A new old RCA
 

There are a few small local towns in the area where I live. The largest town, Woodville, Texas, population about 2500 (I call it Woodpile), is our county seat. There is a locally owned furniture store that's been there for as long as I've been alive. I was in there 3 days ago shopping for a new stove and bed matress. After looking around, I was on my way out the door when something caught my eye.

In a corner was an RCA set in a modern contemporary cabinet (best way I can describle it) along side a "black box" TV. I'm guessing the console set was about 15 years old. I asked the lady behind the counter about the set. She said it had been there for years, never sold. I told her to find out what the owner wanted for it.

He called me later, and at first told me he wanted 400 bucks for it. I laughed, then apologized, and said there was no way i was going to pay 400 bucks for an old set that would likely have no warranty. I told him I'd get back to him on it when I came in for my new stove.

Now I understand he likely paid 400 bucks for it... it was likely selling for 600 when it was new. Still, he ain't getting that from me.

So, I want to know what you guys think. What would you consider to be a FAIR price for such an item. Again, it's an RCA 25" console (taller than it is wide) and likely about 15 years old. I will try to find out more as far as the age and chassis number.

maybe ... if you liked it

I once rented a minivan, made a ~700 mile round trip to chicago to pick up a nib/nos xl100 console from '84 ... with gas/rental etc I probably paid at least that much ...

but I really like the set I found ...

as long as it wasn't the dreaded ctc177 or the other sets with the on board tuner ...

If it's in the 15 year old range, it's probably a CTC177/87 and both use the on-board tuner. Even if I really liked the TV, I wouldn't give $400 for it and I doubt anyone else will, either. That's one TV that he'd be better off writing it off as a loss and letting it go. I seriously doubt it would bring more than $50. In fact, the guy at the local flea market tried to give me a similar set last Saturday. It has a broken RF connector; but, works when used with the A/V jacks. Several months ago, it started out at $25. Then, it dropped to $10. Then, it became "FREE" and I turned it down.

That's the one you were telling me about in my thread, isn't it?

I have one of those in the garage that needs a good home. Its a wood console on a swivel base. RCA Colortrack 2000, works perfect with remote.

I will give you 10 bucks to take it away so I dont have to dispose of it.

The honest reality is you would be doing him a favor taking it so he could use the space for something that would sell

Yep, that's the one.

RCA made a lot of those upright consoles with a shelf and glass door below the screen and they ranged in size between 25" and 36". They are still commonly found on the free market and the cabinets are often still flawless. In recent years, I've turned down many of them because I don't have the space and very few people want them. I recently took in two 25" Zenith consoles ('84 and '01 models) and the only reason I took them was because an older lady I know wanted a console. She ended up getting the '01 model and she gave me $65 for it; but, that high of price is the exception, not the rule. This was one of those situations where she insisted on giving me more money than I asked her for. Unless I find somebody who really wants the '84 Zenith, I'll be lucky to get anything for it.

I agree with what CTC17 said about you'd be doing him a favor by getting it out of the store so that he could put something that would actually sell in it's place.

Sad, but I think even if it were still wrapped in the original packaging it wouldn't be worth anywhere in the hundreds. My friend Tony had a showroom full of consoles (I think most, if not all, were used) and in the end he gave every one of them away. The TV shop here in town still has a NOS Zenith 13" color set on the shelf, faded $299 price tag still on the screen. I think he would let it go for almost any offer. The white plastic (as I recall) has gotten yellowish.

Probably the oldest furniture store we have around here is Outten Bros in Salisbury, MD. The one time I went in there (close to 10 years ago) there was an RCA table model tucked away on a back shelf-I think it was a round tube black/white set, maybe 16" or so. Every time I ride by there I think about going in and asking about it.

Thanks for yall's input. I will see what he says when I go back to buy the other items I initially went in there for. I'm certainly not going to give me what he first asked.

I forgot about this thread. Here's what happened. I went back to the guy's store to purchase a stove and mattress. After picking out the items I wanted, he says, "Let's talk about that TV. I can throw it in the deal for $300 bucks."

I told him no and explained it was too easy to find sets such as this one on Craigslist... many of them being giving away or close to it. He tried to push the fact that the set was in new condition... never been used. I pointed out that a 10-15 year old set that's never been turned on could have a lot of capacitors that won't appreciate being hit with electricity after being asleep for that long, and that I have no way of bringing this type of set up slowly on a Variac.

Will be funny to see if that set is still there the next time I go in to buy a new mattress... and see how much he tries to sell it for.

In the late 70's, there was one of those old appliance stores on the S/W side of Milwaukee. In fact they had one of the oldest Hotpoint neon signs, I seen, on the front of the building.
In the basement, they had a new, unsold RCA CT100. The daughter of the owner was selling everything, as the building was sold. The set was down there for several years and was rather beat, from things being set on top, or bumped into.
IIRC, some out of town collector bought it.

I've gotten some NOS items from a closed repair shop/dealer. These items had been sitting 30-40+ years and most of them needed a full restoration, just like if they had been in use for the past 40 years. The only thing they had going for them was that they were in good cosmetic condition and had the original paperwork.

That set will sit around until the owner either passes away or gets in too bad of health to run the store. Then, the store will either get sold or passed down to the younger family members and that TV will wind up in the dump. He'd be better off taking what he can get because no one is going to give him three figures for that TV.

Heck, back in '98 I went into a repair shop in Fargo to look at used TVs for sale. They had a stereo Zenith console set that was two years old with a shorted CRT. The owner said when he found a good CRT for it he would sell it to me for $70.00. I guess he never scavenged a picture tube for it because it was still there a year later when I was moving home and went in to offer him my Quasar WID for free (he declined.)

Did you ever buy the set?