Did Muntz have a color roundie in 1971 ?

[AlanInSitges]

Yeah, that Muntz was a Roundie. It had a stereo phono and AM-only radio. I seem to remember they went through a rebranding or change of distributor about the time this was on the market.

[KentTeffeteller]

Philco-Ford kept a loss leader Roundie available into 1971-1972. That last chassis also incorporated a few transistors. CRT varied as to supplier. Some of the late ones were Philco, some used RCA leftovers. Actually a decent set. Made a good picture and was reasonably reliable. Sold for around $300. A good economy set.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by KentTeffeteller

Philco-Ford kept a loss leader Roundie available into 1971-1972. That last chassis also incorporated a few transistors. CRT varied as to supplier. Some of the late ones were Philco, some used RCA leftovers. Actually a decent set. Made a good picture and was reasonably reliable. Sold for around $300. A good economy set.

My uncle bought one in 1968, from the Goodyear Service store in downtown Milwaukee. He remarked that he wasn't going to pay $600 for a set, that one for half the money was just as good.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by KentTeffeteller

Philco-Ford kept a loss leader Roundie available into 1971-1972. That last chassis also incorporated a few transistors. CRT varied as to supplier. Some of the late ones were Philco, some used RCA leftovers. Actually a decent set. Made a good picture and was reasonably reliable. Sold for around $300. A good economy set.

Getting back to Philco, I had a Philco-Ford badged 15" Toshiba portable that was the same as the Sears model, a 1968 model. I also had a GE PortaColor that had the Philco-Ford badging.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by KentTeffeteller

Philco-Ford kept a loss leader Roundie available into 1971-1972. That last chassis also incorporated a few transistors. CRT varied as to supplier. Some of the late ones were Philco, some used RCA leftovers. Actually a decent set. Made a good picture and was reasonably reliable. Sold for around $300. A good economy set.

I wouldn't call this TV an "economy" set, at least not in color TV's early years. I don't think anyone could touch a color TV for under $500 until the '70s or so and all three networks, not just NBC, were carrying full color programming. NBC had been showing 100-percent color programming from about the '60s or so as a television network, and still does to this day. I have yet to see a b&w program on NBC, except for the occasional monochrome photograph or film clip on NBC's nightly news broadcast.

NBC's relentless advertising as "the full color network" may well have helped the sales of color TV sets, but color sets were still very expensive until at least the 1980s or so. My grandmother bought a Sears Silvertone 25-inch color console TV when she retired in 1969; however, I think she must have paid well over $300 for it, as color TV was still very new and the sets were not flying off store shelves at the time.

[John Adams]

In Fall, 1956 RCA was advertising color tv starting at $499. Several ad’s in Life Magazines I have recently been reading. I sold Zenith in the 60’s and we had a 21” in a black cabinet for $399 around 1966.
I have seen the 2 page ad by NBC around mid 1956 in Life. A real push for color tv.