49 replies to this topic

[SanyaKhalil]

So recently my observatory gifted me a C14 telescope which was in very rough condition so I restored it. They purchased it preproduction and it has no serial numbers so I went online to do some digging. Come to find out it appears it's a tricolor C14 which apparently is a big deal. Here is a picture of it in our dome in 1987. I don't know if this is truly a big deal like some people made it out to be but it is repainted now 😬. I do have picture of it before I painted which looked like it came off a shipwreck but you can see the tan arms and black motorhousing. I can't attach it as I can't figure out how to add more than 500kb of files. This telescope is very special to me due to how I acquired it and the special place my local observatory has in my heart (my inspiration when I was 5). I just want to learn more about this telescope as it is a mystery to me given it's preproduction acquisition and lack of Serial numbers.

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[SanyaKhalil]

Album: C14 Project

7 images

0 comments

 

I have shared a gallery i put together of this telescope. So now there are more pictures. 

[RichA]

It's a tricolour.  Not sure what date it is from.  Early 1970s.  Should be nice.

[SanyaKhalil]

It's a tricolour.  Not sure what date it is from.  Early 1970s.  Should be nice.

Awesome thank you. Do you know if there is anything behind the tricolor. I stumbled on a cloudy nights thread while trying to figure out the Serial number situation where a couple people were saying they don't exist for the c14 and only one was made for a catalog image  or something. I'm not here trying to figure out if I can make some money off this, it's repainted anyway, I just want to learn as much about this scope as I can. I could never get rid of it due to sentimental value, I probably looked through this exact one when I was a child visiting my observatory which now I'm on the board for. Thanks again for the reply though, I very much appreciate it!

[TelescopeBah]

I don't really know much about these telescopes, but I have read here on cloudy nights, that those old C14's were the best optically. Good old American quality! You truly have a scope of the past! Amazing that the 50+ year old drive motors still work! Great job on the restoration, it looks amazing!

[CHASLX200]

1972 or around there.

[ccwemyss]

People here have speculated and argued about the mythical tri-color C14 that was remembered as being in some early Celestron literature, but has never been seen on the market since then. Now we have actual evidence of its existence. 

 

Celestron would often build a prototype or a few, to test the waters for a new model and get feedback. Sometimes they have distinct differences from the production units. Like the early C8s that have central focusers instead of the offset knob. In some cases they gave the earliest ones away. The school where I teach has C11 S/N 4, which was given to the brother of a board member, who was a friend of one of the Celestron founders. The first C11's seem to have been hand-figured as press loaners, to get good reviews, as it has outstanding optics. 

 

So it is likely that this one was also carefully figured to get the most out of the design. Besides the paint scheme, it may have some distinctive features that were changed for later units. We'd love to see more detailed pictures. You need to use software to reduce the size of images you post here to fit under 500KB.

 

Great find and great story!

 

Chip W. 

[jragsdale]

Wow, it does exist! The unicorn! Too bad it wasn't repainted to the original Tricolor palette but its gorgeous all the same. Fantastic find, likely one of the first C14s ever made, possibly even THE first. I wonder if the motors have a date stamp like they do on the original C8/C11s? I have a Tricolor C8 from 1970, Serial #66, it's a VERY nice scope optically.

[SanyaKhalil]

Wow, it does exist! The unicorn! Too bad it wasn't repainted to the original Tricolor palette but its gorgeous all the same. Fantastic find, likely one of the first C14s ever made, possibly even THE first. I wonder if the motors have a date stamp like they do on the original C8/C11s? I have a Tricolor C8 from 1970, Serial #66, it's a VERY nice scope optically.

Honestly, i totally would've repainted it to the tricolor pallete had I known what it was. It's never to late to repaint the forks tho . I only learned about this while trying to figure out why it doesn't have a serial number and this was months after repainting. Thank you celestron for valvatone paint. When I got it I looked at it and was like this needs some love ASAP not even considering it could be something special! I'll check the motors once I get home tonight. 

[deSitter]

Wow, it does exist! The unicorn! Too bad it wasn't repainted to the original Tricolor palette but its gorgeous all the same. Fantastic find, likely one of the first C14s ever made, possibly even THE first. I wonder if the motors have a date stamp like they do on the original C8/C11s? I have a Tricolor C8 from 1970, Serial #66, it's a VERY nice scope optically.

 

It would be worth a fortune even in original rough shape. Amazing find. OP should have consulted the historians here before refinishing it - but yes it's nicely restored. Would like to see more pics of the original before refinishing.

 

-drl

[SanyaKhalil]

It would be worth a fortune even in original rough shape. Amazing find. OP should have consulted the historians here before refinishing it - but yes it's nicely restored. Would like to see more pics of the original before refinishing.

 

-drl

Thank you, unfortunatly I didn't take many pictures of it before,  ill look to see what I have. I was told it was unrestorable, and as a result I just figured it's one man's trash another man's treasure. I do restorations as a hobby. I just wanted a nice c14 which this was very far from being when I got it. Now I know otherwise , luckily there are pictures of it before restoration and underneath that new coat of paint it still holds its history, just hard to tell now, I'll definitely be repainting the forks back to a close original match. Thank you for your input, it's very much appreciated. 

