Estate Sale Finds In 2008!

[zenithfan1]

Nice save Doug!! A little plain but VERY nice, I'd welcome one of those into the collection any day.

[bgadow]

I know that smell quite well! On one hand, I can't stand smoke...but the odor does take me back. One of my most recent finds ('70 Sears color portable) positively reeks of menthol cigarettes...but when fired up it takes me back to when I was a kid, living with my parents, the "Kool Filter King & Queen"

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by bgadow

takes me back to when I was a kid, living with my parents, the "Kool Filter King & Queen"

Same here... I have the asthma to prove it .

I've tried every way possible to get the stench out of TVs. The problem is that the high voltage draws the smoke particulates into the set, and they collect as a thick goo on the back of the tube. Washing the tube very well with 409 (Windex won't work because it won't break the oil base cigarette smoke). Then basically leave the set outside for a few weeks. That works somewhat, but you will never get the smell totally out.

One side comment: For the same reason that the smoke coating is so tough to get off, it will preserve the old 1940s piano gloss finish perfectly. Dr. Dan has an RCA 741PCS projection set that was in a mens' club, with God knows how many patrons smoking all the time. When the cigarette smoke was all cleaned off, the lacquer finish was absolutely as new. No fading, no crazing, it was beautiful. Still the stink from inside the cabinet, though.

Charles

[zenith2134]

Too often when i come across old audio receivers and amps there is that brown haze over the aluminum faceplate and knobs.

I usually use Nevr-Dull to polish it away (gotta use a hell of a lot of it though!) then use non-ammonia Windex to clean the rest. As you guys said, inside is tougher.... Sucks when you need to disassemble every last bit just to clean a heatsink or transformer that's already working as it is!

[bgadow]

Gee, this thread was getting buried-better get busy, Doug! I wanted to jump in here as I have, at long last, come up with my first real estate sale find. Background: as I have mentioned before, we hardly ever have them around here. Most estates go to auction, but there have been more and more showing up. Anyway, last week we were on vacation out in Kentucky and the local paper listed about a half-dozen sales. I only had time to make a couple. The first one was the winner, a nice little house at 4008 Gartin Avenue, Ashland, KY. After walking through the inside and the garage I was pretty dissapointed-no electronics, and prices were through the roof. Then I heard 2 good things from one of the operators: everything is half-off, and don't forget the basement. Oh, there is a basement! And sure enough, as soon as I rounded the corner there sat a TV. Well, no, nothing real exciting. It's an Admiral Nova II "suitcase" portable. I think it was the only thing in the house that wasn't priced; the woman working down there said they would have to try it out but my wife quickly let her know that I didn't care if it worked or not. For $3 it was mine. No cord so we couldn't have tried it, anyway. I did try it tonight and it works just fine. This is model C2057P in Sams 975-1 from 1968. When I first spotted it I thought something looked familiar, then I remembered its close cousin on an album cover (see pic).

There were a couple other sets down there but I decided to pass. One was a mid-70s Panasonic and the other was an early/mid 70s GE with a smoked gray front cover. Both were 12" bw sets.

My other find, the next day, doesn't qualify as an estate sale find-got it at the Hillbilly Flea Market just north of Ashland, for another $3. This is the newest version of the Philco Seventeener that I've seen. Not sure offhand of the year; the model is P2710BR, which Sams only lists as being in 1156-SED (special equipment) and I know it is a little older than that. Anyway, it works too. Not that I needed more of this kind of set but it is nice to bring something home on these trips.

[zenith2134]

Great finds, and stories! Always nice to know they're still out there.

The Admiral set is neat. The Seventeener was just never my favorite style set, but its still very worthy of being a collectible. They both look great!

[drh4683]

Those are good finds.
Ive basically had no luck at the estates for the past few months now. Like somebody just turned the switch off and now its nothing but 80's consoles and empty TV carts. Getting the chinese roundie was a nice addition though while not a local find. I'll be going to some more estates tomorrow. The search continues.

[drh4683]

Finally! Some old sets show up at the estates! Ive been consistently going to sales on saterdays and try to go to all of them that look like there is older stuff in the home. That generally ends up being about 10 or so each week. I was pretty bummed out not finding anything but empty carts and gutted cabinets.

I did start off seeing yet another gutted cabinet. That sale was in Oak Lawn. It was a ctc16 with the bezel and back cover still intact. I didnt take the cabinet, but I took the back cover screws as those are handy to have. Too bad, the cabinet was mint. There was a ctc-58 console in the living room but I left that too. It was in sad shape cosmetically and CRT was toast. Had a new sony on top which also hacked the cabinet up.

