MuntzTV Roundie ad from 1969...

[JohnAdams]

I worked in the TV business in the 60's. A few years ago I ran across some old brochures and price lists from the mid to late 60's and one of those was for Muntz TV's. The dealer cost on his sets was much less than we were paying for the Zeniths we sold. My first introduction to Muntz products was selling his 4 track automotive cartridge tape players. Wasn't too long till Lear introduced the 8-track and killed his business. For some reason, I thought his later color tv's may have been built by Wells-Gardner.

[Don Lindsly]

Based on the ’64 annual report, Muntz was in business at 1020 Noel Ave, Wheeling, IL. 1964 reports $11.7 million in sales with a net income of $482K, (4.1%). 1959 is the poorest year shown with $6.7 million in sales, but $420K net (6.2%). The best year shown is ’62 with $11.3 million sales and $1.1 net (9.2%) Revenue grew gradually from ‘’59 to ’62 and flat from ’62 to ’64. There is no mention of bankruptcy, although, if true, was probably well in the past by 1964. Muntz TV shows no long term debt after 1961.

I recall Earl Muntz was maneuvered out of the company around 1958 by trading out of his stock. He bought control of Sonora and took his Chief Engineer with him. A short lived portable TV was sold under the Earl W Muntz brand. The design was early Muntz. His name is not mentioned in the ’64 report, either as an officer or director.

Muntz Stereo was a deal with Bill Lear and Earl Muntz and had nothing to do with Muntz TV of Illinois. Muntz saw selling the recorded tapes as the route to retailer’s success.

The ’64 report shows the product line up with eight black and white TVs including two portables, and seven color TVs. The color sets are obviously RCA chassis with round 21” CRTs, Muntz control cluster, and Standard tuner. Sams index lists Muntz color models as late as the 1972 model year, a 22” rectangular screen console. A B&W portable is listed for ’71, but it is clearly a Japanese import. I don’t see a totally Muntz-built TV after 1966, a B&W console using GE Compactrons and printed circuits. By the 60s, B&W portables were in demand. Muntz could not attain the volumes to reduce manufacturing costs significantly below consoles so it had to focus on higher priced TVs to support its dwindling retail network.

By the late 60s, Muntz had become little more than a private brand distributor supplying a few retailers in major cities. When RCA stopped supplying color chassis, Muntz elected to discontinue operations rather than make the substantial investment necessary to continue. The few surviving distributors pursued other options.

[drh4683]

Those are chicago addresses in the ad. I'll call the number and see if I can get one of those in my home tonight.

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi Sandy G,

With that really stripped Muntz chassis, in East TN reception would be limited to 10' from the transmitter. (5' if the station is UHF). In EE circles, Muntzing is reducing a circuit to bare essentials to function.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by KentTeffeteller

With that really stripped Muntz chassis ... reception would be limited to 10' from the transmitter. (5' if the station is UHF).

From that I would think Muntz TVs were designed for use in very strong signal areas (urban to very near-suburban areas). However, I had neighbors in my hometown (a suburb of Cleveland) who had a 1950s-vintage Muntz console b&w TV. That neighborhood was 33 miles southwest of Cleveland's television transmitters. As far as I know, the set worked very well for them until they got a new set some time in the sixties or seventies; but then again, they did have a rather large conical antenna on the chimney of their house (the type with two separate antennas for high and low-band VHF), as most folks in the neighborhood had at that time. If the front end/IF circuitry of Muntz TVs was as poorly/cheaply designed as you mentioned, that set would make a fair to passable picture at best (even with a huge antenna as my neighbors had) in my old neighborhood and wouldn't work worth a darn where I live now (35 miles east of Cleveland and perhaps 40+ miles southwest of the TV stations), unless it were connected to cable, which wasn't available in my old neighborhood (or anywhere in the Cleveland/northeastern Ohio area, for that matter) in the 1950s through the early eighties; in fact, our area didn't get cable until 1982.

