Evidence on how horrible a Predicta was when new!
 

Here's an eBay ad that made me laugh HARD! This ad is for a Mechanics Illustrated Magazine, 1959 issue. The main subject: TV Repair. Well, guess what is the cover-page icon of a TV being repaired...

A CURRENT-YEAR-MODEL (NEW) PREDICTA! :lmao: This is a "nails-in-the-coffin" statement on the quality and reliability of Predictas, even when they were new :thumbsdn:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MECHANIX-ILL-WIT...QQcmdZViewItem

Charles

I've got a predicta from 62 that had no end of problems before I fixed it. Its not 3 miles from me, so i think I'm gonna snag it (or try to) it would beinteresting to read how horrible techs found these in the beginning.

IIRC, the Predicta played no small part in driving Philco into near bankruptcy & being bought by Ford...

It's strange what people find valuable. Not that I wouldn't welcome a predicta, I would. It is rather annoying to see them going for hundreds of dollars on ebay, while Philcos with the traditional bulletproof build quality are going begging and probably getting thrown in the trash.

John

I just moved my Predicta into my bedroom from the "storage" bedroom.
Looking at it staring at me I just wonder what the hell were they thinking???

Eames era or not this thing is just bizzare looking :lmao:

Oh yeah, did you know they were one of the first televisions? (more wisdom from eBay)

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-VINTAGE-OLD...QQcmdZViewItem

"THERE IS INFORMATION WRITEN ON THE BACK OF THE T-V IN BRAILLE"

WTH would a blind person be doing adjusting the controls?

Yeah, weren't they made sometime back in the Teens or Twenties or sumpin' ?

Not that I know anything about them (never having physically touched one) but I'd guess they used it as a cover shot because it was a "unique" product, not because it was already broken.

Could be, but what AWFUL publicity! Kinda like seeing a rat trap at the front door of a restaurant...

Charles

I like how the guy on the cover replacing the CRT is wearing a wristwatch, white shirt, and suit! :lmao: Did all TV repairmen dress so sharp back then?
Tom

It is humorous in hindsight, although I suppose the editors were trying to indicate that you would learn about cool up-to-date technology.

I restored one Predicta and can testify that removing the PC board is a big pain in the rear: http://antiqueradio.org/philc12.htm .

I'm not a big fan of series-string TVs or radios any more. That design was used to save money, and the desire to economize shows up in other things, too. It's more fun to work on good stuff than junky stuff!

I wish there were more such cautious(ly ignorant) souls selling on the Bay. "What's this tag mean, Pa, 'thirty-two vee dee cee?'" "Never mind, just plug it in!"

One of the urban legends I have heard about the 21" Predictas was that they had a high udner-werranty failrue rate of the CRT. Is this just a myth? If not, it coincides with the PM article.

...

Hey John; I saw this array of juncque out back of an old apartment house. It looks kinda like your avatar! What the heck is it anyway???

:scratch2:

Charles

Just a Zenith 15" color TV kit. (!) Is that Iacobi's?

YES! that was an April Fool posting... I took that photo about 18 years ago when I hauled that set home from Northern Cal in my '77 Eldorado. It was a job and a half to get that TV safely in there! The set is now with Dan Iacopi. Does yours have the screwhead CRT still in it? Dan's does, and it had been VacuSealed. Last time I checked it by driving it with a CT-100 chassis, the tube was very good. It got thrown around in the '94 earthquake though, enough to rip some of the screws holding the side panels out. But the CRT seemed to have survied that, thank Goodness.

Yours is only the second one I've seen, and the third heard of. Ed Reitan mentioned many years ago that there was one in Chicago... Yours?

Charles

Charles,
Great story about the Zenith. When I got my set, the RCA dud 15GP22 CRT had been removed. The "original" Zenith (?) CRT was long gone back in the 1960s, according to the story. Mine now has a good RCA 15GP22 in it. The getter flashes on the neck of Iacopi's CRT are very large and beautiful. Wish all of mine looked like that one. I cringe at the thought of 15GP22s rattling around in an earthquake! I much prefer our Florida hurricanes!