[DavGoodlin]

Speaking of diehard Zeniths....My Aunt/Uncle had a Zenith 25MC33 (36??) it was ALWAYS on. It stayed on through lightning storms and everything else - I remember saying to my mom, see we don't need to turn the TV off during a storm!

They traded it on a slider-tuned-varactor Zenith in 1977 before I knew it. Saw my Aunt to show the her our new baby girl last Saturday and I asked about that set. I confirmed what I remember from many years back. (No wonder I never saw one at the curb, I only fixed a few Zenith Roundies, and get one for my collection in a heart beat!)

It was bought with wedding money in 1965, The store that sold it also sold most Zeniths to our family and, on rare occasions, serviced it as they did my parents and grandma's TV's, both 1971 Zeniths. The Owner made the house calls but had a good bench tech at the shop. I wanted to work for him, too. My Aunt said they only had it worked on a few times and not because it quit, no, it was tuner cleaning, weak tubes and control touch-ups usually done at once.

He said the reason this old roundie lasted so long was that it was left ON ALL DAY as opposed to OURS and grandma that turned TV on only to watch something (kind of what us collectors do today) and off again several times IN a day. Off when the news was over, off for mealtimes, off when the sun came out......kinda hard on everything when you think about it.