Color Television was disappointing when first introduced?

[Chad Hauris]

Originally Posted by bgadow

In some GE service documents I have there is a letter dated 1977 from GE-Portsmouth, VA, stating that manufacture of the HE chassis was over & done. My guess is that there were a bunch of leftovers that they put in the warehouse & that they didn't get date coded until they were ready to ship. Either that or demand was so great that the General had to put them back into full production.

Bryan, anyway you could get a scan of that letter...we could store it on our website for historical archive purposes.

[kc8adu]

next time i go there on a service call i will be sure to take a pic of that portacolor.

[oldtvman]

Originally Posted by kc8adu

next time i go there on a service call i will be sure to take a pic of that portacolor.

I purchased one of the very first porta-color sets in 1965, touted as the first real portable color tv. I paid 249.99 for it.

[Sandy G]

Yeah, I remember the ads of the time featuring a kid hauling a Porta-Potty around the house. Musta been a strong kid, 'cause altho they weren't as heavy or bulky as a std TV, Porta-Colors were hardly "liteweight". My 7" 1969 Sony Trinitron was fairly portable, but it was still more than lots of people wanted to haul around for the hell of it. Seems like all those early Sony Trinitrons were porky little suckers...-Sandy G.

[frenchy]

My minty Portacolor came with this factory stand with wheels on it, actually a very nice little stand, real wood slats, hasn't rusted, removeable wheels, a little rack on the bottom made of wood that you can put whatever on. THIS thing makes it easy to push it from room to room with the touch of a finger on hard floors as yes, the TV is not exactly lightweight. Guess for $250 which was a fortune back then, they had to go a little extra on the quality of the stand... or maybe it was just because back then everything wasn't junky : )
I'm sure it is a factory stand since the front slat has little notches in it for the tv's bottom rails....Frenchy

[yagosaga]

Who of you all has a Porta-color in his collection?

[southernguy]

Wow, I've got a stand just like that somewhere in my storage building. I didn't know that was used mainly for a portacolor or even came with one. Ive got 4 portacolor color sets. I got my first one 8 years ago at a yardsale for 2 bucks and ive used it on a daily basis since then. Come to think of it. Ive never had to take a portacolor apart, replace a tube, or change a cap. Like everybody seems to say, they just keep going and going. Kind of takes out all the fun in fixing them.

[tritwi]

Hello everybody! I love portacolors and very other amarican made old color televison, especially zenith ones! I have a 1966 ge portacolor and I'm waiting to get my second that is an european cousin. It's a kuba portacolor and I really can't wait to have it my hands! Unfortunately zenith,ge, rca televisions are very very hard to find here in Italy! Anyway I also have a ct 100 rca. Anyone out there has an idea about when I could find a 15 gp 22 working?
Best regards

[Pete Deksnis]

Originally Posted by tritwi

I also have a ct 100 rca. Anyone out there has an idea about when I could find a 15 gp 22 working?

There is now one known CT-100 in Italy, s/n B8002539; is that your set, or is this a second set? If so and you wish to share the s/n, it can be found as shown in this link:
http://home.att.net/~pldexnis/potpou...odedAreas.html

--Pete

[Sandy G]

Telecolor- I have 2 Porta-Colors-an early tube model, & a 1984 solid state model that technically isn't a Porta-Potty,but has that weird not quite rectangulr/not quite round CRT they had.-Sandy G.

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by kc8adu

next time i go there on a service call i will be sure to take a pic of that portacolor.

Please do-- I'd like to see that as well! Be sure to include a shot where the manufaturing date sticker is visible.

I've got five or six Portacolors ranging from 1966 to 1977, but I'd love to find a 1980 Portacolor..!

As far as weight goes, it's true that Portacolors aren't as lightweight as small portable B&W sets from the same era, but they're still pretty darn light in weight compared with most other 10" - 13" color sets up through the early 70's or so. Try picking up a Sony KV-1210 in one hand and a GE Portacolor in the other hand, and it's no contest that the GE is lighter in weight. No transformer + printed circuit construction + Compactron tubes + plastic cabinet = a rather lightweight tube color TV. Even GE's first attempt at a solid-state replacement for this set (the Portacolor II) weighs more than the ol' all-tube Portacolor (partly due to the power transformer) and the cabinet is basically the same size and shape.

[Steve D.]

Since we've strayed from the original thread into Portacolor land, here's a neat little Portacolor site:

In Living PortaColor
Address:http://www.rwhirled.com/portacolor/


-Steve D.

[colortrakker]

Hmmm...rwhirled, Whirled One. Connection?

[yagosaga]

Originally Posted by colortrakker

Hmmm...rwhirled, Whirled One. Connection?

Yes it is. Whirled is Marty.
Here is another site:
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold...portacolor.htm
(Translation will follow.)

[bgadow]

Still no scanner here at my place, but these snapshots of the bulletin should be better than nothing. That little bit at the bottom was all it had on the HE chassis.

I have 3 Porta-Colors, all pictured on one thread or another. One is an early model, the others are twins from about 1974. Like an All-American Five radio, their simplicity is a curse & a blessing. The performance isn't great but they DO work; & since there is not much to them, there is not much to break. The Porta-Color, to me, embodies everything General Electric was/is about.