The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay AD truck radio at the swap meet

At the Denver Tri-State swap meet, I saw a radio with the single speaker in part of the same housing, that looked to me like an original AD truck radio. The AM radio was HUGE. Probably was quite compact for the tube technology of the day.

I asked if it worked, and they told me that for $5, I could find out.

...I didn't buy it because I can't imagine trying to find the tubes for that thing anymore. I think maybe I should have, just because of the curiosity factor. I mean, what if the darn thing did actually work?

The Wonderbar AM/FM monofield radio in my '68 Corvette worked after I did some minor rewiring. I keep it in the car as a curiosity. But it's really only good for listening to the news.

Big mistake, you could have sold it on eslay working or not for possibly hundreds depending on overall condition.

The unrestored ones go for over $300 sometimes, on Ebay. Good tubes are plentiful and can be bought at a very reasonable price. Last year I bought two of the Canadian radio versions at a swap meet for a small sum. The guy looked at me and said he didn't know what they fit. After I had paid and had them in my arms, I enlightened him!

Is there a source for new radio buttons? I have an original radio with bad buttons.
Thanks,
chris ioakimedes
Fairfax California
www.fattirerading.com

Yes, all the classic truck suppliers sell the buttons. As the originals age, they sometimes look like they have been through a fire! To remove them, I pull the button out to the adjust position and nibble it to pieces with a pair of side cutters. The new button pushes on over little barbs on the metal strut.

Now come on Dad, I think your just pullin our leg with that story. Five bucks and ya passed it up??? You been around the bolt long enough to know a deal when you see it. I'll take all ya can get for ten times that much no matter what their conditiong.
Denny G

No Denny, I'm being honest. What looked like a dusty old radio to me was obviously a diamond in the rough. My loss.

But now that I know better, I'll be keeping an eye out for it at next year's swap meet. A lot of these vendors are returning folks.

Sometimes the car radio is passed off for a truck. It does not have near the value & will not fit.

How do you properly identify the truck radio?

Have a look at this illustration:
http://chevy.tocmp.com/radios/51rs38.htm
The bezel and buttons shape are distinctive and exclusive to this radio. The bezel is always plastic and usually a wine coloured plastic. There are two models, one manufactured from 1947 to about 1950 and the other from 1951 to 1953. They look very similar on the outside except the earlier model has a back cover with a parting line that is slanted in the vertical on the sides.

That was it. It looks just like the one at the swap meet.