What does collecting old tv's mean to young people?

[wkand]

Hi:
Really glad there are very young people interested in the hobby.

I am 57, recent retired from Boeing, and I learned electronics from a former military and civilian electronics technician in high school, as a three year certificate program that earned you 1 full year at the local community college (way before "Running Start" type programs). My motivation was to learn to fix our household sets, and avoid those dreaded words, "It has to go to the shop." I was really into TV as a boy and teen, and watched all those 1960's sitcoms as well as the local Seattle kids shows (J P Patches, Stan Boreson, Captain Puget, Brakeman Bill) at the end of their glory days.

My dad did the basics (testing tubes at the local TV shop) and even at 5-6 years old I was always fascinated by the glow of the tubes in the back of the set when he worked on it. He worked second shift at Boeing, took the speaker out of the set, and ran speaker wire under our carpet from the TV to his favorite chair so he could watch/listen to Johnny Carson after work without disturbing us kids. So I got the bug from him too, although he was never trained in electronics.

In the 1980's I had a bunch of vintage sets from the 1950's, '60's and '70's, all with tubes, as well as several radios and parts. I was still living at home and every room had some of my collection. Mom and Dad finally said I had to get rid of the sets, and to this day I regret having to dispose of all of them. I still have a 1965 Zenith chassis 25MC33 roundy combo, and a 1967 Motorola 23" color console, but they are still at my parents house, and will have to go soon. I have no space in my current house, and my wife is not into it at all...

I am a vicarious collector these days except for recently acquired test gear and a few older transistor radios from my parents and thrift shops. The bug has not gone away...