Small and Cute Radios

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

A lot of those small American made radios survived. It was those Japanese ones that didn't. How many of those small Arvins and clones survived? Lots of them!

That's right. As I look over ebay, the flea market, ARF classifieds, etc; I find a lot more Arvins, and other small American made sets, than I find the later Japanese cheapies from the '60's. And, those older 4 and 5 tube metal cased Arvins were still better performers than those Japanese '60's sets.

Back in the late '60's, a radio/TV repairman, who I knew and is now no longer with us, bought a truckload of those Japanese 5 tube radios from a local discount store. Solid state sets had already taken over and the store owner made my friend a real good deal (something like $2/radio) on the whole lot. My friend said the only reason he bought them was to rob the tubes because the cost of tubes from the parts house was greater than what he paid for the radios. He added that he never plugged in the first radio. He yanked the tubes and tossed the rest of the radio in the trash.