Estate Sale Finds in 2010!

[Sandy G]

"Here's the Story, of a Lovely Lady..." (grin)

[Electrohome]

That 1978 Zeith Chromacolor II from Februrary, 1978-that's the very month and year I was born on Sunday February 12, 1978:-) My parents had a 1976 Zenith Chromacolor II which I now have in storage with this same delta-gun CRT and solid-state chassis.
Also got a 1978 Zenith Chromacolor 19-inch table top color set w/delta-gun CRT and the original cart I got here in North Bay in about 2007-one of a few left here then I managed to get at the local SA.

[leadlike]

We have that Avocado/lime green lazy susan chip and dip. I got it for Laura as an anniversary present, or something.

[Spinning Head]

Looks like a nice clean set. Didn't know Zenith used this cabinet for chromacolor IIs. Looks just like my grandma's chromacolor from '73. Luckily it is still in by folks basement. Only thing wrong with it is the broken volume slider. I guess that was the weak point with these.

[drh4683]

I didn't find a TV today but I always keep an eye open for nice portable stereo phonographs as I have a nice little collection of those going too. The sale was at 4515 Florence Ave, in Downers Grove, IL. I found a 1968 Magnavox portable. Its a solid state unit, but Magnavox is a rare find around here, especially in a portable stereo phono. This thing is very high end and built solid. When I saw it, a guy was trying it out looking serious like he was going to buy it as he moved it over by an outlet to plug it in etc. Initially, I was bummed out as I though for sure he was going to buy it and I didn't have a Magnavox portable phono in my collection on top of it. So I continued to watch him fiddle with it......He didn't realize that you need to have the stabilzer arm lifted UP in order for the tone arm to automatically drop down on the record. instead, each time he turned it on, he moved the knob to "rej" and the tone arm just cycled lifting up, then dropped back down on the support and then shut off each time. I could tell he was getting frustrated as he really wanted it to "work" but then again, I could tell there was nothing wrong in the first place. It was operator error. He finally gave up and I asked if he was going to buy it. He goes: "ah.... the darn mechanisem is screwed up, otherwise I would buy it" so he closes it up and puts it back where he found it and moved on. That little voice inside my head says "YES!!!!!" with excitement and as soon as he walked away I grabbed it! What a lucky break.

And of course, it works just fine. You just need to know how to use a phono changer and if you don't stack records, the tone arm doesn't set by itself on the record unless you keep the stabilizer arm in the "up" position like I mentioned.
I walked out the door with it for $15. The thing is like brand new and still has the 45 adapter on the clip. Once I got it home, I tried a record out on it, the sound is outstanding, nice deep bass with crisp high tones. Magnavox had a top notch product with this little phono. It'll see lots of use playing my 50's/60's instrumental records like Ray Conniff, Nelson Riddle, Bert Kaempfert etc.

[Electrohome]

Many of these portable stereo phonos were found in college/university dormitories in the 1960's and 1970's in the days before cassette players which those college kids had to play their favourite rock albums on:-) These portable stereo phonos were also in smaller apartments as well or w/people who moved a lot in the 1960's and 1970's with their LPs and 45s. You can say this was the forerunner to the boombox we came to know and love in the 1980's:-)

[radiotvnut]

Nice unit! Those Magnavox portables are rare around here, too. I've got one very similar to yours, with a built in radio. It needs to be restored and I paid too much for it; but, I figured I'd better get it, since portable Maggies are hard to find.

[Whirled One]

How strange! A few weeks ago what appeared to be the exact same model (including color) Magnavox portable stereo phono showed up at a local "junk store." I didn't buy it though, as it was in rather poor condition and had some significant water damage. I do have a Magnavox portable stereo phono from about the same era with a built-in AM/FM stereo tuner though.

Like you, I don't generally see a lot of Mangavox portable stereo phonos, but older (tube-era) monophonic ones seem to be more common for some reason.

Anyway, it's a good find, especially with the Collaro changer. [Magnavox usually used Collaro changers in their consoles, but it seems like their portables often had V-M changers instead.]

[batterymaker]

Originally Posted by drh4683

I noticed that some of the names in the 60's brochures are named after chicago suburbs like "The Lombard", "The Lisle", "The Glen Ellyn" and "The Berwyn" for example.

That've made "The Woodridge" a crappy little B&W table set.

At least that's what I thought of the place when I was forced to live there. TWICE....

Bill


BTW--great little portable phono--I remember those kind vividly when I was a kid. My sister had a Silvertone made up similarly to that one.

