[Charlie]

WOW! The console in that ad... i had one like that for a short while! Just like it! i thought it was the ugliest cabinet i ever saw!

I got it from an elderly woman that lives on the next street over. She called me because she heard i played with old radios, and asked if I would like to come see it, so I did.

It was on her back porch, unfortunately rotting away. She told me she and her husband bought the console in Germany in 1957. It had been about 20 years since it was last played. She wanted to get rid of it because she didn't have space for it, and the cabinet was starting to fall apart. She didn't want any moeny for it... just hated to see it go in the trash. So, i took it to see if it could be salvaged in any way.

When i got it home, a quick look inside showed that mice had made a nest of the woofer. The woofer faces the ground, and the sound is deflected off the lower tilted panel seen in the above ad. I pulled out the radio chassis to give it a look. As i was sliding it out, three roaches came out from under the chassis almost causing me to drop it! I tried to power it up, but quickly found the power transformer to be toasted! Man, what a smell!

The only thing I was able to salvage was the two mid-range speakers. i kept them for quite some time, and then one day decided to put them on ebay. There were several bids, and to my surprise some guy in Korea ended up bidding 60 bucks for them. I guess he had a Grundig to put them in.

I ended up throwing away the cabinet... not much could be done for it. IIRC, i think i recently threw away the radio chassis. It sat in the garage for 4 years untouched, so out it went. I do still have the original knobs for it in a little baggie somewhere.

It was a shame that such a nice piece of equipment ended up rotting away like that. Even though i didn't care for the cabinet styling, i still knew it was a quality built console. I never thought I'd see another like it... until today when I saw the ad that Paula posted!