1974 QuasiMoto B&W Portable

Well I just got an interesting set on ebay. I remember my grandfather having these 12 inch hybrid portables in his shop, but this is a little more unique. It is obviously from right after Motorola sold out to Matsushita. The front of the set says Motorola, and molded in the plastic in the back it says made by Motorola in Taiwan. However, it has the original box and hang tag that says Quasar, and there's stickers on the back and in the instructions that say it's made for Quasar Electronics.

This set doesn't seem to know if it's a Quasar or a Motorola, so I've christened it the QuasiMoto!

I don't think this one saw much use. It came with the original foam packing, antennas, and instructions. There are a couple of marks in the back that are melted into the plastic from something that got hot. Otherwise, its pretty much as it came from the factory and still works.

[zeno]

Its a real Motorola, probably the last B&W they made.
Nice find !

73 Zeno

[TVTim]

I like it. Really cool.

[radiotvnut]

Nice set!

[David Roper]

Cool little set. I always thought the mandate that did away with continuous UHF tuners was wrong and stupid, but it's a cool contrast to see click-stop UHF in a tube set.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by zeno

Its a real Motorola, probably the last B&W they made.
Nice find !

73 Zeno

They made another 12" set at the same time. It was a redesigned model of the "Cadet" series. That was the one with the handle on the side. Many of them had the monopole antenna broken out of the top of the handle. It was more of a hybrid, as it only had four tubes, all odd-balls.
I have two of the model shown, one Taiwan and one USA built.
Probably, the last of the Quincy, Il. built sets.

[old_tv_nut]

I think this would be just PRE-Matsushita, because of the Motorola branding. IIRC Matsushita used only Quasar, not Motorola as a brand. Anyone else remember for sure? Of course, Matsushita would have sold off any remaining Motorola-branded inventory.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

I think this would be just PRE-Matsushita, because of the Motorola branding. IIRC Matsushita used only Quasar, not Motorola as a brand. Anyone else remember for sure? Of course, Matsushita would have sold off any remaining Motorola-branded inventory.

I repaired a lot of Motorola and sold them, as well.
One of the 19" portables, I worked on, was badged, " Quasar by Motorola".
There was a sticker on the back, indicating that it was built by Matsushita Electric USA, with the Franklin Park address. The chassis was pure Motorola.

I checked and the sale to Matsushita was official on May 28, 1974. But, Motorola didn't sell the Taiwan plant. A press release said they would continue to make b&w TV's for Quasar, but would phase them out for other products by the end of the year.

I opened up this set again. The newest date code on a tube was 30th week of '74, which was late July. There's a sticker inside the cabinet that looks like a date code of 37-74, which would have been mid Sep.

The stickers on the owners manual and warranty card says, "This unit is manufactured for Quasar Electronics Corporation Franklin Park, Illinois; successor to the television business of Motorola Inc."

In the deal Motorola kept the Quincy plant until 1976 so they could move car radio production to TX. I'm not sure when the last tv was made at Quincy, but this is at least one of the very last sets made in Taiwan.

Also, I was thinking that Motorola never used the Quasar name on any b&w sets, just for color. Weren't the later b&w Quasar sets just re-badged Panasonics?

[jstout66]

I remember a really odd set from back in the day... A Motorola/Quasar branded B&W console! It even had an "Insta-Vue" button for pre-set automatic.
Wish I had it now. Have never even seen one mentioned before.