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Restoration of a 1954
Philco clock radio
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A Philco Transitone Model B710
clock radio, manufactured in 1954. |
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The story behind the radio. One of the stories, at
least. |
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Back in 2012 I saw a music
video that had some of my friends in it. |
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This is Bruce Knoll. He's a carpenter.
He fixed my house. |
And this is a "radio repairman," whose
name is
"rjd2." |
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The guy on the left comes to pick up his radio. |
The radio that rjd2 repaired. |
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The video is intriguing, kind of
thought provoking. The guy picking up the radio had just
lost his job. For some reason this radio was so important
to him that he spent his last dollar having it fixed, though he
couldn't plug it in because he lived in his car.
You don't
usually see a radio repair shop in a video, or even in real
life. I wondered about the radio. What kind was it?
I searched for it on the internet. I can't remember exactly
how I found it, I probably Googled something like "antique
clock radio" and then looked at a bazillion radio images.
Finally I found it - the Philco Transitone B710.
Then I went on eBay, checking from time to time, and waited
for a cheap one to show up. I eventually snagged one.
Unfortunately, it wasn't packed properly and arrived heavily
damaged. The seller offered a refund if I would pay to send
it back. Given the choice of having a broken radio or having
nothing for the money spent, I held onto the radio. |
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This is what happens when you don't pack things
properly.
The cabinet is made of polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride (haha,
that's Bakelite). |
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I put the radio on a shelf in the
garage and forgot about it. Then in May of 2016 I happened
to see the video again, remembered the radio and checked
eBay. One guy had one for $70, but there was an auction for
another that was sitting at $10 and nobody was bidding.
I
waited a few days, and on May 15, 2016, with five seconds to go, bid $20.
Somebody else had the same idea, but he only bid $15. When the screen
refreshed I had won the radio for $15.50.
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Picture from eBay. It looks good
except for the missing knob. The description stated, "...CLOCK WORKS RADIO TURNS ON BUT DOES NOT WORK
PROPERLY .....SOLD AS IS...."
A week later I had it in my hands. It didn't look as good in
real life as it does in the photo. It was, however, packed very
nicely and the post office didn't try to put a hole through
the side of the box for once.
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It's been repaired at GROSSE POINTE RADIO &
TELEVISION in Detroit, Michigan. |
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This Google Maps picture shows the shop was
still there as of 2013. It's 590 miles away from where the radio is
now. |
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Now I had two. The bashed one is on
the bottom. I foolishly plugged them both in and turned them
on. The bashed radio seemed to be dead. The clock
wasn't working and the radio didn't make a sound.
The other radio worked! So did the clock, but it ran slow. Suddenly the bashed
radio came to life, then died again. This is important
later in the story.
The obvious choice was to pick the working radio to
rejuvenate. I could use the bashed radio for tubes, clock
knobs, etc. All the tubes were tested and the best set was
put aside. |
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We'll just turn up the volume and... Gag. SPLORG!
Don't touch that knob! |
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So before we get to the
restoration, why not watch the video first?
(Divert your eyes when the "repairman" slides a
solid state board into the top of the radio.) |
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