Chicagoland CTC-5 Wingate--act fast

[freakaftr8]

Congrats Mark! That's going to be a nice set!

[old_tv_nut]

Wow! I leave town for the weekend, and zap!
I could be bribed to leave town again if you think that would improve everyone else's luck

Glad it's found a good home.

[Steve D.]

Mark,

As a proud, long time owner of a CTC-5 Wingate, let me congratulate you. That's the top of the line CTC-5 model. Look forward to your report and the photos.

-Steve D.

[zenithfan1]

As I said I was there at 8 in the morning, I took a walk around and saw all the huge houses in the neighborhood. They reminded me of the ones in Lake Forest, where I'm always wandering around. Also BTW, Lake Forest is another city that uses Pioneer Press, they are located just north of the Delany Rd. intersection with US 41. After 8:45 there was some action at the house, I was talking with the person in charge of the sale, she told me the story of the house most of which has slipped my memory at this point, One thing that stands out is the landmark oak tree in the front yard, it is the Indian Trail marker that was a sapling in 1740 when the Indians bent it over and used it as a trail marker, this tree is one of America's first road signs. Then, a lady showed up who is the great grand-daughter of the original owner. She brought pictures of her and the family from the 50's when she was a kid. some of which were in front of that tree, very cool and interesting. It would have been worth going even without the tv, I have some pictures on my phone of the outside of the house, the battery died before I got inside..boooo! I know, it really sucks, of all times for the battery to die! I'll try to get the ones I took on here but am having problems with the new phone. The inside of the house was wood everywhere, the whole house had the "tube smell" like an old tv when its running which was very comforting for me, I'm sure others were saying it stunk in there. There was a grand staircase as soon as you walked in, from there you could turn right or left and go the the dining room or living room. upstairs was a library full of books, a fireplace and the Wingate, that was my first stop as I ran downstairs with the tag and promptly paid for the set, then I went to the attic, it has a concrete floor and a safe built in. This entire house was built like a bunker, you could most likely survive a bombing in there! The roof is supported by I- beams, they did not fool around when they built this one, I'd date the house somewhere around 1900-20. Anyways, here is the condition of the set, the cabinet is perfect, the weird stripe on top in the picture is a darker spot in the grain, the set most likely had never left the room. When I pulled it away from the wall the house antenna was still hooked to it! the wire was from the 50's, in fact, everything in the house was no newer than the 60's for the most part. The lady was in her 80's and when she died, the daughter lived there and only used two rooms, all else was untouched. It was a feat of engineering to get the set down those stairs by my self, I took the back off and made sure I could tip it on it's side with out hurting anything, the HV can lid was loose so I removed it and put the back on, put it on the refrigerator dolly and proceeded down the stairs. It was like someone shot a warning shot in the air, everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the 135lb guy move the one ton tv down the stairs, I think they were quite surprized that I made it all the way to the truck! Someone outside was nice enough to help me load it, thank God! I was also speaking with the Police officer that was there, we were sort of friends by that point so he gave me special permission to park right in front of the house. So, here are the specs of the set, it is dated May 17 1956, it is a model 21-CD-7999 with the CTC-5 AA chassis. The set looks good but has had some hack repairs that I will have to correct. It obviously needs all new caps, there is a hundred paper/wax ones in there. AS for the CRT, here is an excerpt from the email between Bob Galanter and myself: I put the CR70 on it and was alarmed right away. I noticed immediately that there was an abnormal load on the filaments, the voltage selector was of course in the 6 volt position. Then I turned up the variable control to get 6.3, this didn't happen, all I could get is a little less than 5v with the knob up all the way and there was still no light from the filaments. I waited awhile and cupped my hands around the tube and could see FAINT light. I then turned it up to 8 volts for a while, finally the filaments were lighting enough to see but it still had the resistance as the voltage was somewhere around 7. After everything, there were no emissions at all and then, poof! no more light from the filaments at all and the load lighted off of the tester and that was the end of it. Bob replied and said the tube is more than likely full of air. The one in his Wingate was the same. I am now in search of either a good 21AXP22 or a good candidate for a rebuild.