As to the advertising put out for Muntz TVs, I think it was worded as it was just to get people to purchase the sets; the problem was that they wouldn't find out, until they got the set home and hooked it up, just how overblown that advertising was. Muntz, after all, could not very well have said in their ads that their televisions were built cheaply and wouldn't work well (or at all) any appreciable distance from the TV transmitters; that sort of advertising would have killed sales of the sets in a hurry, not to mention putting the company out of business inside a year.

[Brian]

One thing to remember was the population distributions during those days. Muntz was willing to sell to the population centers and forego that market segment not a population center and allow the other companies to spend money on ads and dealer networks with the associated overhead. His marketing was actually very good and targeted to the population core with rising disposable incomes. He could be very successful just catching 10% of the NYC, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston and other large city market of the time, a market that had many lower income persons. It was a time when you could buy a used car for less than the price of a new tele from the big boys.

[bgadow]

Here are some Muntz photos from the Sams files. First is from 830-3 dated 8-66. This set uses a 23EGP22 crt and an obvious RCA clone chassis. There is one earlier listing, in the 700's, but I don't have it. The second picture is from 1008-1, 2-69. I remember someone on here posting a picture of a very similiar Muntz but I don't recall if it belonged to them or if it was for sale somewhere. Again, an RCA clone chassis (looks to be mildly updated) but now with a 25XP22 crt. Lastly is the set listed in the index as being in set 1261-3. This is an odd duck. In the Sams it is a "TMA"-this is what Steve D. mentioned. I don't recognize the chassis so I posted a picture-maybe somebody remembers it from something else? It is a modular hybrid chassis, mostly tube. Looks pretty cheap to me. The photos in Sams are clear enough that you can read little stickers on each module-"Mexico". One of the boards has a "TMA" trademark on it. Available with 18v or 25v picture tubes.

[drh4683]

Thats an interesting chassis. HOT and damper on a PC board? Cheapo! Actually, I think the chassis shares very similar characteristics to an admiral. Its not quite an admiral though, with the exposed HV transformer and trippler. It really does look like a one of a kind design, by who, I have no idea.

[Don Lindsly]

It looks like Electrohome or Wells-Gardner to me.

[kx250rider]

Definitely a Canadian chassis. Looks like a Phillips "Modular IV" to me.

Charles

[JohnAdams]

TMA = Muntz TV, Howard Radio, Television Manufacturers of America, TMA Co.
1948-1972 appears all related per ETF's Post War page; http://www.earlytelevision.org/postw...facturers.html .

[Brian]

Wonder how they complied the list. The have Philmore on it and the company neither imported nor manufacturered televisions. We were a dealer form 1953 through the mid '80s and there were none ever listed in their catalog. As close as the company got was for about a year the company listed a color wheel for b&w sets and later a magnifier screen to increase the screen viwing area.

[Steve D.]

Originally Posted by Brian

Wonder how they complied the list. The have Philmore on it and the company neither imported nor manufacturered televisions. We were a dealer form 1953 through the mid '80s and there were none ever listed in their catalog. As close as the company got was for about a year the company listed a color wheel for b&w sets and later a magnifier screen to increase the screen viwing area.

Perhaps not in Canada. But this page from Tom Genova's TV History site would suggest that Philmore produced and sold sets in the U.S. for a period of time.

1950-1959 Philmore (USA)
http://www.tvhistory.tv/1950-59-PHILMORE.htm

-Steve D.

[veg-o-matic]

Originally Posted by Hawkwind

Model 1580

Now why do I get the feeling it was a black and white set with one of those green/peach/blue plastic sheets over the front?

veg

[Brian]

The advert predatees 1953 when we became dealers. I am an American and the store was in NH so not a Canadian dealership. I suspect by '53 they had alreadt withdrawn from the market or we'd have had them in-house as we were the first tele dealers in the city at the time having Zenith and Motorola and later Andrea. During that period tele sales outstripped supply from the 2 companies and if available from Philmore for which were held a franchise we'd have stocked them.