichions huh, sounds solid as a rock.

[drh4683]

An Oak Forest estate sale at 15224 Arroyo Ave. Found two Zenith consoles, first one was down in the basement which was a 1973 model with the flat solid state chassis. As ususal someone is standing right in front of it and the guy didn't want to move as he was just talking to someone else at the sale. Its a model D4744W, 25DC56 horizontal solid state. The rocker switch failed like so many of them do and the previous owner rigged in a new push button switch. He drilled a small hole, about 3/16" through the cabinet to make it work. I suppose thats better than going through the control panel. It can be corrected to look decent and install a new switch which I have a few of. The sets in nice shape, its just coated in dust. The asking price was a little insane, they wanted $75.00 for it. I didn't say anything yet, so I looked around the rest of the house before I asked about getting the price down for a basically "useless to the modern world" TV. The house was jammed with stuff. Upstairs in the master bedroom was a rather unexpected find. A 1974 Zenith Avanti with space command. Its another flat chassis solid state, the 25EC58. A bonus with this one, the manuals and papers were in a bag ontop of the TV. Then I saw the price tag on this one. WTF almost came right out of my mouth. No way was I about to pay that insane asking price or anything near it. I knew if I didn't take the set, it would be dumpster material though. That being said, I felt it was my responsibility to get the set out of its current misery though, it was one of those houses with millions of glass figurines and dolls all over the place, the walls were covered in decorative dinner plates as well. These obviously are not my favorite estate sales to say the least... Not sure how the husband was able to deal with all of that, but then found out he died back in '83 so this must have been his wifes way of occuping her time for the next 28 years.
On to the sales desk, the ladies running the sale instantly recognized me as "TV guy". "Hey your the TV guy, did you see the TV's". I was polite but had to inform them that those prices were priced way out of my league. The one lady goes "really, that pedistal one must be rare". I had to inform them that nobody in the world would pay $325, just being honest as I've been doing the TV thing for so many years I've seen what they go for. So the lady gives me a sheet and asks me to write my bid down. I also told them $75 for the one downstairs is overly optimistic as well. So she said to write two bids down. So I wrote down $40 for the avanti "bedroom TV", and $25 for the "basement TV" as that was the fair real world asking prices for such TV's. The lady looked at my bids as I told her Im not trying to insult you but those are honest prices for what those sets should be going for at an estate sale. The other ladies were like "Your probably right, just take them for $65". I couldn't believe that, I figured they'd get all upset and argue with me. Im usually not the type to try to get prices down but this was a case of extreme greed and or overly optimistic sellers. Besides, I usually never find an old console priced at over $50, even if its mint and usually at the $50 and down, I'll just pay it and move on. I think they realized they were in a house with tons of crap and it had to go. The one lady by the door said said nobody could help me and that her son had a bad back. 10 seconds later I see him moving this huge iron statue thing by himself to someones car outside...
Once the guy came in I asked and he gave me his bad back line but then he offered to help. So I told him not to get involved if his back is bad but thanks for offering. I didn't want him to mess up his back even though that statue must have weight as much if not more than the TV... So some other guy offers to help me out. I get the basement set out to the truck, he leaves and goes back in the house to get ready for the avanti upstairs. Its starting to snow heavy out so I had to cover the set up and I couldn't get in the house right away. Sure enough I see the avani coming out the front door with the "bad back" guy helping move the set with the other guy at the sale. This woman helping run the sale starts telling me in this rude tone "you should have stepped in and moved it without using my son HE HAS A BAD BACK" like Im supposed to feel guilty and make him stop. I had to tell her Im not the one that forced him to move the set. I told him not to help if his back was bad and he obviously must have have insisted in helping with this other guy while i was still outside. Nothing I could do to stop it. Go yell at your son, not me. Long story short, I gave both guys five bucks and it made their day. The lady running the sale that I made the deal with was perfectly happy with my offers though, so there was no harm done there. It was that other woman who was being a jerk about me "taking advantage of her son with his bad back". Whatever. Before I left the one lady let me look through a box of manuals and sure enough, I find a bag with the manuals for the avanti with the remote control in it. The manuals on top of the avanti at the sale were actually for the set in the basement. So that was a nice plus. Both sets were bought new at Certified Television, they were a huge dealer back in the 60's-early 70's in the Chicago area. Both have the tags on the back when they were installed as new sets. The avanti was set up on 9-12-74 and the other set was 9-15-72. So you ask, just bring an appliance cart and move it yourself to avoid the people? No way would that have worked in this house, the way the stairs were and the people and the clutter it would have been impossible.

[DaveWM]

Nice saves Doug

looking forward to some screen shots.

[Rental Limo]

I used to have a 1972 Zenith console exactly like that when i was a kid during the late 1980's which i got from my brother for free. The leg mounts were poorly made if i can recall.