Futuristic Find! 1959 General Electric Forecaster!

[Forward Look]

After years and years of looking I finally found one of my "dream sets" the highly elusive General Electric "Forecaster"!

This set was designed to compete with Philco's Predicta series as a look ahead into the future,the 1960's. In my opinion this set is every bit as cool as a predicta but much,much harder to find. It's also very well made,the cabinet is solid wood with walnut veneer,it has sturdy tubular metal legs with Danish Modern oval shaped "ski" feet and the white curved screen shield is painted steel,not plastic. It was extremely heavy,probably around 50-60lbs!

According to the original ads I've seen online this set has a console power transformer chassis.I've also noticed that the ad shows a prototype version without the wood feet to prevent it from scratching your tabletop.

I am very glad I found one locally as it would never have survived shipping,the back cover is metal & fiberboard and the white plastic inset around the picture tube frame is extremely delicate. It's made out of that same ivory colored plastic GE used on their table radios during that time.

I have not attempted to power it up,but the owner said it was watched into the 80's when it began taking longer and longer to warm up,he claimed to have tried it a couple months ago before offering it for sale and it didn't turn on anymore.


Does anyone else here own one of these sets? the original owner worked in television back in the 50's and 60's and said it was expensive when new.