[Ron Ramirez]

Ron, I'm just curious how well the Auto Magic actually worked when these receivers were new.... do you have any direct experience or have you read how well this feature actually worked?

No direct experience other than with this receiver. I could only dream of owning something like this in 1975. I do not recall looking at any in Radio Shack stores back then...probably because I knew that I could never afford one when they were new and I was just a 15 year old kid.

I did see a YouTube video recently of one...and it worked as it should have. The tuning meter turns white, indicating that AFC (Auto Magic) turns off when the user touched the tuning knob to tune in a different FM station...turned green again when he let go of the tuning knob. That's how mine is working...in the basement at the workbench. But not upstairs.

I'm just wondering if it was more of a gimmick that was more problematic than useful?

That could very well be it, I think. Radio Shack only used Auto Magic in a few receivers in the mid-70s, then it disappeared. Maybe it wasn't as "Magic" under real life conditions as they had hoped?