1962/3 Zenith 27KC20Q
 

Hi All,

This interesting Zenith followed me home this evening. I had been looking for a very early Zenith color (1962) for some time and this one popped up on Craigslist only a mile from where I live here in Syracuse, NY.

The chassis, from what I can gather, is the second Zenith set after their introduction (or perhaps reintroduction) into the color set market. It is the table model in a metal cabinet and is very clean and unmolested apart from top of cabinet surface rust which has damaged the faux wood grain finish. A bonus is the Space Commander 400 remote control system.

This shall provide an interesting restoration over the coming months. I have looked for of these sets for many years and was surprised to find this pop out of the blue. How rare is this model?

The set was sold to me with the original 90 day service contract dated November 1962 plus the original bill of sale for $655. I also picked up the set from the address listed on the service contract and bill of sale.

Great find
 

Fantastic set. Hope it comes to life and we see some pictures soon. Nice find. Good luck hope the tube is great.

I've got the same set, other than the fact it's got a turntable on one side and a receiver on the other.. The TV chassis is one hell of a neat chassis, even has the remote, which I think mine is a 600, but I could be wrong.. Unfortunately I'm getting rid of mine due to it being an overly BIG combo unit..

Wish I'd have known you were looking for one. Selling my nearly identical set shortly.

Nice looking set. Remote control, too...:drool:

Congratulations on your excellent find, it'll be great to see it working someday! I got a kick out of the Bill of Sale, where it's described as a "colored" TV! :-) That set looks very well cared for, the remote control hardly has any wear to it, unlike the Space Command 600 controller that goes to my '66 Zenith Roundie. Please keep us posted, Dave.

From what I have been able to gather--that chassis is MORE rare than the earlier 29JC20 chassis today--because it was only made for a short time--before the 26KC20 replaced it totally. I have NEVER seen one in person--and only a few here have seen or had one. I have a 29JC20 set with a not too good tube, on the other hand--and DID have a complete chassis also, until it was STOLEN from my garage last year.

I wonder how good the tube is on this one? Mine shows VERY good on the blue and green guns...but the RED gun is weak and will NOT take rejuvination on the 70. But giving it about 7.5 volts DOES bring the emission of the red up, to near normal.

Beautiful tv !

What are the on cabinet controls like if you are not using the remote....?

Looks like an up/down buttons for tuning.... Is the on/off volume behind
a door...? Please post a few picts when you get the time.... Looks like
something I have not seen before.....


Good luck with the tv ! !

.

Hooray! At LAST something besides a freaking RCA! I have some older threads about my similar 1964 model 5111 with the metal chassis, but no Space Command. Maybe this thread will motivate me to continue to try to get mine right.

So many people talk about what great performers these old Zeniths were and they are often working as found. I was not one of those lucky people, but mine panned out OK for being dormant for about 30 years. It's got a ways to go, but I'll get there if the woman doesn't make me remove it from my bench area in the kitchen.

It was there before her! LOL! Ouch.....

wow... at the original address .. 50 years is a long time!!! I hope she bursts in to life after this time like the sleeping beauty she is

Similar story with my CTC-4, I picked it up from the original owner's home. Crazy thing is, there were service tags inside indicating it had been in use up till 1972...

With the documents I received with the Zenith, it appeared two subsequent sets were purchased as subsequent replacement sets: a hybrid GE in the early 70's and a solid state mid/late 80's Capehart . There was no sign of the later sets in the house. This suggested despite newer "replacement" TV sets bought, the previous owner hung on to the old Zenith. I was told by the new owner of the house, the set was hidden away with stuff placed on top hence I do not believe the Zenith was used much at all after the new sets were bought. Perhaps sentimentality and the memory of the hefty purchase price made it difficult to part with the Zenith? Nevertheless the Zenith remained in the same house for nearly 52 years.

I tested the sets original Zenith CRT and there was initially little sign of any cathode emission. Leaving the tube heated for an evening, the tube eventually showed good emission on all three guns. I wonder if there is a relationship how many years the tube sits dormant and how long it takes to wake up?

According to the real money value calculator--that is nearly $5K by todays standards !! 4790 to be exact.. If one looks around a bit--you can find a fairly decent used CAR--for 4790-or LESS today..

Man these were EXPENSIVE back ' in the day " !!

One way or another...SOMETHING prevented it's demise. And it sat there for all of those years...just WAITING for someone like one of us to come along--who would appreciate it for what it is. In all likelihood--those other sets LONG ago--hit a packer truck..but somehow--the Zenith was spared...

