Ok I love my vintage Zenith TV but....

[hreodbeorht]

Zenith Newspaper Ad, September 1963

 

[kevinpreston8]

Thanks Hreodbeorht

That looks like mine exactly. So it is the Hinsdale 5026W, as mine is definately walnut and not cherry. Timeframe fits...they likely got the 1964 model in early 1965 when we moved. They even mention Rick's point about the hand crafted chassis.

It does say something about the quality of this thing, still running after all these years and requiring little, I believe, more than just a bit of professional tuning.

I wonder if it was expensive in its time, and if so, how much more than average? My parents are not crazy spenders, but they always came through with buying the nice cars, appliances and electronics (you may remember their wild Curtis Mathes stereo I raved about).

Thanks again for taking the time to add this.

 

[whirlcool]

I remember that Color TV's were around $500-$700 in the mid 60's. Which adjusting for inflation was a lot of money. My parents paid $550.00 for their 1965 rectangular screen Zenith new. I think the price varied by the cabinetry involved. Some brands like Magnavox & Curtis-Mathis were at the upper end of this range. And having remote control increased the price. And if you got a huge console (TV & Stereo) the price could go up to over $1,000.
In 1966 my parents bought a Zenith stereo console (with 2 G tonearm) with the movable wooden doors. It went for $389.00. It had input output jacks on the rear so in the late 60's I was able to hook up my Roberts reel-to-reel to it. It came from Polk Bros of all places!

Over the years, up until just about 8 years ago or so when Color Television became a comodity Color Television prices were pretty static.

 

[petek]

I remember a time my dad came back from a business trip, would have been in the mid-late 60's where he'd had a tour of a Zenith tv plant and was amazed..that some of the workers were sitting there assembling electronics and eating potato chips etc. at the same time. Dad was a keen electronics hobbyist, lotsa Heathkit stuff etc at our place and after seeing that going on right during assembly he said he'd never buy a Zenith.

 

[whirlcool]

Speaking of Heathkit...

I had heard a lot of people say that the Heathkit Color Televisions had some of the best pictures around. But I have never had an opportunity to come across one.
Has anyone here ever seen one in operation and what were your findings?

 

[petek]

Is Heathkit still in biz? The last store I ever saw was a 20+ years ago in the Vancouver suburbs.

 

[chad_hauris]

I have a Heathkit GR-295 tube type color TV which works pretty well although it could use some work to the vertical circuits and a new CRT or CRT repair as the bonding material between the safety glass and CRT has gone cloudy.
The chassis hinges outward for service; looks very easy to work on.