Went to a sale at 7332 Crain Ave in Niles, IL this afternoon. The sale was on the third floor of the three flat apartment. Turned up a nice Sears Silvertone console in the early american cabinet. This is a high end sears set too, a very well made sturdy cabinet and it also has the unique slide out control panel. In the living room as you can see, still wired to the antenna. Working perfect, well cared for and low hours. It appears to be a TV that never was serviced either. On the back is the "sears quality" sticker with the date stamp of February 24, 1972 with the inspectors hand written initials. This is a Chicago made Wells Gardner set, they were still loaded up full of tubes still in '72. The TV also came with its owners manual.
There was a guy at the sale who was interested in this late 70's Wards console stereo but he wasn't going to buy it unless the turntable worked. I was not prepaired to move this TV down the staircase in this apartment, so I asked the guy interested in the stereo if he could help me move the TV in return for me fixing the turntable. The changer lever was stuck in the off mode, so we asked the sale people if we could take it apart on the spot and if we could fix it, it would be sold. So we did. I always keep my trusty little xcelite reversable screwdriver in my truck in case I ever want to pop open a TV or radio on the spot. Pulled the phonograph out and fixed it, just had to free a stuck lever due to dried/tacky grease. That made this guy and his wifes day when I got it going as they both told me they were not very mechanical inclinded to undertake repairing it themselves. Everyone at the sale was watching as I took this thing apart in the living room, haha. It was kind of a show and tell, everyone wanted to know how the phonograph worked when I pulled it out. We put it back together and tested it out on one of my favorite albums that I see at almost every estate sale. It was Ray Conniff; 'S awful Nice from 1958. Its amazing how much those instrumentals are appriciated by people my age who never heard the stuff before. Everyone at the sale thought those songs were great. Made me feel good because thats the kind of music I appriciate. So we let that play while the guy helped me move the TV down into my truck. I also helped move the stereo for them also.
Those little things like helping other people out make my day. I made a couple good friends at that sale while others watched me take the stereo apart and also got my name out to the people running the sale that Im into the vintage electronics. Not everything is about money, if people can just help each other out from time to time it makes for a good day.
Yes, thats analog TV you see, picked up live off the outdoor antenna. Channel 23 on UHF is still alive for us Chicagoans.
And no, that '62 Chevy Bel Air 4 door sedan in the driveway wasn't for sale! Darn!
