Ferguson 619T - the BIG 'Golden Glide'!

[Colourstar]

This is a one-family-from-new set and a member of Ferguson's 'Golden Glide' series I've never seen before, only having come across the 17" 606T and 636T, the latter with FM radio. I have seen a photo of a 21" model which shares the gold-fronted styling of the smaller sets, but I'm not sure of the model number of that one- anyone know?

This consolette is all-singing, all-dancing with the FM radio and roller doors that vanish into the cabinet. There are some great styling touches- such as the novel way the legs attach- that are so redolent of the early sixties. The cabinet is date stamped 2-1-61.

The set is interesting in itself for being one of the first 23" models, which along with the 19" size were sold as the new 'square screen'. The crt is a Mazda CME2306. The tube has integral implosion protection (i.e. a very thick faceplate) allowing 'push through' presentation which would again have been fairly cutting edge as nearly all other sets on the market still employed a separate plate glass or plastic implosion guard.

The Golden Glide tuning on this set ceased to glide many years ago and it seems a television engineer, exasperated at the prospect of re-stringing the cord drive which had probably snapped, has taken the option of boring a hole in the cabinet top and extending the shaft of the fireball tuner to allow the fitting of a conventional selector knob from the spares box. Rather a shame this was done, but I suppose it does form a part of this set's history.

There are no other obvious repairs evident. The owner remembered watching the set when she was a little girl and when it was retired from service it got shunted from room to room until an impending move to a smaller house meant it had to find a new home or go to the tip.

I don't have time to delve into yet another project at the moment, but past experience has shown these sets to revive very well. I just hope the crt isn't as flat as a pancake. Time will tell!

Steve J

[Nickthedentist]

What a beauty!

Most of these must have disappeared by the end of the 1970s, so it must be a rare survivor, I've certainly not seen one before. Like you, I love the bow front, tambour doors and those very stylish legs.

It says a lot that the original owner has kept it this long, even though it probably hasn't been used for decades.

Has the fitting of that extra knob damaged the Bakelite escutcheon at all?

Nick.

[Colourstar]

Hi Nick, yes it is a beauty and a rare survivor. Strange to think that at only 3 years old in 1964 it became out of date with the arrival of BBC2 on 625 lines. Even more amazing that at no point during the later 70s and 80s did anyone in the family get fed up of having a large redundant set in the house and decide to throw it out.

The moulding on top is actually flimsy plastic- very prone to star fractures around the two securing screws. You have to be very careful not to over tighten these. Its slightly grooved where the new tuner knob has caught it, but not too bad.

The following images show an article on the new screen sizes and a great shot of a showroom including my set among its competitors!

Steve

[Tazman1966]

Nick's right! It IS a beauty. Do you reckon that returning the tuning to original specification is a possiblility? It must be said though that the original engineer did quite a nice job with the mod.

I wonder how many of the sets in the picture survive amongst us collectors?

[Colourstar]

Hi Tas, I've not investigated fully, but the channel selector 'carriage' assembly that slides along the slot is missing presumed binned, so a new one would have to be made. Not impossible with a little ingenuity. As to the re-stringing of the mechanism, that would take some skill and patience....

On the brighter side, the hole drilled for the new tuner knob shaft is small and could be filled or disguised.

The set would certainly look better returned to standard as the aftermarket tuner knob is a bit of a carbuncle.

Steve

[Brigham]

Would the sliding-knob arrangement from one of the 'ordinary' 17" sets possibly fit?

[ukcol]

I think, if memory serves, this set uses the Thorn 800 chassis and pre-dates the dual standard 850 chassis.

Colin M

[HamishBoxer]

Yes,Colin that certainly is the 800 chassis that i remember from my DER days.

[peteratnith]

Hi Steve I wonder if the reason for the conversion was the original steel drive wire breaking and falling into the back of the mains switch and producing fireworks out of the glide slot! Seen it happen a few times on 606s. Generally a good performer though, and more reliable than the 506.

Peter

[Colourstar]

Originally Posted by Brigham

Would the sliding-knob arrangement from one of the 'ordinary' 17" sets possibly fit?

Undoubtedly. The whole top sub-chassis that carries the tuner is detachable if I remember correctly, although you do have to remake quite a lot of connections.

Originally Posted by peteratnith

Hi Steve I wonder if the reason for the conversion was the original steel drive wire breaking and falling into the back of the mains switch and producing fireworks out of the glide slot! Seen it happen a few times on 606s. Generally a good performer though, and more reliable than the 506.

Peter

Very interesting! I never knew this was a problem with the Golden Glides. Certainly it would alarm the owner no end! That aside I rather like this chassis- it's designed to be service friendly. In fact there was a distinct move around 1959/60 to make sets easier to work on, with panels that unplug from edge connectors (Alba) and colour coded panels (Philco). Modular construction came in around this point too, although remained the exception rather than the rule for years to come.

Interesting too regarding the other posts- was there a DER badged version of the Golden Glide series or was that exclusively for the Ferguson branded sets only?

Steve