Vintage Sony 8FC-69WA AM/FM Digimatic Flip Clock Radio

[Robb]

Picked this one up for free, untested. Gave it a cleaning, polishing, some feed 'n wax on the wood, turned it on and it works. It is in real nice condition, no cracks or faults on the case. I believe this was made in late 1960's to early 1970's.
Made in Japan.

pics and a video:

http://youtu.be/DDgMWXfwEkk

[Jon A.]

These are pretty neat. I see that this one is old enough to use the terms kilocycles and megacycles for the tuner, sweet. My mom bought a flip-clock radio new, took it back because she couldn't stand the sound of the numbers flipping every minute. I have an oddball alarm clock that uses a Telechron movement and mechanical shutters to form the digits. I think the Telechron rotor is shot though, the numbers won't advance on their own.

[dieseljeep]

The clock movements were made by Copal. They have motors similar to Telechron, where the grease hardens up after a while.
The Sony is a great example of a Higher end clock radio. The radio was around $65.00 USD, back then.

[Robb]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The clock movements were made by Copal.

Did Copal only make flip clocks ?

[zeno]

Originally Posted by Robb

Did Copal only make flip clocks ?

Did a lot of clocks on these when I was at Sony. The later black
light models ICFC660 & 770 were a lot more trouble. They had
drum clocks, dont remember who made em. Spent 1/3 the
day doing clock jobs, another 1/3 doing TC110 cassette decks &
the rest doing odds & ends. They even had a special price for clock
jobs out of warranty. Zenith also had a ton of clock problems with
the circle-o-sound ( made by Gold Star ) before they went digital.
The clocks IIRC were a tape that ran on a gear. There was a
bulletin for replacing them using shims to be sure the clocks
werent twisted causing them to bind up.

73 Zeno

[radiodayz]

Looks brand new! I have a couple of similar Sonys, but not in as good shape as that one.

[rpm1200]

When I was a kid I used to have one of those with the ultraviolet fluorescent light for the clock numerals. Unfortunately the motor was frozen so it got trashed.

[TVTim]

Man, what a beauty.

That is from the period where pride was put into these things. Now, it is all mass produced plastic junk.

Nice catch.

[Robb]

Originally Posted by TVTim

Man, what a beauty.

That is from the period where pride was put into these things. Now, it is all mass produced plastic junk.

Nice catch.

I call it BPC - Black Plastic Crap.