Nice pile of TVs in York, PA - Page 2 - Videokarma.org TV - Video

leadlike · #16 10-11-2010, 11:16 AM

To respond to some of the above posts: the 12" Sylvania is indeed the model you describe, it is not on a four-legged stand, someone just kicked in the speaker board. It was in pretty bad shape, but it looks like it is all there.

The one I couldn't ID is indeed a Sylvania-thanks for jogging my memory.

When I went to meet the guy, he took me to a small warehouse (more like a large garage), and pried a board loose so we could open the rotting carriage doors. As soon as we stepped in, you heard the rustling of all sorts of critters in the darkness-mostly squirrels. We only had a flashlight to show the way, and I began to guide it around the room.

There was a shelf with maybe a dozen old car radios on it, along with a completely destroyed Emerson 510. I left those alone, and trust me, that Emerson was toast, as I have kinda wanted one of those for awhile, and would be willing to put in some effort if it was salvageable.

I saw a lot of older stoves and rotting wooden furniture as well, and the seller explained that he and his father owned several pre-furnished apartments, and these were the tvs that went with them. They continued using these up until the 80s, from what I could tell. I can only wonder at the type of apartment you could get in the 80's that would come with a 12" Sylvania.

I decided to go with the Arvin, and it turns out the frame stand on top of the pile was intended for it, so I got that along with it. I don't think there are very many early Arvins around, so I was drawn to it. It appears to be complete, and the chassis looks a lot like an RCA T-100, though the control layout is quite different. The CRT tested dead, but after fiddling with it, I got it to come up well into the "good" scale, and it has a decent life test.

He said he had a spare crt, but it was in the back of the building, where the roof had collapsed. I struggled through the rubble, and saw the neck sticking out the remains of the crt's original shipping box-it was open to the sky, so the box was sopping wet and rotting away, the whole mess covered in pigeon waste and who knows what else (This is why I like living in PA-no Hantavirus to worry about). He said the crt was a 21'' for the Zenith, but no-it was a brand new 10BP4! We negotiated a price, and I took it home. It tests brand new, but it does have an intermittent short. So that was my American Pickers moment.

Phil Nelson · #17 10-11-2010, 12:06 PM

Awesome. I wish you had had someone following you with a video camera. Priceless Youtube material for TV collectors.

Phil Nelson

leadlike · #18 10-11-2010, 12:58 PM

It's a model #3121TM, the mahogany tabletop model. It appears to have been manufactured by Sparks-Withington (Sparton). Not a lot of info on these.

Looking over the other models on the Tv History site, it appears the Firestone is an extremely obscure model, as there is no listing for Firestones in the 50s section, and the 40s listing just gives TBD for everything beyond '48.

bgadow · #19 10-11-2010, 08:58 PM

A very neat story; great to come across stuff like this. I think I would have been drawn to the Arvin, too. I don't think I've ever stumbled upon one in the wild.

I've seen photos of a Firestone version of those trapezoid shaped 7JP4 portables (I forget who actually made them-Tele-Tone, TravLer?) When I think of Firestone TV sets, though, the one that comes to mind is an early/mid-50s 21" table model. Why? The house I grew up in backed up to a woods. If I walked through to the other side (better part of a mile) there was a dump pile for that farm and sitting on top was a Firestone TV. I often tried to think of a way that I could drag that poor hulk home, but never did. Amazingly, nobody had ever shot out the crt.

Neat also about those being in use up into the 80s. The equivalent of an apartment today with a TV from the 70s which, yeah, would be a dump! Unless one of us rented it, of course. Which brings to mind another story, involving a flophouse in New Jersey, but I'll save that for another time.

***Eric H*** · #20 10-12-2010, 01:37 AM

The set on top of the metal Philco, I think that's the one you called an Arvin?
Are you sure it's not an Andrea instead? It looks an awful lot like a TVL-12
A set I'd grab if I had the chance.