[ohohyodafarted]

The real answer to this question is:

"THERE IS NO REAL ANSWER"

Every situation presents it's own set of issues which enter into the decission on what to do with each particular set.

For Example: you are probably familiar with the CTC4 Hallicrafter clone set I resurected several years ago. (the story is on my web site) The set was a complete basket case and worth nothing as a collectable in the state I received it. To not restore it from the ground up would have meant that this rare set would have been lost as an example of the Hallicrafter lineage. AS caretakers it is my opinion that we have an obligation to do "what ever is reasonable and necessary" to not only preserve, but also to restore the sets in our charge.

Recently I helped a fellow collector who is restoring a very rare CBS color wheel set. The set is missing the power supply chassis and we constructed a replica steel chassis exactly like the only other known existing example. There is certainly nothing wrong with replicating parts and components that are pure unobtanium, and complete an otherwise incomplete set. And that holds true for cabinets too.

Not every set needs to be fully restored to operating condition. However it is my personal preference that the most interesting and unusual sets are always more interesting to people when they are functional.

If I had a historically significent pre-war set, I would certainly go to the extra effort to re-stuff caps and keep the underside of the chassis as close to original as possible. I would clean the cabinet and only refinish and restore if it was in very poor condition, and then I would try to refinish in a way that would be true to the way it looked when it was factory fresh.

I do not hold the same opinion of post war chassis undersides. On post war sets, I shot gun re-cap for reliability. As for post war cabinets, on a case by case basis, I do the gamut from just cleaning, to complete refinishing depending on the condition of the cabinet. To me, the set should look good first, then, if I choose to do so, I do an electronic restoration, to make it function reliably. Everyone is amazed when they see an old set opperating. Every time I show someone my RCA 21CT55 or my Moto 16CK1 in opperation, almost to a person they will say something to the effect that they can't believe a set that old can have such a beautiful picture. An operating set astounds most onlookers. And as Nuke said, showing a set in opperation is half the fun.

And as a mater of fact, an opperating set is worth more than one that dosen't function. Just look at the difference in price between opperating and non operating sets on ebay. A fully functioning restored set almost always will sell for more than one that was just unearthed from someones basement.