Was at the Turlock, CA auto parts swap yesterday and came across a seller with 2 Philco radios. What caught my eye was the fact that these radios looked to be in very nice original condition and were complete! I have seen this seller before and have bought some literature from him in the past. He's reasonably priced and a very personable individual. He was asking $50 for the pair AND he guaranteed that they both worked (or money back) AND he will bring another cathedral parts radio to the next swap in Feb. for me to have at no charge! A deal was readily struck, I handed him the $50, and he said "Thanks much, see you in Feb" then handed me his card. Here are some pics.
Here are a couple more pics of the 84. The casing is really nice with a small area of veneer that is coming loose. Nothing missing but just needs a little wood glue. It will not need refinishing but just a nice sprucing up. Even the grill cloth is still in nice condition. I haven't tried them out yet but we will see.
You should like both these radios once you get them going. I have the earlier version of the 84 and it is a surprisingly good performer for using only 4 tubes. Seems Philco somehow made these little low cost sets work well. I had a brown 48-250 just like your white one and it was a great little radio to listen to until it got knocked off the console it was sitting on and shattered to pieces on the floor over a year ago. I keep wanting another, but they are priced high around here.
On the 84, I've heard the tuning is very sensitive due its design as there is no tuning string involved. This must be common with other radios of this style. This is the 1st of this type that I have owned.
I keep wanting another, but they are priced high around here.
