Approx. 2123 reasons
 

Zenith ad in Saturday Evening Post, 14 February 1953

Oh, 1953, where did you go ? Come back....Please ?

We don't necessarily need 1953 to come back. We just need to find the sets and get rid of those evil bumblebee caps.

There is no sense in wishing that 1953 (or any other year or decade) will return, as time only goes forward. With DVDs and retro-TV digital channels like MeTV, Antenna TV and RTV, however (yes, RTV is still hanging on, but for how long is anyone's guess), almost any TV show ever made is now available, so we can watch those great old shows from the '50s to now on our old sets (with picture quality as good as the set's design will allow, given the state of the art when the sets were new) after we restore the latter to past glory. Granted, it's a big job recapping and otherwise restoring an old TV, but I'm sure the results will be well worth the effort when you see, for example, an old episode of Gunsmoke or Bonanza (or any one of 1001 other vintage shows) on your cherished 1950s-vintage Zenith or other make vintage television set.

Alright, don't be such buzz-kills, guys! There's nothing wrong with a little nostalgia. Or Bumblebee caps, when they were new. Being a little kid at the end of the 1950's was a magical time, and my world was quite happy back then.

Now we have grade-school kids with smartphones, Facebook, Snooki, Trump, Limbaugh, TV's that can't be repaired, and utter garbage to watch on them. Not to mention ugly cars like the Nissan Leaf and Subaru Tribeca, fast-food and even store-bought food that kills you in record time and channels full of liars to tell you how great all these things are...

So, grab a fist-full of Orange Drops, Little Devils and some leaded solder and have at it!

In any case, that's a cool Zenith ad. I am, however, a little surprised their 27" model was 700 bucks. Seems if you had 700 bucks to pay for a set in '53, you'd just wait till '54 and get a color set.

I wonder how well those 27" tubes held up back then. I have a mid-60's Maggie 27" set with a good tube, but it was replaced.

Somehow that '53 set looks a lot more modern than I remember other sets from that era looking. The styling is classic, and it must be the tube: more the size we're used to in the sets of the late CRT era. Back then 21" was the standard and larger sizes were few and far between. Also on this set controls on the right side of the screen rather than underneath is more "modern."

Einar72, I couldn't agree with you more!

Amen, Bubba ! We also had pop music you could listen to w/o blushing/blanching, cars that had some personality, a future that looked bright, a country that was on the way up...

I agree, take a look at this 24" b/w Packard Bell 2118 from 1953:

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...4&d=1261813799

Nearly the same style cabinet, but the round tube IMHO, makes it look much older.

jr

I restored a Zenith from that year as my first successful restoration, but mine was a 21" metal faced leatherette cabinet with a cool factory wood stand that gave the impression of an end table.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...y/DSCN0534.jpg

Awe come on, Limbaugh is smarter than all the rest of those on your list your list (and maybe you as well seeing as how you insulted my intelligence and that of the majority of voters in my state of Wisconsin in a fishtanking thread a while back) combined. Even "with half his brain tied behind his back. Just to make it fair."(as Rush likes to say)!

If you look back at vintage consumer electronics (ignoring paper caps) it really looks military grade compared to the junk sold today.

C'mon guys, let's NOT get "Political" 'round here...

Tom, I made two heartfelt comments, and I really didn't expect a belly-full of feigned indignation about the Walker debacle, a la far-right echo machine. Truly a waste of time and money, a voice of the people outspent 8-to-1 with a mere six-point spread as the result. I proudly contributed a few bucks here and there, just like many other NON-union folks across Wis. and America, unlike the handful of ultra-rich, many from foreign countries, who gave hundreds of millions to keep their lap-dog lackey in place.

As far as Limbaugh goes, there is no defending this miserable lost soul. He is paid millions to spread a message designed to ultimately end our democracy and cede control to his global, corporatist handlers annoyed with our little exercise in democracy. Are you a father, Tom? If he said YOUR daughter had a face like a dog (like he did with Chelsea Clinton), would you still kiss the ground he soils upon? If he called YOUR daughter a slut, wouldn't you be a bit less of a disciple at this point? If you consider him worth defending, then I feel sorry for you. :tears:

Let's leave it at that and get back to the great hobby of TV restoration that unites us on these web pages.

Guys, I WASN'T KIDDING w/my post above...You wanna argue politics, go to Political Chat, & have at it. Next one that says anything political, is gonna get some time on the bench. I'm SERIOUS. That's ENOUGH about this.

I agree with Sandy, Although it's a good conversation, it should continue there if it's gonna keep going in this direction.