[Arran]

I always figured that the cabinets on brand Z sets weren't really that bad, at least on a higher end 15 tube models, Crosley cabinets, on the other hand, really were cheap. The point is taken about some of them being tacky, I never liked the Walton tombstone cabinets for example, but being a Canadian collector I have higher standards for radio cabinets. I don't know what the production numbers were for the 15 tube brand Zs verses 37 and 38-116s but the figures in the gallery seem to suggest that for a 15 tube console they made a lot of them, probably more then any make, I think they were also better built so more survived. Of course they have an amber celluloid dial viewed through a peak hole rather then a big black dial, and the cabinet style is rather restrained, but they don't just look like performers they can back it up.
I think The Waltons TV show may explain a good part of the appeal, but also when the order of the big black dial became really popular in the late 1980s early 90s they were the only North American electronics brand still in business. Philco was gone before 1980, and RCA was sold to GE and then sold again to Thompson, who then spun off the name on Asian badge engineered junk.
Regards
Arran