The PHILCO Phorum

I got this old Philco a while back. Not sure what model it is, but a 54, 57 or 59 I think.

When I got it, it was painted the UGLIEST shade of brown. It's SO ugly I can't even describe it without using some of Carlin's "Seven Words"..

[attachment=2914]

Last night, after having finished the chassis restoration, I commenced to strip that awful paint off, figuring that anything I could do to it would have to be an improvement. Imagine my surprise and befuddlement when I found what was underneath:

[attachment=2913]

Now, WHY would anyone cover this beautiful grain with that horrid paint? The white spot on the upper left is wood putty where I'm patching a bit of a gouge before I refinish it.

It's a model 57C. Yes, looks much better without the brown paint.

Who knows what motivates people to paint things which were never painted originally. Myself, I will never understand the logic (or, more appropriately, the lack thereof) of painting things white, making them look "distressed" and adding some decals, then selling it as "shabby chic." I have a different name for it...substituting one of Carlin's seven words for "chic"...

+ One Brenda, I'am glad to see you got a hold of that radio. Looks like it will clean up nicely.

Great job and really lovely looking wood Brenda. At least it wasn't painted white! Who knows why it would be painted? Let's see how it goes together and looks when your done.
Jerry

Ron,

Do I need to find a PHILCO decal for this? It seems to be missing something...

Decal goes under the center opening I believe. See: http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1933b.htm#s and http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philco_57.html

Brenda

What Bob said, plus you'll want a DCL-PH8 from Radio Daze to replace the missing PHILCO decal.

There is one benefit to someone painting a wood cabinet with a thick layer of paint, it does an excellent job of protecting the wood from dents and gouges. It also turns off a lot of potential buyers making such radios cheaper to buy.
Regards
Arran

Good point, Arran.

Thanks Ron and Bob. I ordered the decals and some knob washers.

Does anyone do repros of the brass foil dial?

I wish I knew of someone reproducing the foil dials, I know of a Rogers "Pee wee" set like that Philco that has the same problem. Radio Daze was hinting that they might make some foil dials so you may check with them. They are sort of strange, it's like a heavy aluminum foil that was pressed to give a faux medallion relief effect, in the case of the Rogers I saw the background was painted black. It's too bad that they didn't make them like the brass and aluminum serial number plates, then you could clean them up and repaint them.
Regards
Arran