My Motorola VT-73 Arrived!

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These have been on my tv watchlist for a while-in that they are lightweight, easy to work on, and boast electrostatic deflection cicuits.

When one came up on ebay that was right in my hometown, I bid away, but when the bidding approached the $200 dollar range, I backed down and bid on another one. Well, it came today, and I snapped a few pictures of what I got:

I had requested it be packed carefully, and if this was any other set (ie not designed as a piece of luggage) it would have been smashed to pieces. I had requested that the seller open the back of the set and try to stuff some packing around the picture tube. What I got was a piece of foam stuck under the lid, protecting the face of the set. Other than being in a box that was too small, there was no other packing. With all that said, the tv appears to be in great shape.

I was very concerned about the picture tube-in every chassis picture I've ever seen, I never saw the tube supported by anything. Luckily, I now know the tube has a wooden mount inside the cabinet. With a little bit of dusting, the chassis cleaned up nicely. The picture tube must has been stored upright for the last 50 years, as the rubber crt face mount has melted all down the length of the tube. Stalagtites of the goo were hanging out of the back of the set when I got it. The picture tube itself looked like a guttered candle. With a little patience, this all came off with a bit of cleaner.

Looking under the chassis, I can only see that one cap has been replaced. The tubes are all RCA or Motorola, except for a cheasy "long life" unbranded tube. Looks like this set saw little service before getting put aside. Manufacturing date is May 24, 1949. Personally, I can't wait to get into this one. I expected this set to be of pretty cheap construction, given its low selling price, but the quality is really decent. No wonder Motorola sold so many of these.

edit:
Don't see the pictures? Well, I didn't post any as I am having issues with my SD card reader. We'll see if I can amend that later today...