Zenith Roundie on eBay
 

Works, in Iowa.

Justout66 here is your chance to score that Zenith roundie!!!!!! Here is the link.


polaraman


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...781499157&rd=1

That is pretty nice, first time one has been closer than 600 miles or so. I would really like to have it for my living room but I probably won't be able to afford what it brings.

I just bid on it Rich! Since this one is within 20 miles from me, I will be most pissed if I don't win. Also, if I do win, I'll have to make room in storage for the RCA CTC16L I won off eBay in Februrary once it's out of the shop, as I only have room for 1 good roundie in my apartment, which means I'll make a killer deal on my Sylvania & Admiral roundies which are in storage now to anyone on AK :)

I'll pass on this one
 

I just finished a 29jc20 (Zenith's re-entry model back into color in 1962) cabinet and chassis completely restored, althought I did have to put a new jug in it, I had a new RCA Hi-lite tube, it has a beautiful picture

I had a Zenith like that one for a while, but the cabinet was trashed and the CRT went to air.

There is a certain Zenith styled very similar to this one I'd like to find. Biggest difference is that the legs come straight down from the cabinet sides instead of recessed under the cabinet like this one is. Was a set we had when i was a kid.

Jstout, good luck with this one. Sure is in nice looking shape! And only 20 miles from you? Man you can beat that! :no: You can afford to outbid everyone else since your shipping charges will only be a few gallons of fuel. :yes: Definitely has some vivid color in that picture! I wonder what the picture is??? Must have been watchin some old Janis Joplin or Doors videos and firing up some smoke??? :smoke: :beatnik: :smoke: :beatnik: :smoke:

Beware if anyone is deciding to bid on this. I'm DONE bidding, as I suspect shill bidding is going on. The only other bidder is someone in Omaha, and it seems odd that the person has bid on other items from this seller. I know who the seller is, and he isn't well regarded by some of the "old time" repair people in this area. I had e-mailed him thru eBay, to ask if he was who I thought he was. His answer didn't quite "settle" right with me, which I'll copy and paste and inclde below. Let me know what you think.... Here's the reply: Yes I am Don, thanks for the bid Im expecting this set to go completely out of sight. Im amazed at the no of people who have look at it. Its a very nice set.

It's a shame when people pull crap like this. I would be suspicious as well. It would be funny if no one else bid, and the guy placing the "fake" bids was the winner. I bet we would see the Zenith relisted later with the excuse that the last winning bidder didn't pay for it.

Hey all, I still have 2 roundies to let go of
 

BOTH are 24nc31 Zenith sets,'66 models. , (I have 3, need to get rid of 2 of them, as I am moving to a new ,smaller storage area), Ialso have a 24mc32, (mising the legs)like that one on ebay, but I think I want to keep it, as I only have the one.

I have NOT yet checked the operational condition of them, I plan to do this , maybe early next week. I PROMISE the price, if the CRT's are good and such, will NOT be near as high,. as the one on the 'bay, and I will be UP FRONT about any needs the sets have (one does need knobs)

Also, I have a 25" Zenith, '68 model, I think, and a '71 model Zenith, I thnik, to sell,too. I have (poor) pictires of all of these sets, on another post, called "moving time". I will no doubt come up with a few more thngs, to part with, as time to move nears.

I know what you mean about having to get rid of old TVs because you're moving. I found myself in the same situation 33 years ago. The set I hated most to get rid of, as I've mentioned in other posts, was a 23" Zenith K-2739 23" b&w console that I had completely retubed three years before. The set had a beautiful picture (as did all '50s-'80s Zenith TVs) and was in a nice dark wood cabinet (not sure if it was walnut or not). Sounded great, too, with the 6BN6 gated beam sound detector and 6BQ5 output tube, and let's don't forget that big 6x9 speaker in the base of the cabinet below the CRT. I had even patched a mono FM tuner through the audio stages (across the volume control) and eventually wound up with a nice combination unit, without the turntable. But, unfortunately, in early 1972, that set, along with all but three of the rest of the TVs in my collection, went out for the trash. Sure wish AK had been around back then. I think it is much better to find good homes for our old sets rather than just putting them out on the curb, as most people outside our hobby do; however, if it weren't for that, a lot of us wouldn't have found the great sets I've seen pictured here in the short time I've been a member. Until the high-definition TV era has been around awhile, I think we're going to be finding a lot of CRT-based color sets (mostly portables) on ebay and even at the curbs (the RCA/Thomson GuidePlus sets don't seem to last more than a few years, or until the warranty expires, before developing serious repair problems which aren't worth repairing), as these sets can still be used with high-definition digital cable through a cable box although, of course, the picture you see on these old analog sets won't be HD. IMHO, flat-panel TV won't spell the end of CRT sets for some time, but that's a topic for another thread.