[drh4683]

I had today off of work so I was able to hit one estate sale. Todays sale was in Elmwook Park, IL at 2527 74th Ct.
I found a nice 23" table model chormacolor II in the vinal clad metal cabinet. RARE, these hardly ever pop up. Its the 2nd metal cabinet chorma II table model I ever found. As I pulled the set away from the wall, I noticed it was still attached to the outdoor antenna lead and the set was not plugged in. I plugged it in and fired it up to see what happened. Well, it works, I picked up a few analog stations that are still going out here but the horizontal hold was off freq and it couldn't come back with the adjustment. I could tell the picture was going to be fine though, it was sharp and bright. Thats an easy fix.
Its a 1976 model G4541W and it uses the 23GC45 chassis. This was still one of the earlier production runs for the vertical chassis, so it used the infamous white safety cap. It was replaced though. Notice it still has the yellow sticker on back indicating that the safety cap was replaced.
One thing happend that really irritated me though. At the sale, a guy was offering to help me move the TV. I told him I'd get it ready by moving the things off the top. However, the first thing I noticed is that the set was sitting on a table too small for the set. I feared that the plastic feet were broken off like they are so many times. Before I even started, I felt underneath and to my surprise, all of the plastic snap in feet were present. It made my day as those are always brittle and break easily if not being careful. Sure enough, as I take the last thing off the top, the guy just jumps in gets ready to grab the set and he turns it 90 degrees on the small table so he could get his grip ready. Right as he was getting ready to turn I said "Wait, don't do that let me help.........." and sure enough it was too late "snap snap snap snap". All of the plastic feet sheered off the bottom of the set when he turned it and I heard all the plastic peices fall to the floor and roll away. The edge of that table was like the sheer and just clipped them all off. I was so po'd at the guy but I didn't say a word, he was only trying to help. I was even more upset because I told him I wanted to do all the prep work from the start as I feared those feet would get damaged if someone was being careless, but he still just jumped in anyway before I could stop him. Well, I looked around the floor to find all of the feet and fortunately I did. The good news is, they're salvagable. Those particular plastic feet with the spreader locking pin are impossible to find so I'll have to silicone them back under the cabinet now or something. Its one thing if something has damage or a flaw that was present before i found it, but when something gets damaged in front of my own eyes, it drives me nuts.

Either way, Its a nice set and it should clean up really well and once I get the horizontal issue fixed. It'll have the razor sharp zenith picture very soon.

[bandersen]

Nice find Sorry to heard about the feet. I've had similar issues before too (gouge on the front of my GE 802). They're just try to help so what can you do
That set looks really, really clean I'm sure you'll get it running perfectly in no time.

[radiotvnut]

Yes, it seems that those metal cabinet solid state sets are somewhat hard to find, no matter the brand. Over the years, I've had 2 or 3 metal cabinet CCII's and one or two metal cabinet system 3's. The metal cabinet tube sets seem to be more common.

Anyway, that's a nice set and I know it will work as good as new when you're finished with it.

[Findm-Keepm]

Very nice find, Doug! Those metal cabinet Zeniths were quite common around here - they used them in the Navy Barracks. When they replaced them in the mid-80's with System-3 sets, they were sold at the DOD-auctions here. Interestingly, they used a three-prong power cord and three pin interlock, whick was red plastic. The ground went only to the cabinet via a green wire and rivet. Other than that, they were identical to your set. Sad to say, I junked a few for my Dad - the CRT's were shot, as barracks sets were on 12-16 hours a day.

Cheers,

[Greg B.]

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

Very nice find, Doug! Those metal cabinet Zeniths were quite common around here - they used them in the Navy Barracks.

That's interesting, since here in Canada, Zenith sets were usually about the most expensive around. There were a number of dealers back in the '70s, mostly small TV/stereo shops as opposed to department stores (at least that was the case locally) but I don't recall knowing anyone that had a Zenith set when I was growing up. I do remember that they did advertise on TV and in the newspapers though. Recently an interesting newspaper archive was put online with a local weekly from the 1970s being part of the mix. Last night I caught a couple of Zenith print ads from 1974: one, for their series of Allegro stereos (from $219 to $469 IIRC) and one for a couple of color sets. The most expensive of those was in a fancy cabinet and was over $1000.

Here's the Allegro ad:

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/n...Page=200916435

Here's the TV ad (with a few Allegros too):

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/n...Page=200916251

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by drh4683

Those particular plastic feet with the spreader locking pin are impossible to find so I'll have to silicone them back under the cabinet now or something.

Doug,

Can you post an image of the feet? I have tons of feet from junked sets (thanks Dad!) and may have some undamaged ones I can send you.

Cheers,