08-10-2008, 05:58 PM
Hello everyone - My name's Chris, and I figured I'd just go and introduce myself.
I had never even heard of a Philco radio until just yesterday, when I found a 37-620 model at a moving sale, but they only wanted 10 dollars for it so I called my brother and asked him to see if it was worth anything. He told me I could probably turn it around as-is for $60 or so. But once I got it home and did my own research, I had a change of heart and thought it might be fun to restore it. That's when I found this website, and a bunch of others.
Anyway, I'm really excited to get started, and I figured maybe I'll just go ahead and tell everyone here what I'm planning on doing. If anyone wishes to comment, or let me know something that I most likely don't know, I would certainly appreciate it.
I'm sure I'll have some specific questions later on down the line, but for now, here's what I planning:
1. Replace the severed power cord on the back to see if the thing even works. (Need to figure out where to buy parts!)
2. Repair any functional/electrical problems I find after getting it plugged in.
3. Replace missing tuner knob.
4. Replace missing back cover. (The back is wide open. . . it must have a back, right?)
5. Repair minor scratches. In my opinion, there is only minor damage.
6. Refinish? Maybe I should; maybe I shouldn't. Opinions appreciated. I really believe my radio may be in better shape than most that I've seen on the interweb: On my radio, you can still see the original patterning that was stained into the radio face. I have seen pictures of this radio restored, but none with that original patterning.
Well, I think this is enough to get me started. We'll see what I've learned after that to start. Overall, I think I'd like to sell it after restoring, so any repair decisions that I make will be based on how the repair will affect the final selling price. At least that's my plan as of now (who knows, I may decide to keep it).
One thing that I would be leary of in restoring and selling an antique, is that I really have no idea what I'm doing yet, and the last thing I want to do is sell something that is improperly restored. I don't want anyone to be unhappy.
Anyway, thank you all in advance for any advice you can send my way. I'm really looking forward to this new hobby. If anybody would like to see any specific pictures of this radio, let me know and I'll gladly take some. (As soon as I can figure out how to attach photos to this message board. Having difficulty right now).
Chris
I had never even heard of a Philco radio until just yesterday, when I found a 37-620 model at a moving sale, but they only wanted 10 dollars for it so I called my brother and asked him to see if it was worth anything. He told me I could probably turn it around as-is for $60 or so. But once I got it home and did my own research, I had a change of heart and thought it might be fun to restore it. That's when I found this website, and a bunch of others.
Anyway, I'm really excited to get started, and I figured maybe I'll just go ahead and tell everyone here what I'm planning on doing. If anyone wishes to comment, or let me know something that I most likely don't know, I would certainly appreciate it.
I'm sure I'll have some specific questions later on down the line, but for now, here's what I planning:
1. Replace the severed power cord on the back to see if the thing even works. (Need to figure out where to buy parts!)
2. Repair any functional/electrical problems I find after getting it plugged in.
3. Replace missing tuner knob.
4. Replace missing back cover. (The back is wide open. . . it must have a back, right?)
5. Repair minor scratches. In my opinion, there is only minor damage.
6. Refinish? Maybe I should; maybe I shouldn't. Opinions appreciated. I really believe my radio may be in better shape than most that I've seen on the interweb: On my radio, you can still see the original patterning that was stained into the radio face. I have seen pictures of this radio restored, but none with that original patterning.
Well, I think this is enough to get me started. We'll see what I've learned after that to start. Overall, I think I'd like to sell it after restoring, so any repair decisions that I make will be based on how the repair will affect the final selling price. At least that's my plan as of now (who knows, I may decide to keep it).
One thing that I would be leary of in restoring and selling an antique, is that I really have no idea what I'm doing yet, and the last thing I want to do is sell something that is improperly restored. I don't want anyone to be unhappy.
Anyway, thank you all in advance for any advice you can send my way. I'm really looking forward to this new hobby. If anybody would like to see any specific pictures of this radio, let me know and I'll gladly take some. (As soon as I can figure out how to attach photos to this message board. Having difficulty right now).
Chris
