Magnavox Large Imperial - Salvisa Ky. - $100

[danrclem]

Looks like a good deal to me.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... =top_picks

[William]

It has the tuning eye and Conquest changer so it is an older model, but not sure of the year. 1960 maybe? Greg, please help. For 100 bucks that is a steal, at least in my thinking. How far is that from you, Danny? And, don't you have one already? That is still my favorite Imperial cabinet.

Bill

[electra225]

Same cabinet as mine only in walnut rather than mahogany. 1959 or 1960 if it has a tuning eye. The changer may "need a belt". Good luck buying a belt for a Collaro Custom changer. Good price, seems to be in nice shape. I hope it goes to a good home rather than a console raper.....

[danrclem]

It has the tuning eye and Conquest changer so it is an older model, but not sure of the year. 1960 maybe? Greg, please help. For 100 bucks that is a steal, at least in my thinking. How far is that from you, Danny? And, don't you have one already? That is still my favorite Imperial cabinet.

Bill

Bill, it's probably around 70 miles from me and yes, I already have one, so I won't be trying to get it. I sure wish you were close enough to get it.

The Large Imperials don't seem to come up for sale very often anymore especially at a good price. Come to think of it I don't hardly ever see any of the Small Imperials for sale either.

[William]

There is a member on the forum that has a Little Imperial, at least I think that is what it is. For me, I am happy with my Big Imperial, it sounds fantastic, I am just not a fan of the French Provincial cabinet. The one in your ad is my favorite.

Bill

[electra225]

It is an Italian Provincial cabinet. In mahogany, my thinking is that it's the prettiest cabinet Magnavox ever made.

As an aside, I found out that a lady who works with me at the store worked "on the line" at Magnavox from 1954 to 1969. Her specialty is "the IF board" the little PCB board with two tubes that Magnavox used for years in their tuners. The chassis in tube Magnavox stereos was hard wired with the exception of that little IF board. She said that over 95% of the workers on the Magnavox line were women. The men worked at the International Harvester plant in Fort Wayne, the women worked at Magnavox. She told me that the TV chassis in Stereo Theaters were built in Tennessee. Many times, that Stereo Theater being built was pulled off the line, waiting for it's TV chassis. This may be why the CRT in the TV of my Stereo Theater has a date much later than codes I found on the stereo part. She said it wasn't uncommon for some of the topline models of Stereo Theater to wait six months on their TV components. She also told me that RCA built the big 27" picture tubes for Magnavox, but never offered a tube that large in their black and white sets. The trade-off was that Magnavox helped RCA develop a version of their remote control for use in RCA sets. Sylvania built the 21" and 23" picture tubes for Magnavox.

[William]

A bit of history direct from the horses mouth, a coworkers mouth. I think that is cool!

Bill

[electra225]

The floods in Indiana are in the area I was raised in. Noblesville got hit really hard. The lady I mentioned was sitting at my table when we were on break. She said she was from Fort Wayne. I mentioned that my aunt worked at Magnavox and hauled riders from Hamilton County to Fort Wayne in her six-door Checker cab. She remembered a lady driving "an old taxi cab", but didn't know my aunt. There were several Magnavox employees who hauled riders, apparently. My aunt's old Checker had a 226 cid Continental flathead six with a Dual Range Hydramatic trans, power steering and brakes, but NO AIR! Can you imagine how peppy a 6,000+ pound car would have been, powered by a 110 horsepower engine? She put three engines in it before it rusted out so bad it couldn't be fixed anymore. I don't know how many total miles she drove it, but it was a lot. That Checker had the same powertrain as one of the smaller Divco milk trucks. Carol told me that the PCB IF strip was used in all Magnavox tube tuners from 1958 or so.