TWA 747 Airliner amazing item

[Leon497]

Well, suddenly a marketplace opens, good. What I have is a real collectable you can use too and that will gain in value. It is a real airliner seat from a TWA 747, but it is a single seat, finished on all sides that swivels. Bet you don't remember those, they were in the upper bar lounge of the 747 upstairs. This is certainly a rare item and it does say right on the label it is 747 and when made. Since it is on Ebay now with pictures just go over there and look.

A TWA museum offered me $250 for it 3 years ago, then they just disappeared, a victim of the collapse I guess, does anyone know of a TWA museum in Hawaii? That was where it was and their email ended in flytwa dot com. Any of you know the story, I find no hits on Google. I had it for sale for 495, then 279, then 199 and am all the way down to 99 now, which is awfully low as rare as this is. You can rock back on it and watch TV, I did but now I got a Tempurpedic since there are two of us now I decided to sell 3 years back but stopped when the bad times hit. Read the writeup on Ebay and then ask what you want to. The Ebay item number is:

320627894894 and a link is:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...STRK:MESELX:IT

which may be too long to work, but you can use the item number to find.

[The Weird One]

That is awesome. Sadly, I have no money. I'm sure you'll find a buyer at that price, though!

[lost4life]

Can the seat cushion be used as a flotation device?

Seriously, is it stable when you sit on it? Do you think any of the electronics could be used? I'm thinking gaming chair where you can plug in your headphones, control the volume, and put your controls/snacks on the tray!

[LurkerInNJ]

According to Google, TWA has a little museum in Kansas City.

[Leon497]

lLost, No flotation device. Dad said it was not legal for people to occupy the upper deck during takeoff or landing, so it is different than any other seat ever made for a plane I think. I was told even in rough air they evacuated that upper bar area. Sure the electronics would work, BUT it worked on what was called a Mux, that is multiplexed audio and has a plug about an inch diameter, connecting that to anything made today it is unlikely to work due to different clock rates and such. The Mux was like having an internet on the plane and sent all those music channels a bit at a time and requests just like we load a web page or play an ipod today. It is a real tech antique. Made in June 1976, the computer of today would be a million times faster than whatever the clock rate was then. I think it may have been 100 Kilohertz, that is one tenth of one Mhz because dad worked on those mux boxes and I remember a 100 KC crystal in them. The PC and even the first Commodores were like 1980.
I know my first IBM PC had a 1 Mhz clock. My second had a button for Turbo-Speed, a blinding 2 Mhz that it warned would be too fast for many programs of the day. But just to hear music even 100 Khz sample is plenty fast. I bet the ipod is a lot faster, anyone know its sample rate?

[Leon497]

Yes I have been to that K.C. museum in fact, I suppose I ought to have written them, maybe I will if it does not sell. No that one has been there a long time and their primary thing is the prop Connie planes, they have one on exhibit. As a kid I had a set of dual seats from a Connie, sold to a guy for his van in like 1970, bet that would be valuable today. This place really was in Hawaii but I thought at the time what a dumb place, but there is a great big Pearl Harbor air museum out there and I guess they thought it might get included on tours and such, who knows.

Sounds like it did not work out. The K.C. one is nice and has engines from Constellation in a showroom and all too, but nothing from 747 when I was there maybe 6-7 years back.

I think you can Google map it, Wheeler airport Kansas City and see the planes on the tarmac. They had a 2 engine older one too but it was prop planes they were in to.

[lost4life]

I wasn't thinking anything so complicated. Maybe just hardwire up the headphone jack and see if the volume control could work, although it would be cool to have bad, distorted, 70's soft rock come through with occassional pilot interruptions!

[Leon497]

Hmmm, the headphone jack is different than you think, it used hollow tubes to carry sound to your ears, the speaker is inside the chair, just like earbuds carry the music today to your ears. Yes one could hardwire that speaker and that would work, but you need the headphone tubes, I once had some too but not sure if I still do.

In any case the sound is not an electronic plug, but a double audio tube connection, there were two of course for the stereo effect. I think ones from a plane today are the same, but am not sure. Those speaker connections probably do come out to that plug as the mux box was in floor and common to a big group of seats.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Where did you get it?

[Leon497]

Ahhh, well all that was fully explained in the listing completely. It is from the TWA overhaul base where my dad worked and they sold off surplus items like this, he got it around 1980. Interesting your user name.

Anyway I see we have a bid at my bargain price now, I hope it goes for more than that, I mean where would anyone find another one? It fits in so much better in a room or as part of a scene in a play or movie since all sides are finished, a double seat is real ugly on the window side because it fit against bulkhead.