Old detector

[_Jim_]

This has been hanging in my garage for many many years. It is a Jetco GTX metal-mineral detector. Does anyone know about what year this model was produced? I put a battery in and no joy, I'd like to clean it up and maybe get it working just for the fun of it.

 

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[Oddjob]

Think these where made in Huntsville Texas, they used to take adds out in Playboy magazine way back in the day for these, full page adds you could mail order with, remember seeing first adds with only 2 machines to pick from and later four machines to pick from.

 

[Hillbilly Prince]

Be cool to get it working I think.

 

[Oddjob]

Yeah, bet it would not cost more than 50 bucks.

Maybe even play a little, but nothing serious, it does not look like it would be fun to hold all day. Do 100 hours with that and your wrist and elbow going to be upset with you.

Deserves to be cleaned up proper, and hung up on the wall for all to see.

 

[Hillbilly Prince]

Yeah, bet it would not cost more than 50 bucks.

Maybe even play a little, but nothing serious, it does not look like it would be fun to hold all day. Do 100 hours with that and your wrist and elbow going to be upset with you.

Deserves to be cleaned up proper, and hung up on the wall for all to see.

I was thinking more like maybe the terminals corroded leaving battery in it or wire off. Like fix it your self-not paying someone.
Gots that fifties diner look so yeah hang it on the wall whether it works or not. Tell friends your grandpa found 250,000.00 haul with it lol.

 

[mrwilburino]

I had a Jetco Huntmaster back in 1973/74. They had four models back then: Mustang, Searchmaster, Huntmaster, and Treasure Hawk. Paid $70 for mine, and I think there was about a $15 difference between each machine. The brand made it into the 1980's with a few newer models, then faded away along with a number of others. Never saw one with a metal box or in that style from Jetco. Gotta be an early one, pre-1970's. Very cool.

 

[huntsman53]

Nice old relic that I agree would look better on display than killing your wrist and elbow! Like many of the older analog units, it may have a bad Diode in the power circuit but could be something else altogether unrelated. Many if not all analog metal detectors if left on when the battery totally dies, the power circuit will receive a surge as the metal detector takes it's last dying gasp to stay powered on and this fries the Diode. This is where I would start first if checking for bad components. Good luck!

 

[SD51]

Think these where made in Huntsville Texas, they used to take adds out in Playboy magazine way back in the day for these, full page adds you could mail order with, remember seeing first adds with only 2 machines to pick from and later four machines to pick from.

Impressed that you remembered seeing the ad there. Didn't know anyone ever looked at the ads!

 

[_Jim_]

Thanks for the replies, I can't remember where I got this, yard sale or flea market years ago, I just thought it looked cool. Back in the early 70's I had a Jetco detector I bought brand new, I think I paid around 39 bucks for it. Man did I dig a lot of pull tabs and gum wrappers with it, but I did get quite a few silver coins too. Lots more silver coins in the ground back then. It had a plastic case not metal like this one and a smaller coil.

 

[Clad2Silver]

Nice old detector...….a nice piece of detector history there.

 

[Ogre1190]

Playboy had ads?!? 😱

 

[devldog]

Impressed that you remembered seeing the ad there. Didn't know anyone ever looked at the ads!

Ad's..........do you mean to tell me there were ad's in those magazines? Lol

 

[Argentium]

SD51 , Other than the advertising , what else would there be to look at in a Playboy magazine?

 

[Carl-NC]

Jim, that's the earliest Jetco I've ever seen. The first detector I ever bought was a Jetco, but a much later model.

The JET in Jetco stands for John E. Turner. He created Jetco in the 60's with a BFO circuit taken from a magazine article. Eventually, Turner bought Bounty Hunter and Teknetics out of bankruptcy and sold them to First Texas Products. I now work for that company. Turner is still living but in poor health, I've been trying to get an interview with him for several months for a book I'm writing.

I also collect vintage detectors, so if you decide you want to sell that one let me know. It will go on the wall in the Engineering offices at FTP.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Cool Vintage! In 1973, I was eleven and owned a new Jetco Mustang.

 

[Gare]

Not trying to HIJACK this thread BUT OddJob HOW did you know they took out ADDS in PLAYBOY ? Just wondering

 

[Oddjob]

Not trying to HIJACK this thread BUT OddJob HOW did you know they took out ADDS in PLAYBOY ? Just wondering

Saw the add;

In 83 I inherited two full sets of playboy, one read and the other stored. At that age I had no use for paper chicks, never had a use for it, I have always been hands on like the real think. But the adds they used to take in those, beit Cessna, J Walker, Chewing Gum, Beer; they all blended in fairly well into the magazine. But Razor companies or this company always had these adds that appeared they let a full on tardid kid illustrate.

Just never fit in, and seriously chewing gum does not fit in either but their adds sure where not sticking out this bad.

But yeah, I looked at the adds, the cardboard posters and even the added news papers adds that could be removed in 66.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Good Luck on the repair! Fixing old electronic devices can be a fun past time!

 

[_Jim_]

Jim, that's the earliest Jetco I've ever seen. The first detector I ever bought was a Jetco, but a much later model.

The JET in Jetco stands for John E. Turner. He created Jetco in the 60's with a BFO circuit taken from a magazine article. Eventually, Turner bought Bounty Hunter and Teknetics out of bankruptcy and sold them to First Texas Products. I now work for that company. Turner is still living but in poor health, I've been trying to get an interview with him for several months for a book I'm writing.

I also collect vintage detectors, so if you decide you want to sell that one let me know. It will go on the wall in the Engineering offices at FTP.

Thanks Carl, I knew it was an old timer, do you have a rough idea of when it was made?

 

[cw0909]

it might be this kit model, ad in this 1971 journal pg 24
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-National-Radio-News/NRI-Jounal-1972-07-08.pdf