I was bidding on the 21AXP22 on Ebay. Yesterday the seller pulled the auction. Said there was a problem with the item description. I would gather that somebody did a behind the scene deal for the CRT. I think that it was a real whimpy way to get the CRT. If they wanted the CRT they should have bid like the rest of us. I am going to report the seller to Ebay. The seller quite possibly cost himself some money by doing this also.


polaraman

Yes Charlie, my suspisions will be confirmed as I fully expect to get a "Second Chance" offer if no-one else bids. Color roundies (and any other color console) usually do not bring a ton of money on eBay. The only exceptions I've seen are the few CT100's , that "never used" Packard Bell, and a few 1950's RCA's. The $305.00 I had to give for the CTC-16 was pretty high for a later model roundie. I guess you guys would have to have met the seller, like I did once a few years ago to really have your guard up. There is something VERY shady about him in general anyway. He runs ads for complete radio restorations,and does business out of his house. Anyway, a few years ago, I had taken a TO 1000 to him to get the dial string replaced as I couldn't get it figured out. He gives me a call to say it's done, and when I get there he informs me that he had to go thru and re-solder EVERY connection, and do tons of other work to get it "perfect", and the charge would be $85.00. He never said one word about this when he called, AND the radio worked FINE other than the dial string issue before I took it to him. Now AM doesn't work, and the dial string still slips. He collects various items, and it seems his main interest is vintage fans, and table-top radios. He runs ads for radios, and claims to be the best in repairs in the mid-west, yet the more he goes on about radios you get the feeling he doesn't know crap. Also, if you make the mistake of admiring ANY item he has, he will try to sell it for an over inflated price, yet if he wants to buy something from you, he says it is only worth 2 cents. It's like a "bad" car salesman. LOL! Are you starting to get a "picture" of him in general? I wanted this Zenith pretty bad tho, so knowing how he is, I bid anyway, hoping nothing "shady" would go on with this auction, and now this pops up :( I'll keep you posted once the auction ends if I get a "Second Chance" offer like I suspect. If one of you guys decide to bid, and end up winning, take my advice, Go there, pick up the set, and RUN! If you glance at 1 other item he has, he will be like a vampire after blood, and you will be lucky enough to leave without having your wallet drained and wondering how you'll have enough gas money to get home. I was already preparing myself for a quick getaway if I won the set........ LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sad. If someone is looking at this set I would take jstout's advice-and then have a talk with RCA2000!

for all you Zenith lovers
 

for all you Zenith lovers ....a 1963 advertisment for Zenith TVs.

Nice looking ad... I dont think i've seen that one before.

I agree. It looks a lot like the Zenith roundie on ebay which was mentioned at the beginning of the thread, although the one in the ad must be a slightly newer model as it has a different style of channel indicator (the one in Iowa has the light-through channel knob that showed the selected channel on a screen in the center) and, if I am not mistaken, the set in the ad also has Space Command (I thought I saw what looked like an ultrasonic transducer in the lower left corner of the cabinet, below the CRT mask). In any case, they are both very good-looking sets (the one on ebay had a great picture as well). Zenith (the real deal) didn't skimp on either chassis design or cabinetry when it was still Zenith of Chicago; they made some of the best TV sets around in their day. :yes:

I'm wondering about the text in this ad...

Hard to believe that Zenith was "America's largest selling TV", unless you were going by sheer cabinet size! :D

Secondly that style of CRT mask in the ad is the 1962 style, so this ad must have been very soon after Zenith's re-entry to color. If so, the text is pretty gutsy.

Ceebee: My comment about cabinet size had me wondering... Since Australia is a large country (in land mass) like the US, are your 50s-60s-70s consumer prodcuts such as TV's/fridges/etc. typically as large as their US counterparts? I base this on the fact that Australia had/has a lot of really cool cars that have more in common with US cars than anything from Europe/Japan.

Were there lots of consoles/combos?

As an aside, you might enjoy this Australian-related humor... A friend and I ate dinner last night at a chain-steakhouse with an Australian theme (Outback). I asked for my steak in a "butterfly" cut, which will turn almost any piece of beef into something that looks (roughly) like the Australian continent. When the server brought my steak, I pointed to it, and told her "This is why they call it Outback, they will only purchase beef cuts that look like Australia" while I pointed at a map. She bought the story, and I went into great detail about how hard it was for them to find correct-looking steaks and so forth...

