Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyNYC
Do you think it was a color set? Also, how new would this set have been in 1962? How much would it have run?
Also, what is a UHF tuner, and what was a UHF ready badge? What did it do?
My grandparents' two earlier TVs. First pic circa '54, second late 50s:
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Yeah, it was a color set, no doubt. In 1962 that set would have been brand new or not made yet (I don't have the exact date the CTC-12 chassis rolled out). The secondary controls of the style seen in the video are only seen on the CTC-12, CTC-15 and some CTC-16 sets. The 15 came out about 1964 so if your dates are right it had to be an RCA CTC-12 or a clone made for another brand*... Given they opted for a wood cabinet and lighted tuner instead of a bare-bones loss leader metal cabinet set it probably cost a good bit (maybe north of $600). I was not alive then so my understanding of new price of these is vague. Search around online for ads/brochures for color sets in comparable cabinets from around that time to get a better idea.
The two earlier sets pictured are Admiral brand (both B&W). The top one I've seen a few admirals with that control panel, the bottom one the 'pencil box' door seems to have the right number of letters (and enough look to be the right letters) to spell Admiral...Zeniths had a similar layout back then, but so did several other brands.
*Given the earlier two sets are both Admiral I think it is likely the color set is Admiral too. Prior to 1963 IIRC Admiral was buying assembled color chassis from RCA to fit in their cabinets (as were most makers offering color before then and a good number after). In 1963 RCA stopped making chassis for other makers but instead opted to license their chassis designs and force the other makers to build it themselves...Admiral and some other makes decided around that time that if they had to build color chassis they might as well engineer their own unique chassis too, and so stopped using any RCA designs after that.