VTLA Victor Found

[Silvercrw]

Hey guys! I found a vtla - 7622 in an old barn. The guy wants 150 for it. The casing looks like it needs alot of work. Everything is there but haven't seen it in person. Do you guys think its worth it?

[Bordde]

Looks like a cobble. The motorboard and tonearm don't belong to this machine and may not be Victor.

[estott]

NO- absolutely not. Aside from the case damage it doesn't have the correct works- I think someone has put a portable phonograph under the lid.

[Zeppy]

Actually, from the looks of it, everything is not there. It has the wrong tone arm and reproducer, wrong motor and motorboard, and it looks like the horn is missing.

It's hard to tell with the picture, but it also appears that some of the trim work is missing, and possibly some veneer from the front right door.

That being said, if it were close to me, I'd try to talk him down a $100, but in the end, I'd probably still take it. I picked up an oak VTLA for $200 (plus another $100 in shipping) in not much better condition (had the proper tone arm and horn, but was missing the motor board and motor...finish was shot, veneer was peeling and some of the trim was missing and the lid prop was broken). I did get the bonus of the key being included, but I didn't know about it when I bought it, so it didn't play a role in the decision.

Point for you to consider is that the parts you're missing are pretty expensive. The motor alone will run between $200 and $400. The tone arm with the proper bracket is another couple hundred. My decision to purchase my machine hinged on the fact that I already had the motor (got lucky on ebay and bought one dirt cheap). However, I did have to have a custom motorboard made (you might have better luck with finding a mahagony motorboard than I did with oak...I've seen them pop up now and then). That, and it will require complete refinishing (how handy are you with stripper, filler, stain and shellac?).

Still, if it were me, and my wife didn't know about it, how can you pass it up (provided they didn't carve up the thing to get whatever motor and tonearm they have attached to it now)?

[OrthoFan]

NO- absolutely not. Aside from the case damage it doesn't have the correct works- I think someone has put a portable phonograph under the lid.

I'd say it's parts from a Columbia Viva-Tonal--possibly even the crank:

Victrola.JPG (27.12 KiB) Viewed 1859 times

[silvercrw]

Wow! Are you serous! See that is why I come here to ask first. When i talked to them they said its been in storage for 50 years. AHHH

[Zeppy]

Yup...the parts have been swapped...but for me personally, it's not a deal break....for a comparison, below is what I paid $200 plus shipping:

[Jerry B.]

Wow, an Oak VTLA! Now that's a piece of history. As for the threads VTLA... all the previous postings are correct about the missing and incorrect parts. I think you should ask the sellers to check around for the removed parts. If it's been at that address for fifty years, there's a decent chance the original parts are nearby. If just the correct motor was found, it would be worth consideration. Jerry Blais

[Zeppy]

I'm still going to make my case for buying the machine. If the case is unmolested (nothing was cut up to get the current motor in), even at $150, I'd seriously consider it. I have seen the missing parts come up on ebay over the years. It's not like you're going to need them right away anyway, so you can afford to be patient. Unless you're retired and have nothing else to do all day, restoring that cabinet will take you a lot of time (at least to do it right). I've been working on my VTLA for 3 years now. There have been months were I spend a great deal of time working on it, and months where I didn't touch it. This machine is a major commitment, and if you're up to it, it could pay off. You might even find an L-Door XVI in poor condition that could get you most of the parts all at once (there is a recent thread where a member picked up an L-door XVI in poor condition, and got a better cabinet from another board member). It's worth at least checking out the machine to see what's there, and how bad it really is.

Save the VTLA!

[Zeppy]

Just to harp back on the VTLA....there is an auction on ebay currently for a horn, and tone arm. The tone arm isn't exactly the correct version (it should be a two part bracket with a large gold knob holding them together), but I believe it should at least work (I can even double check if you're seriously considering it...I have both types at home). As far as I know, the horn was never changed, and should work. That would just leave the motor missing (provided the cabinet isn't otherwise molested).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Victrola-XVI-Sound- ... 3a5f2d7f96

http://cgi.ebay.com/Victrola-XVI-Exhibi ... 3a5f2a2110