[edison]

Hi,
I have a Philco 144 with code 325.

Anyone know this code and know what it means?

[Image: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m140/...d1312f.jpg]

Regards,
Carlos

[TA Forbes]

That may be an export model.

Can you include more photos of the chassis and cabinet?

[morzh]

110V...where could you export it other than Americas? At the time possibly Canada, who else at the time had buying power?

[TA Forbes]

It was a "swag."

In Russian I believe that translates to "if you crash your tractor into a reactor your turnips will glow."

[Ron Ramirez]

Definitely an export model; 115 volts notwithstanding. Philco did not use metal tags on their 1930s radios intended for sale within the USA, they used the gold foil stickers instead. (And from the 1935 model year on, the blue stickers with white border and lettering; green for battery sets; black for AC/DC sets).

I do not know why they chose to use metal tags on their export models.

Maybe some countries required a more permanent model tag? (That's another SWAG.)

[TA Forbes]

Well Ron..... now the local farmers in Indiana will have "glowing turnips."

[morzh]

According to declassified info, No Carolina and vicinities in 1961 coul become one big f..ng Hiroshima, and a malfunction of the bomb prevented that.
There'd be many more things glowing there than just turnips...and extremely cheap real estate.

[edison]

Hi,
Thanks for the replay.

The 144 for Export, have a letter E, after the 144
See:
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philco_144e...e_125.html

More pictures.
[Image: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m140/...0477eb.jpg]

[Image: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m140/...40cdb8.jpg]

Regards,
Carlos

[morzh]

Isn't reimportation illegal? At least with pharmaceuticals, it is

[Arran]

The Canadian market Philco sets all had metal tags, but with few exceptions I think that they were all built in Toronto, Ontario. If it was a Canadian built Philco it could be 25-60 cycle or 50-60 cycle, but it would also not be marked as a model 144 it would be marked as a model 3144, if they sold any models using the 144 chassis. If Philco of Canada was like RCA-Victor of Canada LTD. there would be some models that they had in the U.S that they did not manufacture, some that they didn and some other models that would be unique to the Canadian market.
Regards
Arran

[edison]

Hi,

The chassis have this nº :

In front
[Image: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m140/...523676.jpg]

In inside

[Image: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m140/...cfac09.jpg]

Regards
Carlos

[Joe Rossi]

It is definitely made in the USA. It looks just like the 144B on Ron's web-site. Is 325 the chassis number? Radio Attic has a radio they call a 144B, but it has a different cabinet. On one of the additional photos, I see 38-10122. While it isn't a model number, 10122 was a cabinet number. Anybody have a 144B they could look at for Carlos? Joe

[Ron Ramirez]

Okay...let me repeat post #5 in this thread:

Definitely an export model; 115 volts notwithstanding. Philco did not use metal tags on their 1930s radios intended for sale within the USA, they used the gold foil stickers instead. (And from the 1935 model year on, the blue stickers with white border and lettering; green for battery sets; black for AC/DC sets).

I do not know why they chose to use metal tags on their export models.

Maybe some countries required a more permanent model tag? (That's another SWAG.)

So: USA-made Philco home radios of the mid-1930s intended for sale within the USA do not use metal tags, they use paper stickers.

Examples:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/assets/44label.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/assets/40130_label.jpg]

As Arran correctly stated, Canadian-built Philco radios of the mid-1930s do use metal tags.

USA-made Philco radios intended for export use metal tags instead of paper stickers. Whether or not the "Chassis Type" has an "E" after it is irrelevant.

Another thing. When I used to do radio repair as a business, one of my best clients hired me to restore the chassis of a 16B cathedral. It happened to have been built for export to Mexico. It, too, had a metal tag - because it was not intended for sale inside the USA.

Got it yet, kids?

It looks like Carlos' 144 has some sort of jack on the back of the chassis. That would explain the "325" code - USA-built Philcos intended for export, and with code numbers starting with 3 usually have phono jacks, and it appears the radio in question does. Maybe it does, and maybe I'm not really seeing a 1/4 inch jack on the back of the chassis. But the Philco schematics I have seen over the years bear this out.

Is this good enough? Or shall we go investigate which brand of toilet paper Jim Skinner was using when the 144s were being built?

[Arran]

I would take anything posted on the Radio Attic with a grain of salt, it's basically an online flea market. There have been frankenradios on there, chassis stuffed in home brew cabinets, chassis stuffed in aftermarket cabinets, it's basically the wild West over there.
Regards
Arran

P.S There does look like there is a jack of some sort, possibly 1/4'', right bellow the filter condensers. It may be for a headset or it may be for a phonograph, even RCA did not use RCA jacks in the mid 1930s, they had screw terminal strips on the back of the chassis.

[Ron Ramirez]

Oh, and for what it's worth, the late version 144B cabinet is part no. 10160-A.

Some exported Philcos, notably those made for sale in the UK (before Philco ramped up production at Perivale, Greenford, Middlesex) have chassis made in the USA and cabinets made in the UK.

Some have chassis and cabinet which were both made in the USA, such as this 144B, my former client's 16B, and others.

Philcos sold in New Zealand during the 1937 season, and perhaps a few years afterward, have USA-made chassis and NZ-made cabinets. Many of these cabinets are much more stylish than their USA equivalents.

And then there is a real oddball, a 1938 model 38-250. It has a USA-made chassis, but I have no idea where the cabinet was made nor where it was exported to. I am aware of three in the USA although there may be a few more hidden deep within collections. It's the largest "Bullet" table model I've ever seen.

Again, for what it's worth...