Estate Sale Finds in 2010!

[radiotvnut]

Very nice haul! That Zenith will make a great picture when it's fixed. I used to have one of those 7" Motorola's; but, it was missing many parts and I let someone have it in order to fix their set. Those Philco radios with the slide in record slot are neat. They made them in '46 and '48 as well as phono only and console versions. There was also a "talking book" version for the blind that played 33 and 78 rpm.

[miniman82]

Interesting info on the radio, thanks! There's still an old Magnavox mono console with magic tuning eye, but I'm not interested in it. FYI.

[sampson159]

that zenith rules!those sets sold like mad back in the 70s and 80s.everyone of those went quickly.once out on the floor,they were snapped up by those"i only want a solid state set"guys.they couldnt deny the picture those sets delivered.congrats on this find!

[RobtWB]

Is that not the famous "Bing Crosby" Philco?

Sure looks like one. Looks restorable.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by RobtWB

Is that not the famous "Bing Crosby" Philco?

Sure looks like one. Looks restorable.

For sure it is...I have been looking for the ad that shows Bing sliding a 78 RPM record into the front slot... no luck! anybody have a copy?

update: Here is a restoration report that shows the famous picture:
http://www.radioremembered.org/Philco46-1201.html

jr

[drh4683]

Nice save on the 4 tuber! You can never have too many of those, they have the best picture! I'm sure the focus resistor is cracked and is leaking to ground, its so common of a problem on those. Take the resistor off, clean it up and give it a nice heavy coating of RTV silcone all the way around, it'll stop the corona trouble.

[miniman82]

Originally Posted by sampson159

once out on the floor, they were snapped up by those "i only want a solid state set" guys.

Guess the joke's on them, this one's got tubes.

[sampson159]

yes,thats the point.back then,no one wanted a tube set.solid state was the latest rage."i am looking for a solid state portable for the bedroom".when they would start browsing,the zeniths were the one they always migrated to.the picture sold the set.they were amazing.again,the name zenith brings a look of excitement to the faces of us old timers.

[miniman82]

Originally Posted by sampson159

the name zenith brings a look of excitement to the faces of us old timers.

Yes, it does.

My grandfather on my mom's side had all Zenith stuff for a long time: Zenith solid state console TV, Zenith receiver/record player, and Allegro 1000 speakers. I remember it well. Then the TV crapped out (acutally the picture was just too dim to watch anymore), so he got a Quazar.

[Jeffhs]

I had mostly Zenith entertainment gear for a long time myself, until the company was taken over by Gold Star and the quality went downhill -- fast.

I still collect vintage Zenith radios (have several vintage sets and two antiques, all but one of which work very well), but I wouldn't give two cents for today's "Zenith" branded flat-panel TVs. Before it went out of business a couple months ago, the laundromat up the street from me had a late-model (probably, even likely or certainly, manufactured by GS) 19" "Zenith" CRT television on a wall mount. I couldn't help wondering how long that set would last , as they had it on all day long and into part of the evening -- from eight a.m. until eight p.m. seven days a week.

BTW, I also remember the Zenith integrated stereo systems well, as I had a 4-mode system with Allegro 100 speakers, eight-track stereo tape deck, phono, single cassette, and AM/FM radio. That system served me well for 17 years (1982-1999), then I moved and bought an Aiwa bookshelf system. Should have kept the Zenith. The built-in cassette decks quit in the Aiwa system after seven years; I was informed by a local TV repair shop that it would cost close to $200 to repair the decks, which was close to what I paid for the entire system originally, now ten and a half years ago. When the second deck finally quit for good, I bought a used stereo cassette deck and patched it into the aux inputs of my bookshelf system. Works every bit as well as, if not better than, the built-in dual decks.

[sanjarali]

Doug, which took place in this picture appears to be such as the home of President in my old country! This must be a person would be very rich and powerful has this nation. Jabara televisions is proof





I note in this funny picture of the story of... ants The television doznes micro-enterprises appear to be people are under way on underneath a beautiful carpet or al-Naml!

[drh4683]

Estate sale at 5201 S. Lorel Ave, in Chicago yesterday. Upon pulling up to the house, I could already tell there was an old TV...in the front room. Just by seeing the back cover I could tell it was an RCA of some kind. Sure enough, it was. Its a 1968 model GL700W and it has a CTC-28 chassis and its been sitting in that front room since day one. Its amazing to me how this happens, factor in this example: This TV has been in this house since 1968, in that same room...it's 42 years of someones life that essentially never changed. Think of everything in your life that has happened in the past and this TV was sitting there this whole time when so much has changed everywhere else... It didn't end there though. It was one of those sales where there must have been no family left, so the family photos were also for sale. I flipped through a bunch of family photos and sure enough I found a few pictures of the original owners in their front room with the TV and Christmas tree in the background. So I took those too to have as a pedigree. These photos were in the walgreens envelope but there were no dates on anything or the envelope, however, some of the other photos were of their street under some massive snowfall. I try to know my Chicago history and I know that there was a record huge snow storm in January, 1979 and these photos looked to be it, so Im going to assume these photos here are from Christmas 1978 which would make sense that its all on the same roll of film. So we're seeing a 10 year old TV already in these old pictures and the owners were already in their late 50's by then. Not sure if it works though, but its in like new condition and was very well cared for. The lady (Bev) running the sale is one of the best ones ones around, she's always been the nicest of the estate sale people and always gives me the sets for dirt cheap. Whenever I see "Estate Sales by Beverly" I know it'll be a good one because she only does the sales where nothing has ever changed, which are the best ones for obvious reasons...

[radiotvnut]

Very nice set and I'll bet it still works. And, it looks like the CRT is cataract-free. I was thinking of the estate sales of today, where the inside of a home often looks the same today as it did 40+ years ago. Then, I think about our society today and how estate sales will be 40 years from now. I think we will find very few sales in which the house has remained the same for several decades. Heck, most people in my age group think they must have a new "this" and a new "that" everytime the wind changes direction. And, forget about them staying in the same house for 40 years. They get bored with whatever they're living in and obtain another "bigger and better" house every few years.

[zenithfan1]

Great find! Looks like that tv moved about 8 feet to the right in the last 30+ years Those pictures are really cool, the tv still looks just as new now as it did then. I too find it amazing how some houses don't change for decades but everything else does. It's kinda like those abandoned houses that still have stuff in them like everyone just left in a hurry, the world moves on but day after day those places are stuck in time until they rot away or someone bulldozes it.

[RobtWB]

Nice find.

I have been searching for the b/w version off that set for some time. It is one of the sets that was in our home when I was a child.

The b/w version is the KCS 183 Series, Model CQ-227W, and uses a 22vabp4 crt.

The cabinets of the b/w and color sets are identical, only the legs are slightly different, and of course the slight diffference of the "mask", as RCA refers to it in their literature. Of course the cabinet is masonite with American walnut grain applied, and the grills flanking the crt/bezel are plastic, but still a nice set.