William Englebert Fahrenfeld and his TV
 

I took a trip last weekend to NY to the home of William Fahrenfeld's granddaughter. I went to pick up William's first television, an RCA TRK-5. When I arrived and saw the set for the first time I was speechless. I spent a short time speaking with the family about William, the TRK-5, and their history. I am still working with the family to write a history to share with the collector community.

This is William at age 24.

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I have spent the last five days cleaning and photographing the set. I have no plans to electronically restore the set. There are only a couple of aesthetic things I plan on fixing, more on that later. For now the set is in many pieces, once I fix those few issues I'll put the set back together.

TRK-5 deconstructed.

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The cabinet.

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What a wonderful find and in the condition the photos show. I will let others argue about restoration and settle for William's vision of buying a set like this and what he thought would come of it. Only he knows and maybe told the family for you to enlighten us later. Congrats.

Hi VTS1134;
Congratulations, How did you ever Run into this, or become aquainted / Find out about it ??? What is the History of Your finding this ?? Please fill us in more.. I would be interested in more close up pictures of the Chassis both out side and bottom inside.. When was this built ?? And what CRT Tube does it use ??
THANK YOU Marty

I think these sets were from 1938-40.

The cabinet is in absolutely amazing condition! It obviously has been well cared for by people that recognized its historic value.

Dave

What a treasure, like the proverbial "57 Chevy in a barn"
That speaker looks like 12 inch and probably had fantastic TV sound.

Beautiful set!!! Soooo jealous!! I have dreams about finding one of these. Sadly, its not going to happen around here. Congrats!!

Congratulations! Great find! I'm looking forward to hearing more of the story as well.

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o.O

Handsome guy, but who shoved him in the mud on the way to the photo shoot?

Congratulations, I have been looking for a TRK5 or TRK9 like your find for many years. It seems you have been extremely lucky recently in your TV finds. Like the others I am interested in how you tracked it down.

Richard

My first hurdle in putting the set back together is the radio bezel. The bezel has shrunk from it's original size. The shrinkage has cracked the bezel around the top left mounting screw.

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I'm not quite sure how to remount the bezel. Should I drill a new mounting location to take the strain off of the bezel in that area? Should I simply leave that screw out of the front? What do you guys think?

The next issue is cleaning the dial glass. I have cleaned the rest of the bezel, but I didn't touch the back part of the glass. I was haunted by visions of me wiping the decals of off the glass so I left it alone, but it could definitely use a cleaning. Were my fears warranted, or can I simply buff the back of the glass with a damp cloth?

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The last issue with the bezel area are the push buttons, they are long gone. The tenite just couldn't hold out for 74 years. I am going to have to order reproduction replacements. Does any one know if the radio bezel has to be off of the set to install them?

I think I have been very lucky recently. I can't say exactly how I found the set, it sort of fell into my lap with the help of a friend. I have been seeking to acquire a TRK-12 since I saw a picture of one three years ago, but I couldn't say no to a TRK-5.

my great grandma had a trk 9 complete when she moved
she threw it in the trash!

I need a new reproduction of the whole dail and bezel ,I bought the set at local flea market for $20 bucks..3 years ago and needed a new bezel and dial glass badly..it suffers the same plastic diease and the push buttons are shot also! Jody

John,
I wouldn't drill any new mounting holes. This would only be a temporary solution as the tenite will continue to shrink and crack around the new hole location. There's nothing you can do. Either leave the screw out or just put it back in barely snug so it can move a little. That's all I do with them.

This bezel was used on a handful of RCA radios at the time but they are nearly as hard to find as the tv's and usually in just as poor condition.

Just use a soft brush like those for cleaning a camera lens. Never use any liquid on the printed side.

The bezel does have to be off to install the buttons. The small lip on the bottom edge of the buttons catches the back side of the bezel to keep the buttons from coming out too far, that is if the bezel isn't so distorted that they'll come out anyway.


What are the brand and date codes on the tubes and crt? It would be interesting to determine how long the set was in general use.

Darryl