Jees! I'm feelin kinda weird. I'm on the vintage tv forum and finding discussion on the vintage possibilities or imposibilities of eighties consoles. The reason I say I'm feeling weird is because after I finish this post I'm going to go to my living room and turn on my 1982 Sears console. I never thought about it as being anything "old." Although realistically it is 22 years old. I at my age of 35 see the charm of the early days of tv but I always figured their would be some kind of cut off point as far as interest in electronics. Especially from any kind of vintage/collectable standpoint. I mean 20 years from now are we going to all be raving over Crapaneese plastic tirds from 1998?
I will say this for newer stuff. In some ways I think we reached a kind of engineering plateau somewhere in the late 70s and through the 80s. My TV is a prime example. The reason I use it is the fact that it simply hasnt broken at all since we bought it new. I was a teen when my father brought it home. Finally one of those remote sets WOW! When I got home from the Army and got my own place my father gave it to me. It has seen every day use for 22 years now. Why would I go spend my hard earned paycheck on some piece of junk? I have a 27" super set. I think at that time companies were still striving for perfection of the solid state color television. We were not yet that far from tubes. So in a way I guess we were still pioneering the television world although it doesent seem like all that long ago. Really sets from the time period I am mentioning are the only sets I know of that can play for years and years trouble free. I think in the 90s the best sets were already in the past and the focus, like everything shifted to mass market, low production cost, and away from quality. I tell people all the time that the shift away from quality is no accident. It is a very well thought out plan. Almost a conspiracy. Against the consumer that is. Why make appliances or really anything that is so well built that people will keep them for decades. Sure could sell a lot more stuff if everything broke or became obsolete. LIKE IT DOES!!
Oh and to Wigwam, my man your folks sure had one hell of a big closet!
I dig your T-shirt as well