After a minute or two, I started laughing so hard I nearly cried. :lmao:

Maybe it's just my bad sence of humor. :yes:

Yes, the set in the ad is a Space Command set. The tuner set up is the same as the 1962 29CJ20 that Polaraman and I both have. It's possible they might have used this tuner in 63 as well. Another thing I noted was the ad pic has the tiny little bass/trebble controls just above the picture controls door... which came on the 29JC20. Not sure if it was used on the 27KC20.

Notes
1) they don't say "best selling _color_ TV" - it's quite beleivable that Zenith had highest total sales that year
2) some time later, (late 70's I think) RCA dropped to about 25% of the color market (which was most of the total market by then) and Zenith rose to slightly more; then both took a slide as imports increased

The ad came from a 1963 National Geographic. A very similar advertisement ran in the March and June 1963.

Of course there were no color sets here until 1974. So no "roundies" except some sets imported for experimental broadcasts in the 60s. And I suspect they have long since gone. :(

As for Australian domestic equipment ....well our TVs, fridges and such seem to be sized about halfway between European models and the US.

Like our cars...when the US was all V8s we had 6 cylinder models.

And for those who care about such things ...outside the US, Australia was the largest market for Sunbeam MixMasters with over 750,000 sold! Not bad for a country of 15 milion!

From what I've read Zenith overtook RCA in sales at the end of the 60s. I don't remember if that was color or bw & color combined. I guess that was a real horse race through the 70s. I also recall reading that in the 50s Philco was outselling RCA so it doesn't seem too much of a stretch that Zenith could be on top in the early 60s.

I see the set sold today for $405.00. I find it interesting that the high-bidder has ZERO feed-back yet has been registered since 11/2001, and has only recently been bidding up a storm as of late. There were only 3 people bidding on this set. Myself, the suspected shill bidder, and the winner. Something does not seem right. Anyway... maybe the winner is someone in this area. It's a newbie tho....

I emailed the seller yesterday, asked him if the set was going to be relisted after he accidently bought it back with shill bidding. :D He didn't answer the question dirrectly but said that he was not going to be relisting it and was confident that the high bidder would pay. Who knows whats going on. I personaly didn't think it was going to go that high, but stuff is worth what people are willing to pay at the time.

Did you REALLY ask him that!!!!!!!?????!!! LOL!!! And I agree Jackson, any item IS worth what the buyer is willing to pay. It's hard to explain, and I don't want to come across as someone who is po'd because they didn't win, but if you had met the seller like I did, and know of his rep, you'd be a tad suspecious as well. Once I found out who was selling it, I had to really think about putting a bid in to begin with.

You da man, jackson! Shake 'em up! :thmbsp:

As far as value, I have to agree as well. Any item is worth what another individual will pay. I've heard my dad say that time and time again. To people in general, an item might not be worth that much. However, that TV was worth it enough to someone to whip out four bills! :yes:

Had I been the seller, it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all taking the money. Of course, I wouldn't have been having buddies bump the bids up.

Actually, that Zenith was a very nice looking set. I might have given four bills. However, I would have wanted to see the set in person first and look it over closely. I doubt I would have paid that much AND paid for shipping. It would have to be close for me to buy it.

I'm glad to hear these sets are bringing that kind of money. But I sure wouldn't pay it. I feel blessed that I have similiar tv's that were given to me or were bought for almost nothing. Takes patience. But, if you just gotta have a roundie, NOW!, this is the way to do it!

Does anyone know if this set really went for 405.00? That seems awfully high for a 60's set. I was only able to get 380.00 on ebay for my working CTC 5 this last January!
Would have never sold it but I was short on money and space (nothing new!) and it had to go...

Yes, it was gone for 405.00. This Zenith roundie looks very nice.
You wrote in your auction that the crt was tested strong! That's fully correct! But the screenshot of your CTC-5 showed a picture with bad focus and no strong red color, and I think this was the reason, that nobody would offer more than 380. Those which had experience in restaurating tv sets knew that here is some work to do to get this set reliable in working condition. And nobody knew whether the red gun would be strong too.
On my hard disc I have collected some interesting color roundie auctions. Compare the other auctions on ebay. All sets in working condition with impressive screenshots got higher bids:
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold...ache/cache.htm
BTW: I think that the prices for color roundies will increase in the next years, even for those from the 1960s.

Dwight, I still have a feeling about that Zenith auction. I haven't got a 2nd chance offer yet tho, which I fully expected. The dude selling it is shady......