[Bob Andersen]

Here's my most recent Philco TV acquisition. It's a nice blonde Predicta Tandem set. It actually sold on ebay for nearly a grand, but the CRT and enclosure were destroyed by UPS when the seller tried to ship it. He filed a claim, which of course UPS declined, so he listed just the console base back on ebay. Luckily, I have a spare head unit so bid on it and got it for a fraction of the earlier selling price.
[Image: http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Philco-PREDICTA-P...~~60_3.JPG]

I flipped out a bit when I opened the box because there was sticky clear packing tape stuck all over the original finish
[Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8215/83235...c1ff_c.jpg]

Slowly, over the course of an hour, I carefully peeled it off. Success! No finish came off.

There's one mismatched knob, a few paint flecks and some finish loss at the base of the legs. Also, the center HV conductor is broken on the CRT socket. Otherwise, it's in very good condition.
[Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/83235...bbf6_c.jpg]

Here I've removed the back for a look inside.
[Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8217/83235...f672_c.jpg]

I pulled the chassis and was blown away at how clean it is. Easily the most pristine vintage TV chassis I've ever seen. Other than a few tubes, not one single component has been replaced and all the metal surfaces are gleaming.
[Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8364/83246...8692_c.jpg]

[Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8359/83246...6c76_c.jpg]

Now for the best part. I did some basic checks and only found a bad thermistor. Once that was replaced, I slowly powered it up and it actually works quite well
[Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8222/83235...670e_c.jpg]

[Image: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8217/83246...6a91_c.jpg]

I figure a few new tubes and some tweaking will get it running even better. Which leaves me torn. Do I continue to run it on all the old parts or do a recap ?