ANTIQUE Zenith color TV on eBay!

[kx250rider]

Now THIS is an ANTIQUE!!!!!!!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Zenith-Antique-2...QQcmdZViewItem

Being that this is so rare, desirable and antique, I am going to stop into the Beverly Hills Coin Gallery in the morning.... I found a VERY rare ANTIQUE U.S. Quarter: It's a 1990 D in VG+ condition! They'll pay me a FORTUNE for it!!!

Charles

[jpdylon]

at 99 cents thats a bargain for such a 20 year old antique. Even has the A/V inputs that didn't work right half the time.

[rca2000]

And it will make some nice sounds, too, as the compactor plate descends onto it, and begins it's burial process!!

(that is about ALL those sets were EVER good for!!)

[Geoff Bourquin]

If that's antique, then I'm downright pre-historic!

(I always hated those film keypads, but the fake veneer on the cabinet was kind of nice)

[Eric H]

Here's a "Vintage" RCA that can join it in the hopper! :-)
http://cgi.ebay.com/RCA-Vintage-1980...QQcmdZViewItem

[Bill Cahill]

Hi, Ho, Dinosauer. Ride, daddy, ride. Like, hips ville. You know. OO wow!!!
I get the first ride on the dinosaur today!!!

And, these are rare antiques??????

[Sandy G]

On the RCA: Oh, Prunella...<grin>

[Jeffhs]

The seller obviously doesn't know the difference between analog and digital, let alone what the word "antique" really means. I say this because the channel display readout on that set is obviously digital, despite the fact that the seller states it is analog. Has to be digital, because of the keypad. The set quite obviously has a digital tuner, possibly cable ready as well. The description is accurate as far as the controls for color, tint, audio level and tone, etc. are concerned, however, as they are all rotary potentiometers.

The film keypad is yet another of a list of ways Zenith was cutting corners on its TVs of '80s vintage. Another is the use of so-called "fake" or faux wood veneer on the cabinet. The latter is not new with Zenith, however, as they used the same technique to create a wood finish on their Depression-era radios. The dodge was called "photo finish" and involved gluing what amounted to photographs of real walnut and other fine woods onto cabinets made of cheap wood. I am amazed these radios (the ones I see on AK and ebay) still have most of that "veneer" after 70+ years; I'd think the glue (or the paper on which the wood was photographed) would have disintegrated by now.

On the RCA: I took a look at its ebay photos and saw the wallpaper someone had glued to the top of the cabinet. Wrecks the looks of the cabinet all to pieces, IMHO, as it does not match the rest of the finish at all. The set's cabinet looks to be in good shape otherwise. I can't help wondering whether the cabinet top may be so badly scratched, marred, etc. that the owner (or someone in his family, as the description notes) would cover it with wallpaper--yellow, yet! I'd have used a darker shade of wallpaper, myself; that or I would have had the entire cabinet top refinished.

[pilotprose]

Y'all forgot the best part of this monster. It had a remote control-OK, however, the IR pickup for this unit would react with the light coming off of a flourescent light and do all sorts of crazy stuff, change channels, volume up or down or just plain turn off. It was worse if the light was going bad. Yea, there was a fix from Zenith on this, but a piece of black tape over the window worked the best. Out of all the brands on the market that I repaired, I believe Zenith had some really unique problems when it came to remote control issues. My favorite was the old "tuned" remote. Push a button and it banged, literally, a metal resonate rod and it changed the channels and the volume, then on or off. Had one where a dog with a choker chain would run through the living room and drive the tv nuts, including the folks that owned it! Got the dog another collar. Then, there was the older gentleman who had a trach and when he wheezed, would change the channels. God bless the engineer who dreamed these up. Made a bunch on service calls figguring these things out. Whoops, now you know how old I am......arrrrrg.

[Geoff Bourquin]

About 20 years ago I had a call on a Magnavox TV with ultrasonic remote. Thing was always acting crazy in the ladys house, but was perfect in my shop. Finally found the cause was an ultrasonic pest repeller I found hidden behind a bookcase.

On the subject of flourescent lamps, I have one of the 10" circular ones in my shop that drives RCA TVs crazy for the first 5 or 10 minutes after I turn it on. After that, no problem. I moved it to a corner where it usually isn't around a TV.

[superdeez]

Well, "vintage" or not, these sets were made by American labour.

[kx250rider]

'Fraid that was Mexican labour... Wish it was American. The last 100% American Zenith was 1972, with a total transition to the Mexican assembly plants by the late 70s.

Charles

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by Kaye-Halbert TV

'Fraid that was Mexican labour... Wish it was American. The last 100% American Zenith was 1972, with a total transition to the Mexican assembly plants by the late 70s.

Sorry, but while you're right that there was a long transition period to Mexican (and other foreign) assembly plants, as well as for parts sourced overseas, Zenith still made/assembled TVs in the USA until (I think) March or so of 1992 when they closed their Springfield, MO plant. At that point, I think they were only making consoles and larger high-end table models in that factory; the smaller sets had all been long transitioned to Mexico (and elsewhere) over the years.

I've got a "made in USA" Zenith 27" Advanced System 3 in my living room right now as a matter of fact; it's a 1992 model labeled as being made in October 1991 in Springfield Missouri. Of course, the vast majority of the parts inside the set were imported, but it technically was made by American labor, I suppose you could say.

By the way, does anyone know exactly when Zenith closed the Springfield factory (or, more specifically, when they stopped producing TV sets in it)? I suppose the fact that it was located just off another now-extinct American fixture (US highway 66) should have seemed oddly foreboding...

[kx250rider]

Correct... I was referring to 100% USA-built sets by Zenith being 1972 & back. As you say, they were still thrown into the cabinet here until much later, probably due to the cost to ship whole sets. Same with Sony & Mitsubishi... Their larger sets were assembled here in CA from the late 70s & up.


Charles

[Tom_Ryan]

It wasn't until 1999 that the Sony Display Division (Trinitron CRT's and computer monitors) finally shut down manufacturing in San Diego and moved Mexico.