1940s Sets

Most of the 1940s sets I have are either Philcos or models from my phase where I would buy any radio with tubes. Some are nice pieces, some not so much.

Here is a 1948 Bendix 302 radio, and is fairly basic. Its woodwork has some minor warping but is otherwise all original including an original but faded finish.

This 1948 Bendix 636A was an award to my great grandfather for his sales record at the J. R. Waltkins Company which was a door to door rural sales business that sold just about everything. I still have some J. R. Waltkins products laying around from my great grandfather's job.

This Crosley 20AP is fairly intact, restored but is sadly missing the dail glass/benzel (if anyone has a spare, let me know). The set is a fairly simple 40s superhet.

This is a Farmsworth BT-71 in decent condition, has broadcast, shortwave and pushbuttons but otherwise thats it. What is unusual about this set is it still has the warrenty card.

Here we have a Firestone 4-A-20, which I got since it looks unusual and because I am a car nut and couldn't pass up a radio made by a tire company. The set works well on AM or shortwave and is a rather nice looking set.

This Philco 40-130 I grew up seeing in my grandfather's office, it eventually went to me and is 100% all original untouched. The set has been used often since new and has always worked flawlessly.

This Philco 40-185 console is in near perfect shape, merely needs some new dial glass. The set works quite well and still has a few of the original call letter labels. The original speaker cloth is slightly discolored but all and all its a nice set. I also have unrestored (not pictured) the slant front table top version of this radio which features the exact same chassis.

This tiny Philco 41-220 has seen better days with some venieer chips missing, but for $10 it wasn't a bad buy.

This Philco 41-245 is one of my favorite radios, I use it all the time and the performance is flawless. The radio has pushbuttons, and the dial has different "lights" that light up to show you what band selection is engaged. The pushbuttons include a power button which for me only seems to work every 3 times (but ALWAYS every 3 times). The benzel was originally plastic but must have been a bad cast and literally warped apart beyond use so a wooden replacement was made and the glass was reused. All and all not an all original, but definately a keeper.

This Philco 42-1001 has a built in phonograph which aparently makes tabletop radios almost worthless, but thankfully that means its a buyer's market. This one cost me $10 unrestored. Needed a refinishing, grill cloth and vola. The record player works but personally I prefere this one for broadcast listening. I used to keep this one next to my sofa so I could use it from where I sat.

This RCA T-63 is an other cool radio that I like, although it has pushbuttons and a tuning eye, the pushbuttons use a fabric part that has broken making that feature unusible. I am also missing one of the buttons (if anyone has a spare, let me know).

This RCA 77U is my main 78rpm machine, has perfect sound quality and is an all original, untouched 1948 model. I even have a copy of the advertisement for this radio. I found this one in VT for $35.

Here is a poorly finished RCA 56X3, a late 40s broadcast only radio. Sound quality is excellant but it lacks the features of the earlier sets.

This is a Silvertone 6051, I always found this one interesting because as a sears radio, it actually had the circuit diagram printed on the bottom eliminating the need to barrow a Rider's manual to troubleshoot the set.

This metal Silvertone 8003 is a fairly unusual radio given its size, I have seen a few similar sets by a couple companies, this one being but an example.

Here we have a Truetone D-117 "chest" radio, complete with ornate woodworking and side handles.

Here we have a blackdail Zenith 7-S-634, all original with pushbuttons and tone control

This is a plastic blackdial early 40s Zenith 5-D-610. It works ok and is mostly original.