Philco 123 Color TV Found On Craigslist
 

Hello all.

I am a new member to this informative website and new to the hobby of vintage color TV collecting and restoration. The exchange of technical tips and troubleshooting methods is very helpful.

I recently acquired a 1955 (possibly 1956) Philco Color TV on Craigslist. After doing a little research, it looks like there were only 500 of these units produced. It is missing a few knobs, but the cabinet is in overall great shape and the original 21axp22 hasn't gone to air. The TV will arrive soon and I hope the CRT tests good. In the interim, I thought I would inquire whether anyone has experience with the Philco 123 chassis or any pointers/tips to pass on as I start the restoration process.

Appreciate any insight you all can pass on.

Thanks. Jeff in Springfield, VA

Jeff,

Nice score. Those are rare sets. Hopefully you have already located this site:http://www.earlytelevision.org/pdf/p...123_manual.pdf

Please keep us updated. There are at least 3 members on this site that own Philco 123 color receivers. Hopefully they will chime in.

-Steve D.

I worked on many of those sets in the 50s. I bought my TV123 from the factory and sold it to my boss a few years later. He sold it to another employee and I lost track.

They worked well, but required serious maintenance. There was a mod kit that greatly improved reliability. The service shop only needed serial # and ask the distributor for a kit. The shop got $20 to install it. Many sets escaped the mods. When you get the TV, let the forum know and we can tell you if it has been updated.

Don

I'm in Norfolk not too far away, if you need any help with it.

Do you have a way to post a picture?

Thanks Steve, Don and everyone else for the tips and suggested web sites to visit. The set arrived yesterday evening. I removed the back panel and checked the 21AXP22 CRT this morning. It tests strong for emissions on all 3 guns with no shorts. Looks like it is shaping up as an excellent set to restore. I just need to locate a few of the missing knobs and would appreciate any pointers anyone can offer. Also, I snapped a few pictures this morning, but need an assist with uploading options to post on this site.

Jeff

Just click Post Reply, then scroll down to Manage Attachments and click that. A new window will open to let you brouse your PC's directory for the file. Click Open when you find the file and then click Upload on the new or second window. Once it loads the attachment will appear on your original Post Reply page.

Hope this helps and this sounds like a great find. Didn't mean to sound flip about wanting pictures. Just want to see what you have found. I tried to look it up in Northern VA Craigslist and couldn't find it. I know it's sold; just thought that the ad may linger. Good luck!

1955 Philco 123 Color TV Craigslist Find
 

Hello Folks,

This morning, I removed the back panel and used my Sencore CR161 CRT tester to check the 21AXP22. It checked good for emissions on all 3 guns with no shorts. The flyback appears to be good as well. No evidence of a melt down. Cabinet is good to excellent as well. Seems to be a decent find and candidate for comprehensive restoration. Just need to locate those blasted missing knobs now.

Appreciate any assist anyone can offer on the knobs or any other aspects of this restoration.

Thanks,

Jeff in Springfield, VA

Philco 123 Color TV More Pictures
 

Here's a few more pictures....

Jeff

WOW! That is a jaw-dropping gorgeous set! What a great find... It is difficult to imagine that a rarity such as that can still exist out there "in the wild" and turn up on Craigslist, but obviously it *can* happen.
Thanks for posting the pix....Congratulations!

jr

Original Philco CRT? Little dust in the HV area, probably a very low hours set!

The knobs that are there are the same as used on some B&W sets so chances are the missing ones will be common as well.
What might be difficult is the cover that goes over them.

A set like this might be a suitable knob donor, wish I could see what they actually look like so I could search my bucket of knobs.

http://www.myvintagetv.com/philco_ap...iver_front.jpg

+1.

Zowie, what an amazing find. The ETF website says that only 500 of those were made, so I suspect there may be only a handful left -- especially in such pristine condition. Getting a strong 21AXP22 is a very big bonus.

Congratulations!

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

That's a beautiful Philco, and amazing the 21AXP22 is still good, congratulations! Looking forward to pictures of it working someday!

Great find!

Thanks everyone for the encouraging feedback. The sheer proportions on this TV are massive. It is tall, deep and wide not to mention weighing a ton. The people who purchased this TV in 1955 had to be the envy of the street!

Next step is to try and locate the missing knobs which seem to be identical to knobs found on Philco B/W sets of this vintage.

I will check back with periodic updates.

Jeff

Beautiful example of this set Jeff. A good 21AX & flyback are a great start. Perhaps, in the past, the chassis was removed and the knobs and knob cover were misplaced. Did you inquire if the previous owner had a clue about this? The ETF has a Philco 123 in it's collection. Maybe Steve McVoy can take some close up pics of the knobs w/the cover removed as well as the cover itself.

-Steve D.

I will do that.

Thanks Steve. Great assist. I have tried (and am continuing to try) to get the seller to look around the house for thes missing items. I'm convinced the missing bits are lying around the house somewhere. The seller is elderly and, although full of reassurances he'll look for the items, lacks the motivation to do so. I may have to get on a plane and go visit him to move the needle.

Steve- Many thanks. Appreciate any close up pictures you can offer. In the end, I may need to fabricate the vertical metal strip that floats above the controls.

Jeff

The set does not have the factory mod's. That accounts for the good CRT. Without the mod's the TV would not play long enough to wear out a CRT.

What a find!

Given that Zenith did not sell NTSC color sets until late in the game, and that Philco and Zenith are my two best represented brands of radio, and TV respectively I'm surprised it only now has dawned on me that I like this set better than the RCA and clone sets of the era.