And aren't you glad it was ?

You said-"stuff was on top of it" and so it was used as a "shelf" That MAY be what saved it...

Round color tubes often have decent life after all of this time. Both of the CTC-5's I have ran across in recent years had very good, like new tubes. But my 29JC20 does NOT have a good tube, the red gun is weak--and will not come up. I wonder why--maybe my set got a lot more use--or the tube was defective from the beginning. It will work--but is obviously deficient on the reds.

I do have a JP22 I could put it it that is quite good--but it has been sold. I have one more--in a 24NC31 parts set--a channel master dated 1979 I think--that I think tested good some years ago--and maybe sometime--I will put it in there. One way or another--I am going to pull that tube and all else-- and get rid of the cabinet--I need the room for other sets.

I think some of the subjects such as original cost that we have hit upon lend to sets first not being taken for granted as we do today often letting them play around the clock or somewhere close. I remember as a youngster in the 70s that the ONE family set (a 19" Sears Medalist) was only used a few hours a day, and not every day just some days.

It went like this: The housewife watched a couple of hours of soap operas; when we came home from school we watched a few 1/2 hr shows or cartoons. Dad and sometimes mom watched 1/2 hr. local news followed by the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. Then often there were the prime time favorites of the era for a couple of hours.

Again, even then a color TV of any size was an investment as well as (often) a nice piece of furniture, so even when a set developed some problem that deemed it not worth going to the repair shop again, it was kept. Perhaps a table model would go nicely on top of the old console. That happened a lot! I remember about 1981 or so Dad brought home our first console with a HUGE 24" or 25" tube and remote control. Almost unbelievable at the time. We didn't yet know what the funny round antenna thing sticking out the back would be for. That came several years later when they finally ran cable vision out our road.

Was it really that long ago?

Well, I have pulled the chassis to give it a clean. As I had expected, the plastic on the early convergence clover leaf is shot. The later Zeniths with the bright Red, Green, Blue enclosures seem to stand the test of time but not the earlier open plastic loops. Does anyone have or know where one could get a replacement?

I see that the later Zenith Roundie sets all have the same convergence coil resistances so this would do as a last resort.
Also, the control knobs have crumbled. The plastic seems to crumble on these early Zenith color sets. I'll post some photos. Otherwise the set appears to be in good shape.

I did however find a lot of sticky gunk on the wires. It doesn't necessarily look or smell like a nicotine set. It looks more as if it is cooking grease. (I wonder if the set was in or near a kitchen?) The consistency is thick and it isn't soluble in water: it seems to dissolve with paint thinner. I'll post some photos of this. Any thoughts?

Hmmm, it is interesting that the red is the one that is shot since, if I'm not mistaken, that should be an 21FBP22 picture tube in that set, isn't it, which would have had one of the newer sulphide-based red phosphors? (Although I suppose anything can go wrong with any tube! :) )

Once again, I find myself referring to Peter A. Keller's excellent book, "The Cathode Ray Tube: Technology, History and Applications" (1991), pp. 180-1:

This book is very interesting and a great resource, well worth the money for any interested enthusiast.
Copies may still be available directly from Mr. Keller at <kellerp4(at)frontier(dot)com> and according to:
http://videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=254771, he may even be (or have been) a member of VK.

Most if not all of the plastic wires so this vintage electronics exhibit that. I know that my CTC-9 wires are like that. I believe it isn't kitchen grease; rather the plasticizer (sp) in the wire. I found that alcohol will easily remove it.

I never knew that there were so many different chassis available within a fairly short time frame. Perhaps it is the Space Command option that makes the extra numbers. Mine is a 25LC30 with no remote option. Is this early, late, better or worse? Supposedly it's a 1964 5111...

This weekend, I pulled the chassis from the Zenith to give it a good cleaning. My earlier assumption that it was a smoker's set was wrong. There was little trace of nicotine.

The gunk on the wires and in the bottom of the cabinet seemed to emit from the plastic wire insulation. But the plastic u-channel ring around the safety glass seemed to be the worst offender.

I washed all the plastic with alcohol to get rid of the sticky, oily gunk. The wires are still very slightly tacky but at least it is clean.

The top of the metal cabinet has some rust where I believe the previous owner kept potted plants. I was thinking of clearing off the surface to bare metal and then reapplying a wood grain. There are many practical demonstrations on You Tube and I thought I may give this a try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_fRpJUyBDg

Here are some more photos.