Picked up another one.....

[RetroHacker]

I have one of those too. Mine is black. It's an excellent little set and required no work at all - it just worked. It's an interesting set, a hybrid. The tuner, RF, and I think the audio stage is solid state, while everything else is tube.

Gotta love that Zenith build quality.

As far as collectible value, I doubt it has any. These sets are extremely common. And they almost always work. But they're wonderful televisions, and have a very nice picture.

-Ian

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by RetroHacker

As far as collectible value, I doubt it has any. These sets are extremely common. And they almost always work. But they're wonderful televisions, and have a very nice picture.

Yeah, those 12" B&W Zenith hybrids are pretty common, and they made them for several years at that. They weren't very expensive when new, but they do seem to be pretty nice performers-- better than, say, the GE SF-chassis hybrid sets from the same era (though I think the GE sets were made in USA, which, come to think of it, would have been kinda odd for a 70's-era low-end B&W set).

[Chad Hauris]

Here is a video I made of a 12" 5-tube Zenith hybrid showing the chassis and tubes. I still need to hook it up to a good signal source and check tuner performance...wasn't able to get very good reception on rabbit ears. I said on the video I thought it was made in Korea but actually it's Taiwan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_rIG19SUa0

The set uses completely point-to-point wiring on terminal strips except for the solid state modules. It doesn't use the solder cone terminals like the American Zenith sets.

A few tube radios did have the instant on feature, using the diode like in the TVs...I have a Westinghouse FM-only set from the 60's which does.