Estate Sale Finds In 2008!

[zenithfan1]

Great finds! I really like the "stand" that the B/W set has. You also do not ever see the Zenith rectangulars that are that old. You are one lucky dog!! The sales around here SUCK! It has been several years since I've found exciting things like that at the estates.

[drh4683]

Went to five sales today. First one was in Bartlett, I found a '65 zenith roundie console. Sitting in the basement, untouched. No idea if it works, did not attempt to power it up yet.
Next sale was in Park Ridge. I found this '68 zenith concentric tuner console. It was actually on craigslist, but part of an estate sale going this weekend. It was in the garage waiting to be thrown away if nobody would take it.
Last find was a 1972 or so RCA mural TV in Berwyn. Definitly a hotel model as it has the blank off panel on the back for the controls. This set has a tag from ITC in Berwyn, dated 6-23-76. I bought a philco hotel color set that had this same tag on it. Im curious if this ITC place sold used/repaired hotel sets to the public? I guess its typical of an RCA hotel set to have its model tag ripped off. Yet to see if this one works or not. I didn't save the motorola on the side, the back cover was broken into pieces.

[radiotvnut]

Nice finds! You've been having pretty good luck with finding TV's over the past few weeks. I once had an RCA hospital set that was almost identical to yours. Mine had the motorized tuner with the socket on the back cover for the pillow speaker. It was actually a pretty good performer.

[drh4683]

Yes, the last few weeks have been good. Hopefully the trend continues. I need a trend of having more space though!
I took the back off the roundie before powering it up. Yikes, I was caught by complete surprize with what I saw. a mallory 160@250 blew up like a bomb. Considering that there is no dust on the capacitor guts, Id be willing to bet this happened durring the estate sale. The back was off, so there are some fresh dust disturbance marks in places. Someone probably went ahead and turned it on to see if it worked and then the bomb blew off. Most likely the estate sale people tried to turn it on so they could determine the what to price it at. I guess $10.00 was good for a broken TV! The electrolite is still pretty tacky to the touch, and should hopefully clean up OK. There is spatter all around though.

[Eric H]

Wow Doug, that's awesome!

I wonder if that happened recently, the soot looks newer than the rest of the dirt, I'm guessing the seller tried plugging it in sometime before you got it, did he seem nervous and shaky?

[drh4683]

Eric, I just edited my post while you were typing yours, yes, I think it did happen durring the sale.

[rcaman]

he he he wouldnt you liked to have been a fly on the wall when that happened.

[batterymaker]

Warning--plugging in dormant TV's may cause soiled underwear....

[drh4683]

I disconnected the exploaded cap and clipped in a new cap just to see what would happen. As I waited for it to warm up, I then pressed in the breaker to reset it. On comes a picture. Tube is a little weak, its a channel master rebuild, its green but after a few minutes it seems to get better.

[bgadow]

Amazing stuff! Lately it looks like you're catching fish in a barrel. Really cornering the market on those Zeniths!

[Kiwick]

ouch! that capacitor could have smashed the CRT when it blew up!

[zenithfan1]

That's lucky the CRT didn't get broken, I've never seen a cap go like that! Nice finds and a great picture on that roundie!

[Jeffhs]

The metal shield around the bell of the CRT is probably the only thing that kept the tube from imploding when the capacitor can hit it.

BTW (for zenithfan1): I just looked at one of the videos you uploaded to YouTube and could not believe it. A woman actually stuck to a toilet? If I hadn't seen that clip with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it.

[Carmine]

Originally Posted by zenithfan1

That's lucky the CRT didn't get broken, I've never seen a cap go like that! Nice finds and a great picture on that roundie!

I think you should consider the strain on the tube... could be weakened. Should probably be placed in a large box and have the exhaust tip snipped to be safely disposed of before it implodes and kills a small child.

[drh4683]

Went to an early estate sale today (Friday) which is rare. This one was on my way home from work. I went to a sale at 10655 S. LeClaire Ave in Oak Lawn. Ive been in Zenith finding mode lately, but a cool RCA comes along my way this week. Its a high end model too, motor drive tuning both VHF and UHF. Its a 1968 model with the CTC-30 chassis. The set is like new still. Was in the basement "family room" well cared for. It was one of those TVs that was still plugged in, hooked up to the antenna. And yes, it still works! Strong bright+original CRT with not one sign of cataracts, not even a bubble. Im still amazed how cataracts can be non existant on certian RCA CRT's from this time period. The motor drive tuning is really interesting on this, it has a verticle channel strip indicator. The motor drives need some attention, which should be interesting to work on. Ive never had one of these sets. Its one of those sets that I knew about from seeing in service manuals but never thought I'd be lucky enough to ever find one at this stage (40 years later!). The control layout inside the door is really cool. My favorite cabinet design from RCA. It was priced fair, $50.00. A little high for the first time considering what they normally go for. Normally these can't be given away around here.......regardless, Im more than happy to pay $50 for such a nice TV.
Loaded it up in the truck and away I went driving in rush hour Friday traffic! More estate sales to come for tomorrow.