time meant nothing, never would again

It's been awhile since my last post about "completely unnecessary but damn cool" toys...but here's a great one!

JS Online: Retro TVs, this time in color: "Dousman - It's back to the days of Sputnik and the Jetsons for a small company that makes retro televisions for people who could afford the latest in plasma-screen technology.
With their funky shapes and stained-wood finishes, Predicta televisions capture the spirit of the 1950s and 1960s but use modern electronics and have color screens.



'The spirituality of the TV is what's important,' said David Riedel, owner of Telstar Electronics, the producer of Predictas - a television that had a cult-like following in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In the basement of his rural home, Riedel and about five employees custom-build televisions based on the original Predicta designs from Philco Co., which filed for bankruptcy protection in 1962. This month, Riedel is moving into bigger digs in the Dousman area, partly so that he has more room to work.
His company builds about eight models of the Predicta, including the Pedestal version that originally had a yellow painted top and a mahogany-finish cabinet. Everything on the retro televisions is meant to be functional, rather than window dressing, including the big knobs, dials and swivel screens.

"These televisions are meant to be used," Riedel said. "It's not like the antique deep-fryer that someone puts in their recreation room just because they think it looks cool."

Telstar has built about 500 televisions in eight years. The Predictas have been used as background props in movies such as "Inspector Gadget," and they've been bought by Hollywood celebrities and film producers.