40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration

40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - Printable Version

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40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - keith49vj3 - 12-25-2014

Since it is quite possible that I may have the only surviving 1940 model Zephyr Radiobar, I thought I’d share some photos documenting the restoration process.
When I purchased the radio at an auction, it was complete minus the glassware. Unfortunately, the cabinet had been mostly stripped of its original finish. Small flakes of finish remained and these were used as a guide to replicate the finish. I have a few black and white photos that also proved to be helpful in the restoration.
The Liquor cabinet door has the number 107 stamped on the edge and the matching number is also on the door frame so I assumed that was the serial number. All of the veneer was intact but was loose. Using a syringe with a long needle and glue, I carefully re-attached the loose veneer. There were two previous veneer patches that were horribly done using patches that were perhaps a hundred times the thickness of the original paper thin veneer. Both of these were redone using Walnut veneer of the appropriate thickness and grain. The sides of the cabinet were covered with walnut veneer. The front has bands of walnut veneer and mahogany veneer separated by a thin strip of maple veneer. The bar doors used bookmatched walnut burled veneer.
The radio is a Philco 40-165 and I believe it has been rebuilt at least twice. The speaker was the first I’ve ever encountered that was missing all of the paper components so I sent it out to Sound Remedy for rebuilding. Since it had been stripped I had to guess on the decal layout. I used all the Philco 40-165 decals along with a Radiobar /Philco decal. I have no idea if the Cabinet had the Radiobar decal but this can easily be changed if I learn otherwise. I haven’t tackled the radio yet but I’ll post those photos when I get to that part of the restoration.
At the time of the auction the common belief was that Radiobar when out of business in 1938. That worked out to my advantage since no one wanted bid on Frankenbar. I did find some info on Robert Baumbach’s website http://mulhollandpress.com/styled-2/styled-42/styled-43/index.html and thanks to the folks at americanradiohistory.com I was able to learn a bit more. After some digging and with help from Robert Baumbach it was discovered that Radiobar was alive and well until the late 1940’s but as a very different company selling roller skates, clothes hangers, cribbage boards and bassinet’s under the brand “Multi-Kwik”.
Here are some before pictures.
ad showing Zephyr
Before front open

Front closeup
Back before
crushed antenna
bad veneer patch 1
bad veneer patch 2

More pics to follow soon.

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - keith49vj3 - 12-25-2014

The liquor cabinet door was bent at a severe angle. To repair this a woodworker friend of mine made a series of cuts on the back side and inserted wedges to straighten the door.
repairing bent door

To fix the horrible patch on the front bar door my friend cut out a knot of burled walnut veneer that matched pretty well and glued it in place. Since the veneer was bookmarked he hand painted a mirror image of the knot on the other door.

doors after veneer repair

The other veneer patch was much easier to repair.
side veneer patch

Here it is ready for re-finishing
ready for Lacquer

after numerous coats of lacquer

Cabinet finished

cabinet finished
cabinet finished open

To repair the crushed antenna I made a plywood and presentation board sleeve to restore the shape of the shield.
sleeve for antenna
antenna reformed with internal sleeve

More to come soon.
Keith

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - Eliot Ness - 12-25-2014

Very nice work, that is a beautiful radio. I don't recall seeing or reading about a Philco Zephyr before.

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - OldRestorer - 12-25-2014

I have seen a few of these before and this one at the auction. It was not a great looking piece, Icon_lol

I was gonna bid but then I would not have had room for all the other radios.
Looks fantastic now.

Good work

Kirk

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - thirtiesradio - 12-25-2014

Nice radio and great job with the restoration. I didn't know that model existed.

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - Joeztech - 12-29-2014

Good job on the rotating antenna repair. The one in my 40-201 was in similar condition. These electrostatically shielded antennas are unique to only 1940 models. The cabinet now looks really nice, glad you were able to bring this one back!

Joe

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - klondike98 - 12-29-2014

Very nice! Icon_clap

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - y2kbruce - 12-29-2014

Its common for companies to start their serial numbers with a leading 100 or 1000. Thus I suspect your set may actually be the 7th set in this model run.

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - SteveJB - 01-03-2015

That sure looks good now. I also saw it at the auction. Never thought it could look so good.
Steve

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - keith49vj3 - 01-25-2015

Here are a few more pictures. I made one modification that can be reversed in 5 minutes. With a slight modification to the volume control I can play music via bluethooth and when unplugged it reverses to stock mode. I followed this thread for the modification mp3 adapter . Here's a before photo of the radio. I think the previous repairman changed the filter capacitors before he realized the speaker was missing the cone. After realizing he needed a new speaker I think he gave up.
Here it is before
after
modification

Keith

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - sam - 01-25-2015

umm sstran would be better. no mods and broadcasts on all radios

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - keith49vj3 - 01-25-2015

I forgot to post the finished photo.
Here it is. I've got lots of AM transmitters and the modification I used sounds better.
finished
Keith

RE: 40-165 Radiobar Zephyr restoration - Art Hoch - 01-31-2015

VERY VERY NICE!!!!