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Bart57 Samba Member
Joined: January 09, 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Austria
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janerick3 Samba Member
Joined: June 04, 2006 Posts: 1879 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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This radio was not produced by RCA. As the label states, it was built by Automatic Radio, of Boston, MA. However, RCA owned the patent rights to some of the circuitry inside the radio and Automatic Radio had to pay a royalty to RCA for using them.
This appears to be a "universal fit" radio, originally designed for commercial vehicles and prewar cars, as the speaker could be mounted in any one of three positions inside the case, or mounted externally.
Since the dial doesn't have the CONELRAD civil defense markings at 640 and 1240 kHz, I would date this radio to pre-1955.
I would be curious if the "tombstone" antennas found on early buses and some bugs (like my '54) was correct for this radio, as the speaker adapter plate from my '54 (rectangular) is completely different than the plate found with the Motorolas. Was this an "official" accessory that pre-dates the Motorolas?
Automatic Radio was in business at least into the early 1970s. They produced an 8-track player designed for in-dash fit on 1968 and later VWs. These did not come with a radio and did not sell well; so they were dumped on the surplus/salvage market in 1971-72. _________________ Thanks,
Jan K. |
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Bart57 Samba Member
Joined: January 09, 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Austria
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:25 am Post subject: |
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Thanks janrick3,
any ideas why Volkswagen is printed on the front?
thanks a lot
appreciate it
cheers
BArt |
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janerick3 Samba Member
Joined: June 04, 2006 Posts: 1879 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:30 am Post subject: |
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I'm guessing one of the early U.S. distributors (pre-VoA) had these radios produced for their regional dealer network. _________________ Thanks,
Jan K. |
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LHG Samba Moderator
Joined: April 13, 2000 Posts: 1855 Location: LostHillsGuy, CA
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