1950s or '60s vintage Zenith TVs, Need some info

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Unfortunately the guy already turned on the Bugeye set already and it showed a picture with a partially collapsed Vertical and a partially collapsed Horizontal (it looked like a pentagon on the screen).

As for the price I tried to talk him down and $120 was as low as he would go for both of them unfortunately, and sadly enough in my area people take these old TV sets and make fish tanks out of them, and I was hoping to save them from that fate.

They usually make fish tanks or pet beds out of consoles.
I don't think anyone is going to break down their door to buy them for that kind of money.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

They usually make fish tanks or pet beds out of consoles.
I don't think anyone is going to break down their door to buy them for that kind of money.

You remember my Meck Philharmonic? That TV was about to get made into a fish tank had I not came along and bought it, that's what the lady I bought it from told me, so yes, they do make fish tanks out of tabletop units as well...

[vortalexfan]

I think I'm just going to get the Bugeye TV for right now, and see if I can make a deal with him to let me buy the other Zenith TV when I get paid this coming Friday. The Bugeye TV is definitely older and more interesting than the other TV, plus the "Bugeye" TV will go well with my Zenith "Bugeye" Clock Radio.

[vortalexfan]

Well a little update, unfortunately the guy wouldn't budge from his $120 price for the TVs and he wouldn't even settle for me buying the Bugeye first and then the other one on Friday when I get paid because in his words "they are heavy and he wanted to sell them both at the same time", also he said that if I wouldn't of taken the two TVs at the $120 price he was going to sell them to a lady that was going to make them into fish tanks (so no Dave I wasn't exaggerating when I said that they were going to be made into Fish Tanks.)

So I will be getting them both on Monday and I will be paying $120 for them, at least it will save them from being made into Fish Tanks.

[Phil Nelson]

Those bugeye sets can perform well when restored. Here's an article about my T1816R:

https://antiqueradio.org/zen28.htm

Regards,

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

[damen]

The larger set is a 23 (22) inch screen set with non remote power tuning.

[old_coot88]

A trapezoidal or vertically-tapered raster is almost always from a bad yoke.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Phil Nelson

Those bugeye sets can perform well when restored. Here's an article about my T1816R:

https://antiqueradio.org/zen28.htm

Regards,

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

Hi Phil, how common are the "All Channel" versions of these Bugeye Zeniths? I'm asking because the one you have (and other examples of this particular TV I've seen are VHF Only and the one I'm hopefully going to be picking up is a UHF/VHF "All-Channel" model.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Hi Phil, how common are the "All Channel" versions of these Bugeye Zeniths? I'm asking because the one you have (and other examples of this particular TV I've seen are VHF Only and the one I'm hopefully going to be picking up is a UHF/VHF "All-Channel" model.

I had a Zenith from the same year! It looked the same as that one. It was made in the later part of 1955. It had the same ugly knobs as the one shown. The later production had the newer, better looking knobs.
Mine had UHF, as Milwaukee was a UHF market from early-one.
Most of the sets sold there were UHF equipped.