Restored Vintage Radios

[Tomasso]

Radios are among the vintage offerings at the New York Times Store.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The "Instructions and Operation" section is entertaining too -- "This radio is for operation by adults only!"

 

[GHT]

Radios are among the vintage offerings at the New York Times Store.


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That first model reminds me of a similar one that I have. Mine has never been restored though.

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This one is a real beauty, reminiscent of a juke box, it's art-deco appearance makes it so desirable. Want!

 

[LizzieMaine]

That console is a Midwest, which were famous for snazzy looks. They were sold by a factory-direct-to-you scheme that kept retail prices down below that of the major brands, but the build quality was usually a bit short of what you'd get in a Philco or an RCA Victor. The cabinets tended to be veneered plywood, held together by nails rather than screws and glue, and most of them warped to death long ago. The chassis tended to feature a lot of fancy features, but they usually performed about on the level of an ordinary five-tube table radio, no matter how many extra tubes they had. All that combined to mean that not many examples survive in presentable condition.

There is an active cult of Midwest collectors, which accounts for the rather exotic price tag. A Philco or RCA console of the same vintage, in restored condition, usually runs about $150.

 

[GHT]

Now I know the name, I looked up Midwest Radio. Want,want, want.
You are right about the price though, I saw this Scott Allwave whilst searching. Your's for a tad under three and a half grand.

Is/was Philco an abbrieviation? For Philadelphia perhaps, or is it the American wing of The Philips Company of Holland?

 

[emigran]

Truly works of art... I recall sitting in front of my granddad's huge console Zenith with a drop out drawer for the most amazing huge Art Deco dial I ever saw... the bottom cabinet was a sound chamber for the bass and the right hand side stored records for the "changer" above it (also a swing down.. Both doors operated so smoothly they seemed to float...Just gorgeous...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Now I know the name, I looked up Midwest Radio. Want,want, want.
You are right about the price though, I saw this Scott Allwave whilst searching. Your's for a tad under three and a half grand.

Is/was Philco an abbrieviation? For Philadelphia perhaps, or is it the American wing of The Philips Company of Holland?

Given the choice between a Midwest and a Scott at the same price, go for the Scott. Trust me. Scott was the closest thing there ever was to a "bespoke" radio. Midwest was a dimestore product by comparison.

Philco stands for "Philadelphia Storage Battery Company," which later became simply the Philco Corporation. They were the largest radio manufacturer in the world during the thirties and forties, but destroyed themselves in the fifties with a series of cheap, cheesily-built products (one of which was the infamous "Predicta" television set) which destroyed their reputation for quality. They went into bankruptcy in the early sixties, were bought out by Ford Motor Company, and driven permanently into the ground by the early seventies. The name was later bought out by Phillips, and used on a range of bargain-counter products which have no affiliation with the original Philco.

 

[B. White]

The third one really fits the style of my bedroom)
maybe someone knows where I can find a similar one to buy?