Why didn't you give us the e-Bay link for this frankenstien monster.

I hope I don't get in trouble with you guys for installing a Col-R-Tel convertor on my 12 inch 50-T1104 Philco. They are only about 5 years different in age. ;^)
Cliff

I did, but I easter-egged it somewhat. I was too appalled to make
viewing his (potentially profitable) auction an easy thing to do. :no:

Cliff,

You're on solid ground, unless you decide to install a very thin fishtank inside the color wheel!

--Dave

This is just dissapointing. My 17" RCA portable is in terrible condition and it's still not beyond repair. I think he was just lazy. It's a damn shame too because the cabinet is in great condition.

...

Its possible Harry has very little requests for any early tv color conversions hence why you dont see the parts for sale.

I would think you could contact him by sending a e mail { use the link on his site} or just check him out on e bay. He sold some color roundies not to long ago. I did check out his site again, It looks like they do a nice job on the cabinets but it still sends a chill up the spine.

The other day when I was reading this thread about retrofit tvs, My brains dumb lock broke .. AGAIN.. {see picture} I ripped out this tvs chassis and tube. Then threw them in a junk pile in the back yard next to the junk car and the dirty bathtub.
Cleaned the cabinet and Installed this color mouse. The only problem is I have to bang on the side of the set to get the mouse to move and even then it just falls over. Oh well.. Scooby seems to like it. :sigh:

A Sparton isn't...er, wasn't it? Such a nice cabinet to be empty like that. Another chassis "beyond repair," eh? *sigh*

You get points for honesty.

You are right it is a sparton and I was just joking around. Found the empty sparton cabinet at a junk store in olean. I may find a chassis and tube for it someday.
Ed

AH! Y'got me!
:beerchug:
Cheers....

from this side
 

Hi All! It Harry Poster here, from harryposter dot com. I see the current discussion, and couldn’t let it go by, without offering my side of it.

I realize that most collectors find it heresy to ‘butcher’ an old TV, but there is some redeeming value to my Posterizing these sets (Color Conversions).

First, let me say, that any TV I pick up is offered online. If it’s complete when I buy it, I offer it As Found, complete, untested. Any collector, or hobbyist can buy it that way. I also offer sets as Empty Props, complete, but minus the CRT and chassis (which, if salvageable, I offer to collectors, or list on ebay, usually starting very cheaply). Nearly every set I sell as a Color Conversion, with the CRT and chassis pulled, and a new, color TV, mounted inside, has the extra parts offered for sale, if they are at all useable.

To be fair, about 1/2 the sets I buy, I get empty. If I buy them from a collector, I occasionally pay the same price, but ask them to keep, and reuse, the chassis and CRT. Often, a collector will have the TV cabinet, empty, and they just don’t want to find the parts needed to restore it. Also, when I get sets from the old TV shops, many just have the empty cabinet, or the cabinet and some miscellaneous spare parts.

Plus, there are those clunkers, with mouse-ruined chassis, tops destroyed, or chassis, knobs and trim lost years ago, that are salvaged, cleaned and refinished, or painted, and then offered and sold as props or CCs. And, like several recent sets I’ve sold, early color TVs, pre-wars, interesting or unusual older sets, all stay exactly as found, and are offered on my site or online. Even the 1960s and 1970s TVs that are still working, are sold as a Working TV, the way it was originally marketed.

Over the years, hundreds of individuals have spotted my page, realize that old TVs are saleable, and then ask the value, and where to sell their sets. Nearly always, I try to give them a realistic value, and suggest the local Radio Club that’s appropriate. A few lucky times, I’ve been able to buy a TV set from a local individual, who would otherwise dispose of the TV on recycle day.

Even the sets that end up as my Color Conversions, make an impression. I’ve had people say, 'Wow! I saw Avalon' (yeah, I propped that), or Driving Miss Daisy, or the Henry Ford or Disney Museum, or the JumboTron with a print ad, 'and it’s great. I love those old TVs, and never realized they were still around'. If reliable vintage sets were not available, many movies and museums would not have used any set at all.

Thanks to all that responded to this thread, and hopefully, even if you hate the process, you’ll see that occasionally, it’s justified, and actually creates interest in collecting vintage televisions! More than a few people on this forum have bought vintage TVs from me. . . including many Pre-wars, CT-100’s and a Westinghouse 15”, experimental color CRTs, 621’s and 630’s, 8-301W’s, Flying Saucers, VideoCapsules, and lots of tubes, CRTs, chassis, knobs, and..and..and.

Good to hear from Harry on this...while I hate to see any old tv gutted, there is a real supply & demand problem with most of the common sets. With your average bw console from the 21" or larger era there are just way more sets out there than collectors that want them. Like many on here I have a pile of such sets that are available cheap or for free but nobody wants them enough to come get them. This past weekend I stumbled upon an attic with numerous mid-fifties sets. The guy was hesitant to let anything go, and for now I am not pushing the issue because I don't have room for another half dozen such sets. (I will just keep in touch, to make sure they don't wind up in the dump-short of that, they are just as well off gathering dust at his place)