Some things that were floating around in the cabinet, one of which is a cigarette butt, the screen goes under the cabinet, I will straighten it and staple it back on.


Everything looks great in the HV can.




I've never seen the writing printed upside down on a tube before.


Picture tube looks to have been replaced once already.

[bgadow]

A beautiful set! I need to commit to memory this cabinet-it would be very easy to spot one of these somewhere with the doors closed and never realize what it was.

Certainly saddened about the crt. I had a 21FJP22 do the same thing-I had never seen that before; depressing to watch those filaments burn out.

A -5 is maybe the oldest color set many of us will be fortunate enough to own. I couldn't part with my Whitby. You were very smart to grab this. Remember that if nothing else you can update it to an all-glass tube with some work.

[Steve D.]

Mark,

Your Wingate, like mine, has the solid maple finish. The only other finish available for that model was the French Walnut. Retailed for $850.00 1956 dollars. I was a bit curious as to how you were going to move that heavy duty set. Especially if you were by yourself. When I picked up my Wingate many years ago, I brought a friend along and had no dolly. We removed the chassis/tuner and carried them and the cabinet w/pix tube separately. Some what easier on the old back. My set has a 21FB replacement. I believe RCA offered an adapter kit for swapping the 21AX for a later tube since the boot is not needed in the later glass tubes. I think the darker wood area on the one side panel may be from joining two pieces of maple together in the original construction. This is a wonderful find and a great addition to your collection. Kudos to Jeff for posting the estate sale info on AK.

-Steve D.

[MAXZ28]

That is a beautiful set. I hope you find what you need to give it a proper restoration. It's a shame people dismiss the value of these works of art, but I'm glad for folks like yourself who appreciate vintage gear and enjoy breathing life into them!

Congrats!

[Sandy G]

Wow...Just "Wow..."

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by Steve D.

Kudos to Jeff for posting the estate sale info on AK.

-Steve D.

Yes, I forgot to mention it, thank you very much Jeff for the post about what is probably the best estate sale I've been to. I also forgot to mention that everything was half price on Sun. I picked it up for $22.50!!

[Indian Head]

What a great find! And the price is more than right!

Congratulations, and thanks for the story!

[jln1966]

That is a beautiful set. Too bad about the picture tube. There are a lot of paper caps in that. Replacing those should keep you busy for a few days.
John

[ohohyodafarted]

Great Photos Mark! Great find and practically for FREE! Be patient, sooner or later you will find a 21axp for it. Meantime you have lots of time to recap the set.

Nice finish on it too! My Wingate has UHF and is in the Walnut finish. The clear coat is a bit time worn so I think I will freshen it up a bit with some new clearcoat before I do the resotoration.

Bob

[jmdocs]

I forgot that Sunday was half-price day! You probably spent more on the gas driving down. I can't believe you got that thing down the stairs yourself--but at least it was an incredibly wide staircase with plenty of room to maneuver.

Steve D.--I'm pretty sure it was seeing the pictures on your website that made me stop and give the set a second look--both doors were closed when I walked by and thought, that looks familiar. I had to move stuff out of the way to get them open. It wasn't until I closed the pencil box and saw the color logo that I was sure of what it was.

Too bad about the tube but again, a happy outcome. As I said, I'm not one for the colonial cabinets myself--a modern cabinet and it would be in my living room and I'd be asking if anyone wanted to take an Olympic combo off my hands, free to a good home.

[old_tv_nut]

Sorry to hear about the picture tube - I know how that feels! If you check out Ed Reitan's site, you'll see this is billed as French Provincial.

[radio63]

What a great looking set! And just like I enjoy finding them...original and unmolested. Congratulations on this fantastic find.

Gilbert