How is the cutoff on the CRT? Is is smooth and healthy, or abrupt and overpowering?
I ask because the AXP22 in my CTC-4 tested fine and still has getther, but the cutoff control which is supposed to deflect the needle 2 divisions on my B&K 667(IIRC) CRT tester when adjusting the proper knobs would do nothing then instantly peg the needle with nothing achievable in between...The cause excessive gas in the tube (unusably so), but not enough to whiten the getther. In a dark room there was a lot of purple glow between the electrodes when testing it.
I hope your 21AXP22 is better than mine, but you can never be too cautious in evaluating one.

Looks like another candidate for "deal of the decade!"

Good luck with it.... Com-on crank it up already... Lets see some pictures of it on....

.

Wow! Me likey. :drool::drool:

I'd love to see a schematic. The stuff at ETF lacks one.

That set is a beauty. I dont have it but it should be Photofact SAMS (Set 349 Folder 9).

That is one of the most attractive sets in early color. The cabinet design is excellent.

Welcome to the club Jeff and good luck with obtaining the missing knobs.

The Philco-branded Sylvania 21AXP22 in my set is also original, but dated 5604 to your 5608, which may suggest that your set is the newest of the ten-or-so sets known.

If you would like to share the data from your set, an attached photo shows a number of things: the red crayon '776' may be a technician's ID, the 'RUN 2' may be their final TV 123 run, and the 11-digit number contains what has been accepted to be the actual sequential serial number -- the sixth, seventh, and eighth digits of the 11-digit stamping. My set has serial number: 356. Since your CRT is newer, perhaps your s/n is higher.

Pete

Well, I'M in Love...Or Serious Lust, anyhow... (grin)

Philco serial numbers were a silver sticker with black numbers. Usually One or two letters followed by 5 numbers.

I checked the identification numbers on my set today and discovered the following:

TV123
6, 7 and 8th digits of the 11 digit serial number are 020 respectively
Run #4

Jeff

That serial number theory has been around for the ten years I've had the set; but I guess it's back to the proverbial drawing board. Hard to imagine Philco made the TV 123 without serial numbers; I will scour the chassis and cabinet for a label as described by Don Lindsly.

Pete

Philco 123...congrats on the find. I added some photos of the knobs and the cover strip from mine. The knobs are clear (yellowed) with gold back-paint and are 1 1/16" wide with knurls on the sides and 1 1/4" long with a D shaft. The cover is 12 3/8" long, 3/4" wide with an opening at one end for a clear plastic UHF channel viewer and cutouts for six knobs.

There is also a thin steel stiffener that goes behind the cover strip to keep you from flattening the aluminum cover strip when you screw it down. If you are gentle, you could live without it.

Also pictured is the Philco theory/service book for the set by Donald Fink. Strangely it does not have one picture of the set. Just a few chassis views and one artists sketch of the cover strip.

Here is a search page for the book from used book dealers;
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...vision&x=0&y=0

Pete,

I agree that there is or was a serial # on those sets somewhere. The 11 digit long # that is stamped on the chassis may contain the clue. Although, so far it has not given up that secret. Perhaps the serial # was on a paper tag that has come off on all these existing sets. Does the ETF or Daves set have a tag?

-Steve D.

Lucky that my set was out from the wall to clean the cat fur growing underneath. Mine has the same as Steve's pix but with one little paper tag at the other end of the chassis. Could it be?

Calling Bletchley Park! The only thing I can see on the long number is this comparison with some separations;

10 30 73 26 501 My set as run #1
10 30 70 20 604 Steve's set as run #4

The 01 and 04 at the end match the run #'s. Not sure about the first 5 matching ciphers. Maybe a plant #? Starting at cipher #6;

3-month, 26-date, 5-year(1955) My set. Does this line up with introduction of the set?
0-month, 20-date, 6-year(1956) Steve's set.

But the 0 in Steve's does not make sense. An Enigma to me.

I bet those nobs and sheet metal could be duplicated with a 3D printer and a metal shop. All you need is to make a copy of the originals for a template.

UPS is advertising 3D printing;
http://www.theupsstore.com/small-bus...Feti7AodLTkA-Q

Not sure how they scan and what they print to. The cover is quite detailed with a little checkerboard design etched on the top.

Don answered the serial number question in the last post on the previous page: "Philco serial numbers were a silver sticker with black numbers. Usually One or two letters followed by 5 numbers." So it seems that the serial number of Dave's set is D07890.

I recall that we went through this stamped number deciphering in regards to the 48-1000. http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?p=3063082

In regards to the TV-123 stamped numbers, I propose to break them apart this way:
10307 326 5 01
10307 020 6 04

10307 could be some code that identifies it as the TV-123 Chassis
326 and 020 could refer to the day of the year of manufacture (1-366)
5 and 6 identify the last digit of the year
01 and 04 identify the Run numbers

Just my guess.

Dave,

Thanks a lot for taking the time to send the pictures of the correct knobs and face plate from your set. The illustrations in Fink's book of color television theory were also helpful.

I have heard of 3D printing although have no run time with the technology. I will contact UPS and learn more about their capabilities and constraints. Reproducing the knobs will be tough, but the face plate seems more difficult to fabricate, especially with the crosshatch pattern etched into the aluminum face plate. Perhaps the crosshatch pattern could be achieved by acid etching the aluminum.

I"ll investigate further with some 3D printing sources in addition to UPS and report my findings back to the group.

Thanks again for everybody's help.

Jeff