Philco Model 60 before/after

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by bandersen

Nice job I really like that classic cathedral model. I have the 37-60 which is the last of the line for this model. It only has a cheap photo finish - yuck.

What a horrible, horrible white paint job. What were they thinking Is it really so hard to remove knobs before painting.




I guess you just sit back and enjoy it now

White paint over fine wood? Sheesh. I agree with you; just what were they thinking? I have three vintage radios, all Zeniths, in real wood cabinets, and would not dream of painting or otherwise ruining the finishes, as I like anything made from dark wood. In fact, I just went over the cabinets of my C845 and K731 with Old English the other day and am very pleased with the results. Again, no way would I so much as think of painting or otherwise defacing the real wood cabinets of these sets, let alone actually do it.

That white paint job over wood reminds me of the scheme, cheap and dirty though it was, Zenith used with the C845 table model AM/FM radio. This radio was offered for sale in two different cabinet styles: dark mahogany and what is (or was) popularly known as "toasted mahogany", although the latter could be (and often was) mistaken for blonde; it wasn't and is not necessarily ugly, but it was, IMHO, a cheap way of changing the cabinet color without actually using other shades of wood. And please, don't get me started on Zenith's practice in the 1930s (so I have read here; I'm 53 and hadn't even been thought of in the thirties, so could not possibly have known anything about that first-hand) of using "photo finish" on cheap wood cabinets for table radios and even consoles of that era. Both practices were well out of character for Zenith, IMO, even by 1960, although, since the 1930s were the Great Depression era, the company had no choice but to use PF on its radio cabinets; real wood would probably have been scarce as hen's teeth, and prohibitively expensive if it could be found anywhere during that time.

The toasted-mahogany finish on Zenith's table models (the C845 series, anyway) can be removed, revealing the true mahogany veneer beneath. However, this is just a veneer, I'm afraid, not real wood. On the other hand, however, since these radios were Zeniths and sold for over $100 when new.....hmmm........I don't know. My C845 is in the TM finish; for all I know at this point, the cabinet could well be real mahogany underneath it, but I'm not about to strip it or (horrors!) sand it off to find out, as the cabinet as it is now is almost a perfect match to the dresser in my bedroom on which it sits. This radio looks and sounds great just as it is, and I'm not about to mess with it in any way at this stage. I'm a firm believer in the adage "If it (isn't broken), don't fix it."