[MrFixr55]

Hi Oldie,

Not Psycho at all. One of the "trends" in decoration and architecture is "Mid Century Modern". Replicating a Mid 1960s Mechanix Illustrated or Family Handyman project makes perfect sense. Like I said before, when in 1942, Philco had some Ford and Chrysler car radios with no cars being built to install them in. (Chrysler was building tanks and "Deuce-and-a-Halfs". Ford was building bombers and was a licensed builder of Jeeps.) Boomers like me are retiring and doing projects that replicate their childhood (or the childhood they wished they had).

Now that I have a copy of Alfred Morgan's "Boy's First Book of Radio and Electronics", I may build the Geiger counter or the simple 3 tube amplifier (just like those in an AA5, using a 50L6, 35W4 and 12SQ7, on a wood board with a metal ground plate and everything on standoffs.

I'm a big Ford fan but I have to admit that from the 1950s to even into this century, GM and Chrysler had better sounding radios than Ford. Very few Ford radios had a push-pull amp (and the ones that I worked on as a kid were Ford, made by Motorola or Bendix, not a cheap Automatic or Tenna aftermarket job. I remember that the 57 Chevys had a neat 2 chassis job with 2 12V6s. Ford used 6AQ5s

Does that Buick Sonomatic have a rear speaker jack? Does it use a 0Z4 or a 6AX5 as a rectifier (or heaven forbid a synchronous vibrator)?

In keeping with both what Philco did (Yeah, I know that these are Delcos), I would find a power transformer from a late 1940s radio that did not use an electrodynamic speaker but did use push-pull outputs (may have to be from a Philco, as they used 6AX5 or 84 rectifiers that ran from the same 6V winding as the rest of the tubes. It will likely have to mount externally. The Philco Service notes do not show the power transformer (Item #74) in the radio chassis. However, in the original C1908 from which this radio came from, the invertor transformer is mounted inside. This makes sense, as the transformer needed to merely develop the power for the B+ is much smaller than a transformer that has to develop the filament voltages (and a separate winding for the rectifier filament if a 5Y3 is used.