1938 Airline 62-290

[Arizona Mike]

I like to mess with old radio too and finished this one Saturday. Its a Montomery Wards 62-290, sold under the name "AIRLINE". Has the green tuning eye tube (new one) and the push button tuning is working nice. Also has new grill cloth, new capacitors, and a new power supply. Tunes better than many new radios The cabinet is not bakelite but made of "new modern plastic" . I'm likin' this one because my dad had this same set installed in the basement workshop over the workbench, and I spent a lot of time there during the winter months.

[Carm]

Wow, that is really sharp! I love the look of old radios, back when they were furniture, not the look of this crap now. BTW, what do you do with your old spent vacuum tubes?

[Bigdog]

Mike, I have an old Grundig multiband receiver stored away that is a table top radio in a wooden case. It was working. Probably still will if the caps haven't all dried out.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Wow, that looks great. I used to repair the older radios, but a few years back I needed some money to move to a new location for my job and sold all my test equipment and parts as well as my radios. sure wish I still had them

[Rudi]

Mike:

Along with my antique ham radio gear - I have a Yaesu FT-101 and a 101-E - complete line. I also have 2 AR-88LF's, an old ASR100 Teletype and a bunch of other boat anchors.

I also happen to love old AM or multi-band radios. I have restored a 1932 GE Cathedral Top Mantle Radio. The cabinet is Walnut and Walnut Veneer. My buddy Reid is far far far more capable at the innards than I am, so he does the electronic restores.

Boy, do I some like the old stuff. Brings back some very fond memories of my youth.

Yours is a real nice job! Has special memories and that is a real bonus

[Arizona Mike]

This is one of a few nice plastic or bakelite radios i have collected for restoration. I shifted my radio collection to only pre WWII Zenith wood tabletop radios about six years ago and have one of the best collections in the country All of them play beautiful and have some awesome cabnetry. They have also worked out to be a pretty good investment. This is the first time I have restored a plastic set.. I have been spending more time on the wooden Zeniths.

John if you had a good Western Electric / Hickok Tube tester today it would be worth some serious money. Wish I could afford this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 07746&rd=1

Have a Hickok 6000 that does not work ..but have replaced all the tubes in the radios I'm keeping . NOS tubes were getting expensive so we sort of stocked up on them about 5 years ago. Tubes in these old Zeniths were excellent and all of the tubes in my Zeniths are either original Zenith tubes or replacement NOS Zenith tubes.. Yes, they are fairly available

Carm, like I said the cabnets are beautiful in themselves..especially the late 30's wood Zeniths. Wish I had the room to have one or two Zenith conoles or boat anchors as they are called by some Canadian Cub collectors I throw worn out tubes in the trash ..Why?

Saw a 25 tube Zenith Stratosphere console with an amplifier that would fill up a movie house go off on Ebay a couple weeks back for 50,000 US dollars

I am leaning more about ac circuits from a good friend that stops by the house and lets me watch as he explains what he's doing. I have a lot more to learn too Rudi.

I can solder with a broken arm

[Rudi]

Mike:

My chum Reid is a real old time super-heterodyne radio tech. He is teaching me a lot. He has taught me how to solder properly whether it be just a new terminal clip or replacing a tube socket or soldering a co-axial cable.

He not only repairs old radios, but has over 200 in his own private collection from table or mantle tops to consoles. He has a Grundig that I just love but will never pry out of his hands.

My Dad had a Grundig multi-band from the 50's, a Nordmende Globetrotter and an Admiral. When Em an I were in Germany, we had a Grundig multi-band floor model complete with turntable. Beautiful cabinetry - had a finish on it that just shone. We just waxed it with carnauba wax and it would sparkle.

I am kind of hoping to find some older ones. Along with my heart's desire to own a 1950's-60's Wurlitzer Juke Box - something that will hold my collection of 45 rpm records as well as another wind up to play my 78's.

For a youngun - I shore nuff like that old stuff.

[Carm]

[

Carm, like I said the cabnets are beautiful in themselves..especially the late 30's wood Zeniths. Wish I had the room to have one or two Zenith conoles or boat anchors as they are called by some Canadian Cub collectors I throw worn out tubes in the trash ..Why?


Just curious, there is a local guy that does artwork with them Attache s them to wood, it is kind of neat looking

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Mike, you really ruined my day with that ebay link.

[Arizona Mike]

John,that was the tube tester you gave away right .

Rudi, have a nice '62 Rockola with vibrasonic amp, all recapped, new needle, vvvvg condition that I will be putting on eBay this summer. Just needs to be cleaned (dirty contacts), greased and a little rechroming here an thar. If you're interested in a NICE Rockola drop me pm. This one will scare the animals at Alton's farm it plays so loud. Comes with some great 45's. Shipping and duty to NB shouldn't be more than 4 or 5 thousand Maybe could ship it by truck though

Mike

[Donny M]

Mike,

You should see the collection of the General Manager of WZZK in Birmingham, floor to ceiling all four walls. Some pretty cool old radios.
You did a very nice job

Tubes, are those the things with the little orange light in them
I can't understand how or why people would want to put their voices through the air, let alone pictures. Sounds like science fiction to me

[Harold R]

When Em an I were in Germany, we had a Grundig multi-band floor model complete with turntable. Beautiful cabinetry - had a finish on it that just shone. We just waxed it with carnauba wax and it would sparkle.

My Mom and Dad were in Germany in the mid to late 50's. They too had a Grundig floor model. I do remember the shine. Seems like it had big ivory push buttons behind a drop down panel. Great quality sound. You've peaked my interest, and brought back fond memories.
I think my Dad still has it.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

John,that was the tube tester you gave away right .Mike

Not quite, but close.

My pride and joy was a floor model Zenith multiband with the Cobra head changer. I did alright on that one though.

[Rudi]

Harold:

Yup, Ivory buttons, nice orange glow to the the display and a polish sooooo deep it looks like 1" of pure clear glass.

I am so mad at myself for not bringing it back with me, but it was 220v and probably would not like the conversion. It did not have a dual voltage stage built into it otherwise it definitely would have come home with us! It was pure furniture.

If your Dad still has it, don't let him give it away. Those things are priceless

Mike:

A Rockola would be nice - but ifn I spent that kind of money, Em would and I mean literally RIP NOT TEAR my head off

I think I would be hanging on to something like that!

[Arizona Mike]

Donny this is all science fiction

Grundig made some beautiful radios with slick finishes. They always had large rounded corners. but I would say that they could not come close to some of the late 30's American made walnut and walnut veneer wood tombstones. They were stylin'.. .

I tried to work on a Grundig for a friend of mine but there's no way.

Rudi..Granny need a fasthitch more than you need a Rockola anyway