GE 803 Restoration
 

Last fall I bought that GE 803 10" with AM FM radio off of craigslist that someone had painted white. Some of you may be familiar because it was posted here on VK when it was up for sale. The seller was asking too much for it, and because it was pricey and painted white there were no takers. So I negotiated and got if for a lot less than the seller wanted and hauled it home. It was located about 30 miles south of Rockford Illinois.

The restoration write up is on my web site. You can follow this link if you are interested. http://antiquetvguy.com/WebPages/The...ectric803.html

This photo is the set as it was received.

Very nice!

Nice job, Bob! I never would have guessed the wood was still in such great shape under that paint. I thought the paint may have been hiding something ugly. Maybe even uglier than that paint job itself.

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Great work! That set looks so much better with the correct finish.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
https://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Nice work! I am quite surprised that the original decals were still ok under the ugly white paint.

jr

I think if the set hadn't been painted white, the original finish might have been rather nice. The decals were under a thick coat of old varnish/lacquer, and by carefully removing the old paint first, and then carefully dissolving the old finish a little at a time, I worked myself down to just a thin layer of varnish over the decal area and completely removed the finish in the surrounding areas. That left the original decals with just a thin layer of old varnish over the decals and down to bare wood elsewhere. After staining the surrounding areas to match the background color under the decals, and then 3 coats of new lacquer, the decals blended in to the surrounding area fairly well. It's not perfect, but at least the decals were saved.

Great job Bob, sure beats that ugly white IMO.

I really enjoyed your restoration page. Very nice work. Time has proved that to be a pretty rare TV. Probably as rare as some pre-war sets. I've been into vintage TV for decades and never even saw one in person. That cabinet design with the speaker above make it one of the most unique early post-war models. Enjoy.

That turned out very nice. :thmbsp: Cabinet is definitely a unique design from that period.

Nice restoration!
 

Great job ohoy!
I have a RCA 621ts if you want to swap for this set. Needs refinish and has all knobs. Crt appears good.

Wow! That thing makes and impression.

Very nice indeed! When was this set produced?

You did a great job. Very nice

1948 according to the information I have.