Zenith 17Z32 Swivel Console
 

I picked up this 17" Zenith swivel console on CL about a month ago. The chassis is fairly clean but the cabinet needs major restoration. Yes, I know it's probably not worth it, but I love the look and style of the set and want to save it. It started out as blonde, but the finish has mostly flaked off and obviously can't be saved. I'm thinking about stripping it and painting it in a solid blonde color that would be as close as possible to the original color. Any comments or suggestions?

The blond sets often had a painted finish that was a combo of beige yellow and gold paints....You can search faux wood grain painting (look for a fine grain technique), and use that technique in blond cabinet paint colors to make a good approximation (test on scrap wood first) of the original finish.

That top looks like it might be Masonite under the painted finish, or maybe they start out with a dark stain and paint the blond layers over it.? It is a good looking set, and probably a good performer.

If it's made with oak veneer, I used a a white stain then applied amber bullseye schellac to get a pretty close finish. I had a Motorola vt-106 that was painted white and refinished it this way and it turned out pretty good.

Except for the front trim, which looks like oak, the main part of the cabinet is dark masonite. Overall, the cabinet is in decent shape structurally except for a few minor areas of delamination which need to be re-glued.

I'm also going to try to remove the grille cloth and clean it. Except for the staining, it is in pretty good shape.