The 4th sale I went to was the best one, as thats where both of my TV finds were at. The sale was on the south side at 3751 W. 57th st. in Chicago. First set was a '73 RCA 18" portable with cart in the bedroom, its a CTC-59. So I was happy to find that. As I walked into the kitchen I could hear the flyback ring from a TV in the sun room. As I walked into the room, I could see the edge of the cabinet and it looked good! A mint '67 CTC-25 was sitting there playing with a great picture off the rabbit ears! I couldn't believe it. Its a swivel base set too. The set was on for a while, the cabinet was very hot. Looked at the back and all the cover screws were still on there which is a good sign. I pulled the back off and I got extremely lucky once again. This is another 100% original TV with every single original RCA tube. The back was pulled once to clean the tuner it looked like. The shield wasn't reinstalled but was sitting on the bottom of the cabinet. The color is a bit weak but the CRT is strong and the focus is very good. Got both CTC-25 and CTC-59 sets 30% off. Cost me $39.00 for both. They did the math wrong, 30% of $55 for both sets should have been $38.50, but who cares. Im not a cheap skate. Hopefully the ctc-25 isn't going to be one of those sets that needs a bunch of original tubes replaced (like all of the 6GH8's!). Both sets are true survivors as they were both upstairs in a clean house. Really rare to find an RCA without having major service. Lots of times the back cover is hanging on by one stripped out screw and a torn off model tag always adds to the dissapointment. You all know missing or damaged model tags is a big pet pieve of mine. Both these RCA sets were complete which was a nice change of pace.

Getting home was a joke. The day was about perfect. You can see the picture of the house in chicago how nice it was, that was about noon. After the last sale at about 3pm I could see some really dark clouds out west. I was on the north side of the city at this point about to head for home. THe wind picked up and I got very nervous as the RCA in back only had furniture pads protecting it. I pulled into a shell station at irving park+pulaski (for those who know chicago streets) and had to wait for 1.5 hours for the intermittent thunderstorms to finally pass. I kid you not, not 10 seconds after I pulled under the canopy did it start to pour! What luck! I finally left the station at about 4:45! Bought some food in the mini-mart waited in the truck and relaxed for the time. The people who ran the station didnt care that I waited which was nice. Didnt hit a drop of rain back to the house. Need to get a cap on my truck. Rarely do i have tarps in the back. Would be simple enough to have had one with me but for some reason it was left behind. Go figure.

btw, the old radio next to the gutted RCA was sold.

[radiotvnut]

You done well, Doug! Two very nice sets. I have not seen a CTC59 in ages. I think mine was a "trans-vista color" model with a rocker switch to turn it on. Is yours an XL-100 or an Accucolor?

I hope you continue to find stuff from here on out. I know it can get very depressing and irritating to go home empty handed week after week.

[Jeffhs]

Doug always seems to find the best old TV sets (Zenith and others) in and around the Chicago area. I wish I were that lucky. I live in a small town (population 3,220) outside greater Cleveland, where people don't seem to throw out old TVs very often. The last time I saw a console TV out for the trash here was several years ago, a couple streets over from my apartment. It was a 25" RCA color console from around 1978, with the RCA Nipper logo (His Master's Voice) on the front panel. I have no idea if it worked or not. The only other old TV I've seen here was a small RCA 12" portable, about seven years ago (roughly a year after I moved here). The set was sitting on a treelawn only a few hundred yards or so from my apartment; I should have grabbed it on the spot.

[Oldstuff78]

I don't see old sets in my area that much either. If I see any consoles , they are mostly 80's RCA at the Goodwill store. I did see 2 Zenith Chromacolors a few weeks ago.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by Oldstuff78

I don't see old sets in my area that much either. If I see any consoles , they are mostly 80's RCA at the Goodwill store. I did see 2 Zenith Chromacolors a few weeks ago.

If you see any Zenith Chromacolor or Chromacolor II TV's and the price is right, grab them! These are getting harder to find by the day. The same holds true for the early solid-state consoles by RCA (TransVista or early XL100), Motorola (Quasar works in a drawer), Sylvania, etc.

Like you, I see more '80's and later consoles than any of the older stuff. I could have bought a nice looking mid '90's RCA console for $25 from my first grade teacher who was having a moving sale. I knew I'd be hard pressed to get my money back, much less make a profit; so, I left it. It really is a shame that people won't even pay $25 for a later model cable ready remote color TV just because it's "one of those old looking floor models".

[andy]

000

[zenithfan1]

Nice finds! I am glad your dry spell is over! {hopefully}

[ChrisW6ATV]

The radio next to the CTC-16 cabinet also looks like a nice one.