The Eagle Has Landed!

[Carmine]

...or whatever this model of gigantic roundie-combo Zenith is called.

I was finally able to unload this monster. I popped the back off and found it largely intact and fairly clean, with the exception of the CRT being disconnected. Still, I wanted to comb over it a little closer and in better lighting than I had out in a garage.



I figured the (tube) stereo would be safe to try, so I plugged it in. Immediately the TV started warming up.. Whoops! Don't really understand why, as there is no selector for TV/radio/phono. There is some kind of weird relay-looking gizmo where the power cord comes in... Quite different than my '66 and '67 Emperors. I suspect it has something to do with the Space Command, although these were the actual chassis tubes, not the SC unit.

I killed the power and realized the TV had a power cord, interlock-style, but only the relay-thing was interlocked. So I pulled the TV cord and tried again. This time no pretty orange lights in the TV section.



The stereo controls are not like any other Zenith I'm used to (pull-on power?) with the exception of their stupid concentric volume balance control. How in the hell can I tell if the speakers are balanced when I'm standing right in front of the left channel and 6-feet away from the right? That said they are pretty, with lots of cool lights! Odd that my '66 Emperor uses an old-school magic eye tube, but this one just uses a simple read light to indicate a stereo signal. Everything is really dirty. Not cig smoke, just good ol'fashioned grime. It will look much better after a cleaning... I am leaning towards this being a low-hours unit judging by all the working lights and lack of wear on the remote and user controls.



After who knows how many years, it came back to life singing Karen Carpenter's "No Place Like Home for the Holidays" Warm tube sound, from both channels, lots of volume and no hum!

I let it play for a few minutes and took these detail shots:



You can't see it here, but I think it's missing the rubber mat. Although finished, it seems like too hard of a surface for a record.







This is the worst of the cabinet damage. Looks like it got dragged on it's side. Will require some veneer splicing.