New to OLD Radios!

[Sandy G]

A Stratosphere is like the "Ultimate"-along w/a 1936 Sparton Bluebird, & an E.H. Scott Quaranta. There are a few Catalins up there, too, but the Cats are generally pretty pedestrian sets outside of their fancy clothes, as was the Bluebird. A Strat or a Quaranta- They were both pretty much at the limits of what was possible in radio & music reproduction technology for the mid-late '30s. Quarantas were supposedly made in 40, 48, & 60 tube versions, & could cost $10K a piece, at a time when a Ford would be hard-pressed to top $800-1000. You are rather unlikely to encounter either a Quaranta or a Strat out "in the wild", I would imagine. About what vintage is that Crosley you're wanting ? Powel Crosley, Jr. made millions off his Crosley Shelvador refrigerator design-& then got into the cheapy radio market. When his radio customers complained they couldn't hear anything on their sets, he put up WLW in his home base of Cincinnati w/about a jillion watts to give 'em something to listen to. He then set his sights on Detroit-He decided to bring out a small, light car-which he did in 1939, a 2 cyl runabout. After the war, he re-introduced his car, this time it had a 4-cyl motor. In the early postwar years, ANYTHING that was new & ran sold, & Crosley did pretty good up til about 1949-50, by which time Detroit had got back on their feet, & Crosley was out of the car business by '52. Crosley cars are pretty rare today, they were NOT treated w/great amounts of love 'n' respect when new, & most got junked fairly early. Their 4 cyl engine design was, at first, a block made up of welded sheet metal, copper braised, & they did not hold up well. Later, the engine block was a proper cast iron design, they were more reliable, but Crosley's rep was already spoilt, & a 2 0r 3 yr old Ford or Chevy was a better deal than a new Crosley, anyway. Crosley was a big man, yet the cars were quite tiny & narrow, fairly comical looking. Boy, I got way off-topic here, didn't I ? Sorry...