Philco for 1952

Overview

Philco's 1952 radio line was not much dif­fer­ent from its 1951 line. The styling lead­ers for '52 were prob­a­bly mod­els 52-542 and 52-548, although mod­els 52-939, 940, 941 & 942 are also very attrac­tive sets. Oth­er mod­els in the Philco line had become basi­cal­ly util­i­tar­i­an in appearance.

Model Index

Intro­duced Sum­mer 1951, with changes/additions made Jan­u­ary 1952

Click on a thumb­nail to see infor­ma­tion and pho­tos for each model:

The 1952 Philco Line

No
Pho­to
52-540 52-541 52-542 52-543, 52-544 & 52-545 52-547 52-548 52-549
52-550 52-640 52-641 & 52-642 52-643 52-939 & 52-941 52-940 52-942
52-944 52-1340 52-1730 52-1731 52-1733 52-1736

Models

The 1952 Philco Line


Model 52-540

Model 52-540 - Model 52-540 in mahogany plastic.
Model 52-540 - Model 52-540 in ivory. Model 52-540

These two five-tube, AM-only mod­els oper­at­ed on AC or DC cur­rent and received the AM band.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-541

Model 52-541 - Model 52-541 in mahogany plastic.
Model 52-541 - Model 52-541 in ivory.

Slight­ly larg­er than the 52-540 above, the 541 also used five tubes and received the AM band.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-542

Model 52-542 - Model 52-542 in mahogany plastic.
Model 52-542 - Model 52-542 in ivory. Model 52-542 - Image courtesy of Bill Hutchinson.

These Philco mod­els use the same five tube, AC/DC chas­sis as mod­els 52-540 and 52-541 above.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Models 52-543, 52-544 & 52-545

Models 52-543, 52-544 & 52-545
Models 52-543, 52-544 & 52-545 Models 52-543, 52-544 & 52-545

These three clock radios are sim­i­lar in appear­ance; they dif­fer only in col­ors and features.

Mod­el 52-543 only has a time set con­trol, no auto­mat­ic timer or alarm. It was avail­able only in mahogany plastic.

Mod­el 52-544 includes an auto­mat­ic timer with alarm, and was avail­able in three col­ors (mahogany, ivory, and white).

Mod­el 52-545 also has an auto­mat­ic timer with alarm. It was made in mahogany and ivory cabinets.

All three include five tube AM radios.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-547

Model 52-547

This five tube AM radio includes a clock with an auto­mat­ic timer and alarm.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-548

Model 52-548 - Model 52-548 in brown plastic.
Model 52-548 - Model 52-548 in ivory.

The 52-548 uses five tubes and receives the AM band.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-549

This five tube, AC/DC, AM radio was housed in a wood­en cabinet.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-550

Model 52-550

Anoth­er five tube Philco clock radio with an auto­mat­ic timer and alarm fea­ture. Like Philco's oth­er table mod­el clock radios, the 550 tunes the AM band only.

This mod­el was avail­able in mahogany or blonde.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-640

Model 52-640
Model 52-640

Avail­able only in maroon, the 52-640 can oper­ate on AC or DC cur­rent, or on bat­ter­ies. It is an AM-only radio that uses four tubes plus a sele­ni­um rectifier.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Models 52-641 & 52-642

Models 52-641 & 52-642
Models 52-641 & 52-642

These two portable mod­els are iden­ti­cal in appear­ance. Both use four tubes plus a sele­ni­um rec­ti­fi­er, tune the AM band only, and can oper­ate on bat­ter­ies or on AC or DC house­hold current.

Mod­el 52-641 was avail­able in four col­ors: Maroon, Swedish Red, Nile Green, and Ara­bi­an Sand.

Mod­el 52-642 includes a head­phone jack. In addi­tion to the col­ors list­ed above, the 642 was also avail­able in Teal Green, Caribbean Blue, and Ebony.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-643

Model 52-643

Like Philco's oth­er 1952 portable mod­els, the 52-643 can oper­ate on AC or DC cur­rent, or on batteries.

The AM radio uses five tubes plus a sele­ni­um rectifier.

This set was only avail­able in brown plastic.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Models 52-939 & 52-941

Models 52-939 & 52-941

These two sets are six tube AM radios that oper­ate on AC or DC current.

Mod­el 52-939 is in a cab­i­net sim­i­lar to the 52-941, except that it is ebony in color.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-940

Model 52-940 - Model 52-940 in mahogany plastic.
Model 52-940 - Model 52-940 in gray plastic.

Two more AM radios that use a six tube AC/DC circuit.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-942

Model 52-942
Model 52-942 - Image courtesy of Clifford R. Huff. Model 52-942 - Image courtesy of Clifford R. Huff.

Anoth­er mod­el to use the same cir­cuit­ry as mod­els 52-939, 54-940 and 52-941 above.

The cab­i­net is maroon plastic.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-944

Model 52-944
Model 52-944

Philco's only AM-FM table mod­el for 1952 uses six tubes plus a sele­ni­um rec­ti­fi­er, and is housed inside a mahogany plas­tic cabinet.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-1340

Model 52-1340
Model 52-1340 Model 52-1340

Iden­ti­cal in appear­ance to the pre­vi­ous year's 51-1330, the 1952 ver­sion also includes a five tube AM radio and a three-speed auto­mat­ic record chang­er, all built into a brown plas­tic table mod­el cabinet.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-1730

Model 52-1730
Model 52-1730 Model 52-1730

Philco's low­est priced floor mod­el radio-phono­graph includes an AM radio and a three speed record changer.

The wood cab­i­net has a mahogany finish.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-1731

Model 52-1731
Model 52-1731

An AM-FM floor mod­el radio, the 1731 also includes a three speed auto­mat­ic record chang­er inside its mahogany fin­ished cabinet.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-1733

Model 52-1733 - Model 52-1733 in mahogany finish.
Model 52-1733 - Model 52-1733 in blonde finish. Model 52-1733

With a choice of two fin­ish­es, this Philco mod­el offers AM and FM recep­tion to go along with its three speed record changer.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

Model 52-1736

Model 52-1736
Model 52-1736

Philco's top of the line mod­el for 1952 was avail­able only with a mahogany fin­ish. It includes an AM-FM radio and a three speed auto­mat­ic record changer.

Orig­i­nal sell­ing price: Unknown

Num­ber made: Unknown

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