Quote:
Originally Posted by andy
Back when I lived in my first apartment, for the first year or so, every junk TV I set out for the trash got smashed. It was annoying because it left shards of glass everywhere. Eventually they either got bored, or got in trouble because the smashings stopped.
I have to second that most 70's and 80's consoles are still junk. They may be good quality, but no one wants them (not even us). That's the definition of junk! Maybe in 10 or 20 years, but even then, I can't see myself ever being interested in 70's or newer consoles (but then, 10 years ago, I couldn't imagine wanting 60's consoles).
For me, it's mostly early, or unusual technology that's collectible. That means any tube color set, 50's or older B/W, and early solid state like the CTC-40, or original Quasar. By the 70's most color TVs were just commodity items that were no longer interesting (and they were UGLY). 70's small color portables are hard to resist because they are cute, but anything over 19" is a no go for me with the exception of unusual, or cutting edge sets. I also have to admit that when things become hard to find they get more interesting.
I predict that in the future, early LCD and plasma sets will be collectible because they were rare when they were new, and working ones will be even more rare. Early CRT HDTV should also have some value (like early color TVs).
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Even though I grew up in the 1970s (I'm 52 now) and remember well Zenith and other brands of TVs/stereo/audio gear from that era, I have to agree with you, looking back on it, that they were not what they were 20 years earlier or more. Even my favorite brand of televisions/audio/home entertainment gear (Zenith) was starting to go downhill by the seventies. They still made console color TVs (Chromacolor II, et al.), but the cabinets weren't all solid wood as were the company's earlier sets. These new CCIIs and, later, System 3 consoles were in wood cabinets, all right, but the accent pieces at either end of the cabinet were woodgrain plastic. This was, I honestly believe, the beginning of the end of the Zenith Radio Corporation as we knew it; the quality of the sets just kept getting worse and worse.
To be fair, however, I have to say that not all Zenith TVs from the seventies were bad. One of my great-uncles had a Zenith Chromacolor II console, bought new in the mid-'70s after his 1960s-era Zenith console (with the light-through VHF and UHF tuner knobs, not the projection type as used in '60s Zeniths, but dials in which the light shone directly through the numbers on the knob) went bad. His CCII console lasted quite a while, requiring only one repair that I was ever aware of: when the CRT cracked after he had the set about six months. I had another great-uncle who replaced the worn-out color TV chassis in his old 3-way console with a portable Zenith TV; he actually put the new set in the space formerly occupied by the old chassis, and put a wood frame around the set to take up the extra space around the opening. The set worked absolutely great for years, and I must say, the installation looked so good it was very difficult to tell that this was a custom job. I'm sure the Zenith TV my great-uncle used to replace the old chassis must have been from the mid-'70s; 1974 is my best guess. The picture looked wonderful (typical pre-GS Zenith) on the outdoor antenna he had. I can only guess how this TV would work on today's cable systems or with a VCR or DVD player; it would probably make the same great Zenith picture as it did on broadcast television.