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Caveat Emptor!
I called the owner this morning to see if a road trip was warranted. He confirmed the set to be a 1959 RCA Winslow CTC9. His asking price was within my acceptable range; so I hit the road with my son. Not that it makes any difference, this guy lives at the end of a gravel road that's at the end of a gravel road. I thought I lived in the country. We arrived ninety minutes later.
The owner took me inside and showed me the set. It turned out to be in very good condition. The owner said someone from Gary, IN was coming by later to see the set. I'm starting to feel the pressure. He told me that he had received the set, about fifteen years ago, from an old lady, who was one of his longtime TV service customers. He had replaced all of the old tubes with NOS tubes. I got a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I told him it was a nice set and I would give him his asking price. At that point he started back pedaling by quoting the cost of the owner’s manual, $100, and the cost of the NOS tubes, $250. I couldn't get to the door fast enough. I told him thanks and hit the road.
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