[Arran]

Rich; Mr. Fix;
I have a FADA 1001 from around 1947-48, and it is essentially the same circuit as a FADA 1000, the main differences being that it has a top mounted slide rule dial, rather then a airplane dial, has a different chassis layout, and comes in a wooden cabinet with a faux olive burl wood grain on the front. I got it maybe 15 years ago, overhauled it electrically, and used it as a daily driver in my book room/storage area ever since.
The reason I use it is that it has an extra RF amplifier stage, an untuned RF amplifier, but it is a really good performer, and is less subject to electrical interference then some of my "better" sets. The point being is that there were some sets, in fancy cabinets, that were actually good performers too. Some Catalin radios were actually quite awful, there were some pre war ones that were basically three or four tube, curtain burner cheapies, with a TRF circuit, I'm sure that they work, but you can pretty much pin them down as "city radios".
That Philco is at least a five tube superhet, it's no 116 but my experience with Philco AC/DC sets has been that they won't disappoint once restored correctly, but for $1300 I can think of better sets to buy for less money. It looks like they used that cabinet over a two to three year period, so I'm sure that there are others out there, whilst the grill and knobs are Tenite that material is a mixed bag, some parts on some models deteriorate badly, on others it's usually presentable. I don't know enough about these sets to say whether they are known for warpage and deterioration or not, but the Tenite has likely shrunk somewhat since new.
Regards
Arran