[NostalgiaRadioTime]

Yesterday, I attended the Iola Old Car Show & Swap Meet in Iola, WI. Among the largest antique auto show in the midwest, there are around 2200 show cars and over 4400 swap spaces. This was the 32nd consecutive year I attended, and I spent 12 hours on foot combing the swap spaces looking for some motorcycles (& car) parts with 3 good friends. Near the end of the day, I found a vendor with a trailer full of antique radios! There was one Philco, a common post war transitone he had $25 on. But then an Atwater Kent caught my eye, because it was a metal cased console, something I'd never seen before! I was used to seeing the 'twenties AK's as the metal coffin with the speaker on top. Well the guy selling it knew something about old radios, but his guess of 1925 was a bit off on the date. He wanted $75 for it, which I didn't think was too bad for an AK of that vintage. I made him an offer of $70 for the AK and the Philco transitone combined, and he took it. So I felt pretty good that I got a good enough deal to where I could at least get my money back should I decide to resell.

So here is where the fun starts.. trying to restore this battleship! For that, I am going to need to utilize the resources of the wonderfully helpful Phorum members who have worked on one of these in the past. I quickly discovered this is a model 52, made in 1928, and uses the familiar AK model 40 chassis. Here is a pic:

   

Happily I found a ton of resources online with schematics, which pleased me (and also influenced my decision to purchase this, knowing they are popular with collectors). First question of many I'm sure is what paint have others used to refinish these metal cabinets? It looks as if it was a chocolate brown, with wrinkle pattern. I believe the top of the lid (the insert area) should be a gold in color, but what kind of gold? It shouldn't be too bright I'm guessing. It's a new experience having to paint a cabinet rather than refinish wood!

The power supply will be another challenge, I'm sure, so any thoughts, ideas, personal experience on that would be greatly appreciated! My first AK, and the oldest set I've ever tackled. Wish me luck... Lord knows I'll need it!