Overpriced? Zenith in Michigan
 

Here'a a Zenith Royal. Seems expensive to me. I like the radio dial though.

http://kalamazoo.craigslist.org/ele/1147983572.html

John

Hate to tell him, but I'm 99.9% sure that ain't no color set...

Oops! I should have noticed that before posting it in the color forum.

John

He should pay you to haul it away.

This is the first time I've ever seen that combo design, except for Curtis Mathes. A stretch to call it attractive. I don't like to beat up on sellers....I will say, he will be lucky to find someone who will give any cash at all for this beast.

It would be cheaper if it didn't have that original Monkees album on the phonograph, LOL!

Like everyone else has said, this seller would be lucky if someone offered any cash for it. And, no, it ain't color!

I'd call the design incongruous. It looks like they designed the TV and then tried to figure out how to add the radio and phonograph later.

As much as I hate dismembering consoles, if the set were given to me I'd probably try to design a cabinet for just the radio and phonograph and get rid of the rest of it.

John

I would almost say that the radio on top was a custom add-on - I don't remember Zenith marketing anything looking this "cobbled together."

Plus, wasn't the Royal name brought out with the transistorized sets?

Folks, I think that's a 1955 Stratosphere--or very close. If you look in "The Zenith Story", you'll find one on page 27.

http://radiosyd.se/pictures/The_Zeni...from_1919.djvu

"Been in old barn for years." ... In Michigan!

Can you imagine all the critters that have been fornicating & defecating in there for the 40 years since the Monkees were popular?

UGH!

Mahogany?

By gosh you're right! It looks a lot nicer in the promo photo. The little standoffs help. Probably made it difficult to dust though.

Odd that they would call it the Stratosphere since one of their most interesting radios went by the same name.

John

Doug had a real nice one, '56 model though, with the flashmatic remote:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...ighlight=flash

Interesting! There is a huge difference in the opinions in the 2007 thread and this one. Is that because I mentioned what I saw as overpricing or the fact that it sat in a Michigan barn?

I'm not willing to rescue it for the price asked. They'd have to come down quite a bit. Guess I'll wait and see.

Doug's does look a lot more attractive.

John

I think I remember reading-Prolly here- that Zenith was a relative latecomer to the color game, not making their 1st sets til '62 or so.There was, as we say down here in the country, "Bad blood" between Gen. David Sarnoff, the meglomaniac who ran RCA, & Commander Eugene McDonald, Jr, the meglomaniac who ran Zenith. McDonald was gone by '62, but old habits die hard...Perhaps they were trying to develop a color set that used as little of RCA's designs as possible...

Zenith didn't introduce a production Color TV until 1962. Partly because RCA designs weren't up to the reliability standards of E.F. McDonald. He elected to do his own Color TV designs which met his reliability criteria and performance needs. Nothing against RCA roundies, I love them. The Commander didn't like making anything which didn't live up to the famous "The Quality Goes In Before The Zenith Name Goes On". The best corporate motto there was.

I actually find that set very attractive, been wanting to find one close by for years,
it was very expensive when new.
You can see one in the movie Great Balls of Fire about Jerry Lee Lewis.

Actually Zenith did make one color set in the mid 50's that used the same 15 inch crt that was used in the CT100. A picture of Dave Johnson's set can be found on the ETF website. These are quite rare and only a couple were ever have known to exist. Sandy is right that Zenith didnt start making them again until 1962 when they finally started regular production of them.
-Tony

Zenith's 1953 annual report says:

The 15" Zenith model was actually a 'field test set' that wasn't developed or intended for retail sale. And yes, there are several still in existence, which is more than can be said with any certainty for a number of early color sets that did make it into stores--or were supposed to have.

Correct! Ding! Ding Ding! Ding! Ding! You win a smiley face:D

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Me too :drool:

I shouldn't have disparaged the design. I really do like the one in the article that was posted.

I wonder how well it would ship. I think you could get it transported for a little over $300. Assuming they came down to a reasonable selling price.

John

When I was a kid back in the early 1960's, I learned SOO MUCH from the Zenith commercials on TV before I actually saw one up close. Hand-wired chassis, etc.

I only had one relative that could afford a color set back then, and she went with an RCA that ran incredibly well for well over 15 years before it needed any service.

I always wanted a Zenith set. I played with one back in the 1970's before I knew what I was doing with them. Never got to own a good one, though.