Saved from the trash.

[Jayce]

I was on my way to work this afternoon when I saw this sitting by the curb along with trash bags for trash pick up tomorrow:
   
   

It's a postwar Zenith, radio/phono console. Mostly complete except for one button that changes from radio to phono. I saw this sitting there and turned around since the owners of the house were out doing cleaning around the yard and garage. Asked them about it and thay said I could have it if I wanted it. It's definitely a bit rough, but I couldn't let it go for trash. Now if this had been a garage sale, I would have just let it be. This has 'Model 9H881' stamped on the chassis.

[Arran]

It's an FM set I believe, but other then that one button it looks like it's all there. The unfortunate thing about it is that the poor condition of the faux finish on the cabinet, it would be interesting to replace that faux dinoc wood grain with real veneer, the design isn't too bad for a post war console.
Regards
Arran

[Jayce]

Yeah, that's the issue with the postwar Zeniths for sure. They went wild with the dinoc finish! These things look nice with the finish intact, but are a pain when it degrades. I guess they made a chippendale version of this too with the tuner and phonograph side by side. I know someone who has two or three of those just collecting dust in storage. I couldn't beat the price of this one though.

[Arran]

In looking at the pictures, does the top use real veneer but the front uses the dinoc finish? Even though it is a radio/phono combo unit I sort of like the design.
Regards
Arran

[Jayce]

I was wondering that myself. The top does look like regular veneer from what I can tell. Nothing seems special about it and I could probably replace the bad top-most section easily. Actually, I might be getting back a 12 tube Zenith radio-phono I used to have from the same year range as this one soon.