A 1957 General Electric 9T002

[decojoe67]

I visited a friend who had this set stowed away in a back room and I had to have it. It's a 1957 General Electric 9T002 9" portable TV that I call the 1957 Bel Air of TV's! Between the mid-century design and aqua/ivory two-toning it screams the 1950's. it's also very small and light. A real gem. These are also found with Hotpoint badging. The picture on these are rather dark, but okay. This one had been fully recapped and I just thoroughly cleaned and polished. No further detailing.

[old_tv_nut]

You need some boomerang pattern drapes to go with that.

[old_coot88]

Verrry '57ish. Gotta diggit.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...ir&FORM=IDINTS

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

I visited a friend who had this set stowed away in a back room and I had to have it. It's a 1957 General Electric 9T002 9" portable TV that I call the 1957 Bel Air of TV's! Between the mid-century design and aqua/ivory two-toning it screams the 1950's. it's also very small and light. A real gem. These are also found with Hotpoint badging. The picture on these are rather dark, but okay. This one had been fully recapped and I just thoroughly cleaned and polished. No further detailing.

The set uses some odd-ball tubes. A low B+ set, no voltage doubler.

[Tom9589]

You aren't kidding about the odd-ball tubes. The HV for the CRT goes through pin 6 on the CRT socket. I had one that worked quite well until one of the CRT leads broke even with the glass. I never could get a satisfactory repair.

Louis Mattar had a 1947 Cadillac on display at the San Diego Auto Museum. He had one of these TVs (beige and brown) mounted on the headliner for back seat passengers. Of course, he had to have the yoke rotated 180 degrees so the picture was orientated properly.

Here is a link to the SD Auto Museum:

https://sdautomuseum.org/exhibit/lou...s-fabulous-car

Unfortunately, it looks like the car may no longer be on exhibit. It certainly was a sight to behold.

[decojoe67]

Thanks guys. The set pure '50's eye candy. I couldn't even put it up on a shelf. I have it out on a table to admire.
Yes, my friend did a total recap on it and told me how "Ruth Goldberg" these cheapie sets were. He also mentions that, ironically, they were used to death for many years, so that really isn't an insult to them! Unfortunately it's not uncommon to find the CRT's dead in these. This CRT has issues, but is acceptable. I don't consider it one of my so called "players", but it's just a fun set to turn on a watch a Honeymooners episode on.

[electronjohn]

Sweet find!

[nasadowsk]

anyone got a schematic? GE was better than Muntz at half assing TV sets....

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

Thanks guys. The set pure '50's eye candy. I couldn't even put it up on a shelf. I have it out on a table to admire.
Yes, my friend did a total recap on it and told me how "Ruth Goldberg" these cheapie sets were. He also mentions that, ironically, they were used to death for many years, so that really isn't an insult to them! Unfortunately it's not uncommon to find the CRT's dead in these. This CRT has issues, but is acceptable. I don't consider it one of my so called "players", but it's just a fun set to turn on a watch a Honeymooners episode on.

"Rube"

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by init4fun

"Rube"

LOL!
Thanks guys. Whether a cheapie '50's Muntz, Olympic, etc, there really was no bad TV. In fact, when fully restored, these sets often play surprisingly well.

[CrtsRtubular]

Here's a schematic https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DY7...ew?usp=sharing Should be the set

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

LOL!
Thanks guys. Whether a cheapie '50's Muntz, Olympic, etc, there really was no bad TV. In fact, when fully restored, these sets often play surprisingly well.

Not only do I love the look of it , with that awesome classic 50s styling , I love that you've got Phil Silvers showing on it , Great presentation Joe !

[Tom9589]

I would have loved to see one with a UHF tuner. I have no idea where they would have put it!

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by Tom9589

I would have loved to see one with a UHF tuner. I have no idea where they would have put it!

The UHF models have a disk placed on the tuner shaft under the cabinet that's viewed through a long slot forward of the tuner. Models that didn't have it had a snap-on cover over this slot.

….and thanks init4fun. I always thought presentation is very important with these old sets. A classic TV playing a classic show and a radio playing a period song or show makes it really come alive.
By the way, The Phil Silvers Show's were predictable and far-fetched, but Phil, Joe E. Ross, and Paul Ford were fantastic. My favorite episodes are Phil pulling one over on Joe.

[damen]

Not only did they cram a UHF tuner in there, it was powered by its own separate filament transformer.