1976 Quasar console

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Dreamsbeard

About two years ago, I went on a little road trip (approx 500km round trip) to pick up this 76 Quasar console. Got it from an elderly couple that bought it new in early 77 for 861$ (they still had the receipt for it!). They told me that the TV had been in their basement since about 1991, and that they rarely used it since then. They where happy to see it go to a good home.

The reason, I bring this up now, is that I kept the TV in storage at my stepmother house since, but in a few weeks I bring it home with me, and I wanted to know more about it.

Obviously it's not as collectible as a real Motorola works in a drawer, but it's still early enough to be intersting (to me anyway ).

Please feel free to share your thought about this one!
Thanks!

Looks to me like your TV is Motorola's first Works in a Drawer, a.k.a. WID, set. Until I saw this one I didn't know the WID models were even available in the '70s; I always thought they first appeared in the early eighties. The later WID sets, further, had slide controls for volume and color intensity/hue, with some models having five push buttons on the front panel which could be set for the user's favorite UHF channels, like early car radios, so these sets must have had electronic varactor tuning. This is the first WID set I've ever seen with standard rotary VHF and UHF tuners, so it could conceivably be considered a "first generation" Works in a Drawer set.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Looks to me like your TV is Motorola's first Works in a Drawer, a.k.a. WID, set. Until I saw this one I didn't know the WID models were even available in the '70s; I always thought they first appeared in the early eighties. The later WID sets, further, had slide controls for volume and color intensity/hue, with some models having five push buttons on the front panel which could be set for the user's favorite UHF channels, like early car radios, so these sets must have had electronic varactor tuning. This is the first WID set I've ever seen with standard rotary VHF and UHF tuners, so it could conceivably be considered a "first generation" Works in a Drawer set.

WID came out in the late 60's (1967 IIRC). The 80's models were the last ones.
Aside from the first chassis or two there were usually low tube (less than 5) count hybrids available (some to be cheap, some because certain SS parts were not ready to reliably replace tubes) till the mid 70's.

[Dreamsbeard]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

WID came out in the late 60's (1967 IIRC). The 80's models were the last ones.
Aside from the first chassis or two there were usually low tube (less than 5) count hybrids available (some to be cheap, some because certain SS parts were not ready to reliably replace tubes) till the mid 70's.

Also, by that point, it wasn't motorola anymore that made those set, but Matsushita (Panasonic).

[jstout66]

Originally Posted by Dreamsbeard

Also, by that point, it wasn't motorola anymore that made those set, but Matsushita (Panasonic).

I think the switch was in 1974, and parts were getting unobtanium for "real" Quasar sets by 1980. I remember a hybrid set on our service route. that had a flyback go out (and a flyback failure in those sets were rare).

I remember how pissed the customer was because it took over a month for us to get that fly.