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What to do with my Philco - Printable Version

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What to do with my Philco - Wright571 - 08-29-2015

Hello everyone. Quick introduction: My name is Morgan, I live in northern Nevada and I'm pretty new to restoring old radios.
About 15 years ago my grandfather gave me one of his old Philco radios. It didn't all quite work right, but most of it did and he figured I could fix the rest of it. We did play some old 78's on the record player, but after a short while the radio was retired to my mothers basement, where it has sat ever since. I have now been charged with the task of "doing something with it". My wife doesn't like it and it really doesn't fit in our house, so I'm probably going to end up selling it.
My question is, is it worth fixing/restoring and if so how far should I take it. From what I've gathered from reading others posts, this isn't a high demand/expensive model do they aren't going for big bucks anyway.
Any input is greatly appreciated. See below for some specs and pictures:

Philco Model 40-508
(From my grandfathers notes)
Has a leaky filter, short wave was working well, but suddenly stopped (possibly a tube)

Front
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/7z7UCLg.jpg]

Grille and Cloth
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/OxbPAQ4.jpg]

Bottom (some damage)
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/Wryh3uI.jpg]

Inside (Record player functions well, though some of the rubber mounts need to be replaced. Pretty much all of the radio stuff seem to be there)
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/lhsbl0U.jpg]

Inside of cabinet
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/VFKJpqb.jpg]

Underside of record player
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/67UL19q.jpg]

Tubes
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/DHqugOb.jpg]

Label info
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/K5boWuJ.jpg]

Thanks again for your help.

RE: What to do with my Philco - Eliot Ness - 08-29-2015

I'm going to encourage you to keep and restore this radio.  Most of us would give our eye teeth for a radio that belonged to our grandparents, and once it's gone it's gone..... lost is the possibility of passing it down to your children or grandchildren.

If you do decide to sell it I would sell it "as-is", since most collectors would prefer to do the restoration work themselves and you'll seldom make back what you spend in time and parts.   I can't help you with a value, but you are out west where radios are not as plentiful.  While that might be a factor in your favor, that radios real value is the sentimental connection to your grandfather.

If you decide to restore we'll be more than glad to help you out, but please don't power it on again or you risk damaging it further.  Those capacitors are 75 years old and way past due for replacement.

RE: What to do with my Philco - OldRestorer - 08-29-2015

I have my Grandparents set and would not give it up because it does not go with the house. A little howards restor-a-finish and it will look new. It is in fantastic condition and is not that common. It was a costly unit new at $125.00 and grill clocth can be replaced easily. The chassis is really clean... Like really clean Icon_lol

I would not value it high but out west you could ask $200.00 and see what happens.

Kirk

RE: What to do with my Philco - Paul Philco322 - 08-29-2015

Kirk is quite correct, many people would love to get a radio of that age with a nice rust free chassis. The case is super as well. You can surely get soem records to spin and think of entertaianing your friends with a Bing or Sinatra disc? Stored in a dry part of the country indoors is a bonus.

Maybe you can bring the wife around? Not to mention the generational thing, my favorite radio is a Silvertone belonged to my great Uncle and a RCA my Dad pulled from a basement. Are they Super deluxe, not really but I am attached.

Yours even has a discwasher!

Paul

RE: What to do with my Philco - klondike98 - 08-29-2015

Welcome to the Phorum!! Icon_wave
Good advice above. It would not be the easiest electronic restoration to tackle as your first restoration. 40's sets often need much of the rubber insulated wires replaced along with the usual recap and recarb. If you decide to sell it, sell it as-is, otherwise it will probably cost you more in materials than you'll get for it.

RE: What to do with my Philco - morzh - 08-29-2015

Yeah....wives. Tell me about it. But while shopping for paintings in FL, I told her: for every painting you pick I bring up one radio from the basement. If there is something you like, there should also be something I like. Icon_smile
Ya know, if one party has 1M men and 50K tanks, and the other one has an A-bomb, they can always try to reach a sensible compromise.

RE: What to do with my Philco - Wright571 - 08-29-2015

Thank you everyone for your input. Maybe I will keep it, I don't know. I'm still on the fence. I guess I don't have that much sentimental value attached to this as it wasn’t something my grandfather had very long. He bought and sold old radios, along with records, for extra money after he retired. I am pretty decent with fixing things, although I've never tackled something of this age before.
If I did decide to sell it where should I start? Is craigslist a decent place to list these? It seems as if most of you gentlemen are on the east coast, is there a west coast radio forum I should look into? We have a few antique malls around, how are they in general?
Ha ha, I also try to barter for things when my wife buys things, though mostly it seems to either be tools or parts for my motorcycles.

RE: What to do with my Philco - Arran - 08-30-2015

 You are quite correct in that it is not a very valuable set monetarily, but pre war Philco radio-phono units are NOT very common at all. I don't know if this was a set that your grandfather bought new or if he picked it up in his travel, if he had owned since new I would find some way of keeping it and fixing it up. The chassis in these sets were somewhat harder to work on then others, in part because of the pushbutton assembly under the chassis, but they really are not that bad if you are experienced restorer. The main issues are with the rubber/gutta percha covered wire, deteriorating plastic in the pushbuttons, and failing audio output transformers, and the usual things like dry rotted rubber parts like grommets and shock mounts. The phonograph and radio chassis in this set look almost pristine, clean with no spots of rust or corrosion, the finish on the cabinet does look a little tired and flaky, so that will need to be redone at some point, and the tattered grille cloth of course.
Regards
Arran