4WD,
Thanks for posting the Curtis Mathis wiki. Neat wiki, not to long but interesting and kind of sad in some ways.
From the wiki:
During the next few years Curtis Mathes worked to design a
modular TV and modular TV parts and chassis, so that warranty service would involve quickly switching a part, tube, tuner or picture tube. These all had snap-in connectors and were held in place by brackets instead of
solder or screws. He envisioned a TV that would never require costly repairs, and early on started offering a 4-year warranty on picture tube, parts and labor.
By the mid-1970s and the advent of
solid-state electronics, Mathes had achieved results. The TV consisted of 11 parts: 7 circuit boards, a tuner, a picture tube and a transformer, plus the cabinet. A repair person carried all ten electronic parts in their truck and a repair call seldom lasted more than 20 minutes. In home the fee was $20, and free in the shop.
Curtis Mathes, Sr., died in 1977. Curtis Mathes, Jr., became the Chairman of the Board and the company's public face, appearing in its television commercials until his 1983 death in the
Air Canada Flight 797 fire at
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
[2]
The company began to decline, going from a peak of 5,000 employees and seven manufacturing facilities to about 50 employees in 1988 when it was sold to Enhanced Electronics. At the time of this sale, it was the last remaining fully U.S.-owned electronics company.
I think a thread on Curtis Mathis would be a great read.
