A Trio of Motorola Quasar II's turn 42 today!

[drh4683]

Here's something that doesn't happen very often. Consider that 40 years have gone by and finding three of the exact same model TV's, in the same neighborhood, in three different houses, thus three different estate sales, all of which are low hour survivors. And if you think those are tough odds, lets throw in another unusual fact: ALL of them were born on the exact SAME day! So what are the odds? It happened on the northwest side of Chicago...

This interesting phenomenon happened over the last 4 years for three Motorola Quasar II consoles, models WL9158KP which use the TS-934 chassis. All three of these sets share the same exact Julian date code on the model tag which read "F3271". This translates to "Franklin Park, IL: September 28th, 1973". And today they turn 42 years old.

Here are the details:

Set#1 was found on 5-20-2011 (serial# 8159)

Set#2 was found on 9-5-2014 (serial# 8584)

Set#3 was found on 4-28-2015 (serial# 8016)


Attached are the photos of all three of the sets just as I found them in their original homes and also are photos of the corresponding model tags where you can see the first (5) figures of the serial number are the same. This is the Julian date code. Since the homes were all grouped somewhat close together (all within about a 1 mile radius), I've hypothesized that there must have been some kind of sale going on around October, 1973. The sets all having the same date codes tells me that they were probably from the same inventory or warehouse, so all probably bought from the same store. What store that is I don't know. Motorola TV's were popular sellers in Chicago at Polk Brothers department stores. (Polk Brothers departments stores have been defunct since 1992). So they may have had a sale going and everyone was buying up these Quasar II's.

And somehow, all three of of them have turned up from owners who kept them for the last 40+ years. An additional unusual fact is that all three must have been left unplugged when not in use because all of them have strong original CRT's, something very rare for an instant-on set. Perhaps whoever they bought them from gave strong advice to "unplug them when not in use" and this advice was followed by these particular customers? It seems too strange how all three somehow escaped the death of instant on.

I completed a total electronic restoration to #8584 last fall and its such a nice set to watch. You can rank the picture quality right up with with those Zenith Chromacolors!


Here's the trio all shown in one place; the first three photos are how they were found in their original homes:


DSC00764 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09008 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC02633 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09069 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09068 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC02647 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09013 by drh4683, on Flickr

IMG_73_motorola_0002 by drh4683, on Flickr

IMG_73_motorola_0001 by drh4683, on Flickr

Motorola_AR by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09035 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09046 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09630 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09039 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09038 by drh4683, on Flickr

[drh4683]

Additional photos:

DSC09041 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09054 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09056 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09058 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09059 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09594 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09065 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09061 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09064 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09513 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09545 by drh4683, on Flickr

DSC09632 by drh4683, on Flickr

[wkand]

Seriously COOOOOL!

[Jon A.]

I love the UHF preset buttons, not to mention the wide, low stance. I don't see that many sets like that which aren't combos.

[captainmoody]

A Vintage Trifecta of sets, as someone we know would say.. LOL!

[DavGoodlin]

Thanks for those up close pictures Doug.
What fun it is to look inside one of these again.

Was it the TS-938 that was fully solid state while a TS-934 had tubes for sweep circuits

[Olorin67]

local dealer must have had a sale, and the word got around.

[drh4683]

Originally Posted by captainmoody

A Vintage Trifecta of sets, as someone we know would say.. LOL!

Indeed! I couldn't quite bring myself to saying it though...

Dave, you are correct. The TS-938 was also the first TV chassis to ever use a switch mode power supply. Very advanced in it's day.

[Findm-Keepm]

Flat 8 and Dittle stick intact.....cool.

[centralradio]

I love these sets.The photos look great .Thanks for sharing.

I have a 19 inch set which was my parents first color set.Also my grandfathers 13 inch set here.Both are the same age from the early 1970's.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Olorin67

local dealer must have had a sale, and the word got around.

Dykro Inc., the Motorola distributor in Milwaukee, would send a letter to the dealers toward the end of the model year, with a lower price for the sets with the more ornate cabinet styles, as they didn't sell as well.
The dealer could sell the set for the same price as the sets with the plainer cabinets.

[drh4683]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Dykro Inc., the Motorola distributor in Milwaukee, would send a letter to the dealers toward the end of the model year, with a lower price for the sets with the more ornate cabinet styles, as they didn't sell as well.
The dealer could sell the set for the same price as the sets with the plainer cabinets.

One of the things that really hurt Motorola the most was the fact that console TV sales were in decline throughout the industry, a trend that started around 1970/71 and continued throughout the decade. Motorola typically enjoyed the profits on the large screen consoles like they did in the 60's as those had the greatest profit margins vs. the much more competitive portable sector. The console decline in the early 70's was one of the biggest reasons Motorola decided to abandon the consumer division as they saw the writing on the wall that it would be impossible to compete with Japanese dumping of the portable color sets which were just about to flood the market.

If there was indeed some kind of fire sale going on Motorola end of year console models, then perhaps these three sets were bought on impulse because they were "too good of a deal to pass up"? So as a result, they were bought as good "secondary" sets for rooms that were not always used? Anything is possible I suppose.

[drh4683]

--- deleted (duplicate #12 post)

[Electronic M]

Cool!

Those are close enough to my childhood set, that a part of me wants one of them...

If you ever find one the same as in this video (preferably in the lighter finish) I'd practically give my left nut for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DZjvWy9ZfA

[Arcanine]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Cool!

Those are close enough to my childhood set, that a part of me wants one of them...

If you ever find one the same as in this video (preferably in the lighter finish) I'd practically give my left nut for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DZjvWy9ZfA

I talk to Spats. He's really cool. I love his TV collection.