07-25-2023, 02:37 AM
That G978 looks really close. The back panel looks different from what I remember, I know the one that was here had screws for speakers opposite the side which had antenna screws. two of those bakelite strips, one marked L, one marked R. I also seem to remember more vent holes. I remember as a kit peering into the back at the glowing tubes inside.
For some reason I remember details like that. The color was most like the first link on Worthpoint, maybe even lighter. The bevel sides look right but for some reason I remember more than four knobs. The knobs were also really hard to turn, but then again I was a little kid then. For some reason that radio is part of my memories of my father then, thinking back it had to be before I started school for the most part because at some point I started going with dad in the truck and I remember being too small to climb up into the cab on the old Ford cabover. The radio was new enough that my mother, who at the time still looked at that radio as new didn't want any of us kids anywhere near it. It was something she got from where she worked before having kids and she let us know that touching it meant trouble.
There's a good many old Philco clock radios around the house, mostly packed away in the attic after being replaced by something modern in the 80's or so. I remember the slow wind up when one of those old clock radios went off and slowly warmed up and gained volume as it played. I also remember having a pale blue one that had split nearly in two but had been fixed with some bright gold foil tape, which was grandpops go-to fix for things around the house. We had a record player that he had trash picked that was made from all bakelite but it had been dropped or worse. He glued and taped all the pieces back together and got it working again and gave it to use to use. I remember that if you accidentally touched the needle you got a bad shock. We would trick friends into getting zapped all the time. I think that was also Philco but there wasn't much left of what ever it looked like new by the time we got it. It was missing what ever cover it had, and most of the case was gold tape. The 45 adapter was a wooden dowel he had cut to fit and covered in that foil tape, and the arm didn't match at all, it was newer and got replaced several times over the years with generic tone arms that he bought from a guy he simply referred to as the 'radio guy', not to be confused with the 'tube guy' who from what I gathered fixed only TV's but had a huge assortment of tubes. Both were on his way home from work somewhere. He didn't own a car and walked to work. When he came here, he'd come with a brown bag of tools and parts for what ever needed fixing. He passed away in '73 and worked as a machinist all his life for an oil company making tools and parts. He had a good understanding of old radios, TV's and things mechanical. If it broke, he fixed it, if he wasn't sure about something, he brought a buddy who was and it got fixed.
I've also got a huge floor radio, likely from the late 30's or early 40's, that's buried in the attic. It worked good till sometime in the 70's and then it started to lose the ability to lock onto a station. The dial seemed to expand, one station would take up 1/4 of the dial and the higher number stations were gone. The shortwave though didn't seem to be affected but it got packed away rather than getting fixed. That was sometime after 1969 or so. It was gone by the time dad bought a new car in 1970. The excuse was that it didn't fit in the new car so it didn't get fixed. When it needed repair before that, the old Ford had enough room in the trunk for it to lay down flat. It was his way of saying he's not spending any money on it I suppose. I can see it in the attic but its pretty buried past a ton of boxes. When I get back to it, maybe I'll start a post here and see about figuring out what is wrong with it. Its likely not been powered up though over 50 years.
For some reason I remember details like that. The color was most like the first link on Worthpoint, maybe even lighter. The bevel sides look right but for some reason I remember more than four knobs. The knobs were also really hard to turn, but then again I was a little kid then. For some reason that radio is part of my memories of my father then, thinking back it had to be before I started school for the most part because at some point I started going with dad in the truck and I remember being too small to climb up into the cab on the old Ford cabover. The radio was new enough that my mother, who at the time still looked at that radio as new didn't want any of us kids anywhere near it. It was something she got from where she worked before having kids and she let us know that touching it meant trouble.
There's a good many old Philco clock radios around the house, mostly packed away in the attic after being replaced by something modern in the 80's or so. I remember the slow wind up when one of those old clock radios went off and slowly warmed up and gained volume as it played. I also remember having a pale blue one that had split nearly in two but had been fixed with some bright gold foil tape, which was grandpops go-to fix for things around the house. We had a record player that he had trash picked that was made from all bakelite but it had been dropped or worse. He glued and taped all the pieces back together and got it working again and gave it to use to use. I remember that if you accidentally touched the needle you got a bad shock. We would trick friends into getting zapped all the time. I think that was also Philco but there wasn't much left of what ever it looked like new by the time we got it. It was missing what ever cover it had, and most of the case was gold tape. The 45 adapter was a wooden dowel he had cut to fit and covered in that foil tape, and the arm didn't match at all, it was newer and got replaced several times over the years with generic tone arms that he bought from a guy he simply referred to as the 'radio guy', not to be confused with the 'tube guy' who from what I gathered fixed only TV's but had a huge assortment of tubes. Both were on his way home from work somewhere. He didn't own a car and walked to work. When he came here, he'd come with a brown bag of tools and parts for what ever needed fixing. He passed away in '73 and worked as a machinist all his life for an oil company making tools and parts. He had a good understanding of old radios, TV's and things mechanical. If it broke, he fixed it, if he wasn't sure about something, he brought a buddy who was and it got fixed.
I've also got a huge floor radio, likely from the late 30's or early 40's, that's buried in the attic. It worked good till sometime in the 70's and then it started to lose the ability to lock onto a station. The dial seemed to expand, one station would take up 1/4 of the dial and the higher number stations were gone. The shortwave though didn't seem to be affected but it got packed away rather than getting fixed. That was sometime after 1969 or so. It was gone by the time dad bought a new car in 1970. The excuse was that it didn't fit in the new car so it didn't get fixed. When it needed repair before that, the old Ford had enough room in the trunk for it to lay down flat. It was his way of saying he's not spending any money on it I suppose. I can see it in the attic but its pretty buried past a ton of boxes. When I get back to it, maybe I'll start a post here and see about figuring out what is wrong with it. Its likely not been powered up though over 50 years.
