Opened up this Philco, and what the.....??

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

A few years back, I was in an old radio TV shop. There was an earlier 30's Philco radio in for repair. I asked the owner if the bakelite block capacitors were replaced. He said no, they never go bad. I replied that, there would a lot of collectors that would disagree with you.
I read that those caps were vacuum impregnated. Having some experience with that process, I would almost have to agree.

~80 years time is enough for almost anything to go bad.
I have a 1932 Philco cathedral (the model escapes me), that essentially worked as found. It had no hum, but the audio/reception was weak and VERY distorted. Restuffing the block caps returned it to working like new.