[jragsdale]

Honestly, i totally would've repainted it to the tricolor pallete had I known what it was. It's never to late to repaint the forks tho . I only learned about this while trying to figure out why it doesn't have a serial number and this was months after repainting. Thank you celestron for valvatone paint. When I got it I looked at it and was like this needs some love ASAP not even considering it could be something special! I'll check the motors once I get home tonight. 

Getting the original Nextel Suede paint from Mankiewicz, which fortunately is still available, is quite the costly affair. Getting 1QT of all 3 colors plus the associated hardener, thinner and primers was over $600 when I quoted it last year. It might work for a group buy to then break down into smaller portions though. 

[Kefka1138]

Wow! Congrats OP. How are the views? 

[deSitter]

Getting the original Nextel Suede paint from Mankiewicz, which fortunately is still available, is quite the costly affair. Getting 1QT of all 3 colors plus the associated hardener, thinner and primers was over $600 when I quoted it last year. It might work for a group buy to then break down into smaller portions though. 

Here's a thread where Tim endures the pain and prevails! Long read but worth it.

 

https://www.cloudyni...-135-due-today/

 

-drl

[jragsdale]

Here's a thread where Tim endures the pain and prevails! Long read but worth it.

 

https://www.cloudyni...-135-due-today/

 

-drl

IIRC, he had paint mixed up to color match the Nextel paint, he didn't order the actual suede textured paint from Mankiewicz. The results were still outstanding though. I don't know of anyone who has actually gone through the expense of using the actual real deal though.

[tim53]

IIRC, he had paint mixed up to color match the Nextel paint, he didn't order the actual suede textured paint from Mankiewicz. The results were still outstanding though. I don't know of anyone who has actually gone through the expense of using the actual real deal though.

I'd certainly like to someday.  I remember wondering if any tricolor C-14s survived, or if they were all repainted by Celestron once they figured out they were applying the Velvetone incorrectly.  For a C-14, I'd be sorely tempted to spring for the Nextel gallons (unless someone now were to sell the quarts in the US).  But even paying my paint guy to color match the chip charts would be worth it.  I should have paid for quarts of the House of Kolor paints, but I didn't. So I don't have enough left over paint to do another C-8 even.

 

-Tim.

[CHASLX200]

Maybe someone painted it.

[SanyaKhalil]

Maybe someone painted it.

Here is a picture of when the guy bought it. It was a well known fact at the observatory that he bought it preproduction. He never painted it. Also notice how it has 6 holes on the fork arms while all the pictures of production telescopes have 7 holes. The catalog image also had 6 holes. That's just an observation I made. I could be wrong.

[SanyaKhalil]

I forgot to attach the file my bad.

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[CHASLX200]

I forgot to attach the file my bad.

Some had 7 holes.

[SanyaKhalil]

Some had 7 holes.

All the ones I've seen online for regular production c14 telescope is 7 holes. Not sure if that has anything to do with this but just an observation.

[deSitter]

Maybe someone painted it.

 

Celestron painted it, and it suffered the identical fate that all of them did.

 

-drl

[davidmcgo]

OMG!  That is the original in the earliest ads with( the 6 hole forks and everything!  Tom Johnson himself was in catalog and S&T ads with it.  Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

Dave

[SanyaKhalil]

OMG!  That is the original in the earliest ads with( the 6 hole forks and everything!  Tom Johnson himself was in catalog and S&T ads with it.  Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

Dave

Of course, here is a picture of the handcontroller, I don't know what the production scopes came with but this one sure looks cool. I'm currently in the process of speaking with celestron on the topic of this telescope but it's hard dealing with them. I'm still waiting on a response from them. I have no plans to sell the scope which they hinted at over the phone but I sure would like to have them approve of what it is. Its cool owning a piece of history. After that I'm going to have it professionally restored to its "original" state. Honestly I only received a picture of it after I repainted it, the paint was so deteriorated there was honestly no telling what the color scheme even was, velvetone was a terrible thing. I assumed it was just a regular aged c14. Only after restoring it did I receive it's historic pictures from the club. But yah sorry for the backstory 😂. Thanks for your input, I very much appreciate it. 

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[CHASLX200]

Of course, here is a picture of the handcontroller, I don't know what the production scopes came with but this one sure looks cool. I'm currently in the process of speaking with celestron on the topic of this telescope but it's hard dealing with them. I'm still waiting on a response from them. I have no plans to sell the scope which they hinted at over the phone but I sure would like to have them approve of what it is. Its cool owning a piece of history. After that I'm going to have it professionally restored to its "original" state. Honestly I only received a picture of it after I repainted it, the paint was so deteriorated there was honestly no telling what the color scheme even was, velvetone was a terrible thing. I assumed it was just a regular aged c14. Only after restoring it did I receive it's historic pictures from the club. But yah sorry for the backstory . Thanks for your input, I very much appreciate it. 

That was not what the C14's came with.  I can offer up 10k for the OTA if it is past nuts insane freaky sharp.