Zenith 1961 BW rescue from snowbank

[DavGoodlin]

poking through Craigslist is drudgery until you see something interesting. Normally, typing a brand name yields more than "vintage TV" or "Antique TV", etc.
This one was a "curb alert" in disguise, located a block from where my Grandfather grew up and around the corner from a TV shop with an Admiral sign out front, still selling antennas and other miscellany and NOS.

i called and spoke with someone who was preparing a rowhouse for rental, and needed this set out before the city inspector came By the time I could get down there, it was tossed outside with snow-freezing rain on the way. I hustled down there just as it was getting dark and found this sinking into a snowbank. Dirty and spackled, it should clean up well.

Zenith Chassis 16H23
The CRT cup was cracked, causing a wave of uneasiness before I was able to lay it on its side and squeak it into my wagon.

Back cover shows evidence of careless moving
Then I was relieved to find all but one of teh original screws holding the back on, carefully removing it I found a pretty nice looking inside

VHF tuner and UHF tuner to rear

Very original looking
Zenith tube location stickers were helpful when I was just learning to troubleshoot

Tube chart with signal flow
The UHF tuner was also pretty well disguised, I had only seen VHF-only models before.

Zenith's starfish knob
The control door cover reveals a FOCUS control, very rare on any BW set

All the controls in this drawer, even focus
Time to plug 'er in and start at 80 volts, slowly increasing to 115.
DO NOT TRY THIS with just any TV of this era. i cant say I was surprised, these were the finest and toughest monochrome sets ever made.

Zenith H2735 with flash



After "warming up", the vertical begins the upward roll out of control range, forecasting a strategic re-capping which I had done to a 1964 Zenith 19"
My next task is to flip on it side, remove the $ervice $aver cover over the chassis bottom and get to work.

[stromberg6]

Posts like this make me smile ear to ear!! Thank you for rescuing that great Zenith, and I hope you enjoy it for many years after a re-cap. Still have the CTC-5 Special chassis and tuner assy I "rescued" from a roadside dump. The cabinet and the CRT and yokes were trashed, but chassis is otherwise complete, and good for parts. Never know what you'll find.
Kevin

[Kamakiri]

Y'know, why is it that the cooling fins on these Zenith transformers always seem like they're bent? It's not as if they're flimsy metal, either. My '60 23H chassis was the same way.....

Awesome find! If you ever tire of that set, just lemme know

[truetone36]

Slightly off-topic - Are those neon sign transformers I see to the right of the set in the first pic?

[Electronic M]

Those were work horse chassis. I've got a '59 model with that chassis design, and I think they kept selling that basic chassis design until at least the late 60's.

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by truetone36

Slightly off-topic - Are those neon sign transformers I see to the right of the set in the first pic?

Not quite, those are 8,000 volt capacitors that were removed from 12.47 kV substation switchgear. They were connected in a wye configuartion to improve power factor. Thanks for asking, I have a future project there involving a neon sign transformer and a few 1B3 tubes.

Quote Those were work horse chassis. I've got a '59 model with that chassis design, and I think they kept selling that basic chassis design until at least the late 60's.
__________________
Tom C. End Quote

Now that you mention it, I had several 1965-6 Zenith 23" BW all with a very similar chassis. I sold them all in the mid-80s for about $30-40 each, never had a complaint about those workhorses!

[truetone36]

I have several large neon sign transformers I salvaged from a building that was a large dance hall back in the 50's. I have no idea what I can do with them yet, though.

[Kamakiri]

Grab a couple wire coat hangers, sand the coating off them, bend them up, and you've got a Jacob's ladder

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Grab a couple wire coat hangers, sand the coating off them, bend them up, and you've got a Jacob's ladder

Yep, that's all it takes to make either and oil burner transformer or cold cathode (neon) transformer with a 10,000 VAC secondary into a curious attraction great for Halloween displays

[bgadow]

When I was in high school my best friend dated this girl who lived next to the auction barn. We were over there one day and I noticed the auction's junkpile. There was a Zenith console from the early 60s sitting there for the taking so I loaded it up. It was just sitting in the bed, nothing holding it, and on the way home it fell over, hard. When I got it home I plugged it in and the darn thing worked well. I used it a bit over the next couple years, never doing any repairs. I had it stored in an unheated shed and after a particularly cold snap I went in there one day to find a nice crack right across the screen. I wonder if the rough treatment in the truck put a small chip in it somewhere, which eventually spread? Anyway, I would agree, sets didn't get much more durable.

[holmesuser01]

It's always nice to see an older Zenith being rescued, especially a B/W set!

I've just found a 19" metal cabinet Zenith with its original remote. I'll supply pictures of it on another thread.