1954 Admiral C2226 project

[Ncotham]

Here begins my journey, and I sure hope it's not a short trip, i.e. a failure. I've acquired our old 1954 Admiral Model C2226 21" B&W cabinet that I grew up with. Unfortunately, ALL I have is the cabinet because somewhere along the line the TV was gutted - no chassis, tube or speaker. I've attached a few photos, 1. Me and my TV circa 1961, 2. Cabinet upon arrival after some TLC for the wood and front glass cleaning, 3. Cabinet after some further serious cleaning to remove bezel stains.

I can only guess that the brown stains around the bezel in the second photo were due to cigarette smoke as both my parents were heavy smokers. It was thick on the inside of the front glass as well prior to that photo being taken. I tried everything I could think of to get that crap off of there and NOTHING would touch it, and I mean nothing. Know what finally got it off? A simple paste made of baking soda and water. Who knew???

I'm hoping someone might have an idea where I might find some innards for this guy. SAMs doc for a model C2226 actually listed 19 1954 models and showed only one chassis photo. Those models listed a variety of chassis numbers, so I'm a bit confused. Can someone tell me why there are so many models listed and what the difference is in the chassis numbers? Six models showed the 22A3Z chassis number - C2225, C2226, C2227, F2216, F2217 and F2218. The remaining models either showed a different chassis number or other chassis numbers in addition to the 22A3Z. If someone could explain this to me then maybe I could put a want ad out on Craigs list for multiple models and broaden my search once I understand how to decipher what the SAMs data is trying to tell me.

I've already emailed Harry Poster at his TV prop site as he was recommended as someone who may have parts, but it's been 11 days and nothing has turned up as of yet.

So, here I sit, trying to get past first base and get a chassis that I can even begin work on:-) Any suggestions would be very much appreciated, and if anyone should run across one of the models that would work for a chassis and let me know I'd be forever in your debt! Thanks...