You never know what you'll find in an old Plymouth...

[Don Coatney]

The very first?? wish I did, would be worth a mint, they were actually around since the 1940's but not very pratical and only experimental, the old tube sets still outperformed them. Wasn't until the early 50's that the first practical mass produced transistor radio came out. Basically the earlier the radio you have the more it's worth, and condition is everything too.

Have you actually seen a 40's model transistor radio? It must be quite rare as transistors were not invented until 1948.

My father (born 1902) was an electrical engineer and spent most of his life working in radio design. He was a big believer in vacuum tube amplification. He was working in the radio development division for Arvin in Columbus, Indiana when I was born 1n 1947. He left Arvin about 1950 and went to work in Indianapolis, Indiana for a company called I.D.E.A.

The son of the company president Ed Tudor recalls how the Regency name was incorporated.

“Electronics seemed to be the future of the company but the name Industrial Development Engineering Associates sounded too much like a building contractor.

One day during a meeting to discuss the company name, Ed Tudor sat fiddling with a pack of Regency cigarettes. He thought the name sounded classy and this prompted the beginning of the Regency Division.”

The head engineer for the Regency division was Dick Koch. He and my dad were good friends and Dick was a frequent visitor at our house in Indianapolis.

As you may or may not know the radio that this company produced was the TR-1. It sold for fifty bucks and that was a good bit of change in October 1954 when the radio was first offered for sale.

All company employees were given a radio for Christmas in 1954. The radio that was given my dad now resides in a museum owned by the founder of Yahoo in California

Follow this link for an interesting film clip.

http://people.msoe.edu/~reyer/regency/video1.wmv

[Plymouthy Adams]

you got the first one posted there Don..it was not till a few years that the technology advanced to where it was PRACTICAL...I cannot remember the first car transistor but I do believe the 61 Plymouth we had was transistrized..matter of fact, somewhere around here I think I stillhave that radio and the clock..

[Captain Neon]

No more adjusting the tuner after every turn, Gotta love it

no more annoying snap crackle and pop Lets you know the radio is still on and working and has a heart beat!!

I was able to hold it in place with one hand and get a much better fit than I had with the heavier tube radio.

If ever in a wind storm, the extra weight will keep your car planted firmly on the ground!! And, if you don't like old technology then why do you want to drive an old car?? Just run out and buy a PT cruiser, then you will have lots of light stuff to work on!!

I have always liked the PT Cruiser. In fact, I remember doodling pictures of new cars that looked like '30s and '40s cars but with modern amenities when I was a teenager in the late '80s. I thought that building them at minivan size would be more interesting than the PT Cruiser size, but that was about 15 years before they introduced the PT Cruiser.

Were it not for the plethora of memories tied up with my P15 (most good; a few bad), I would consider selling my P15 to make a big down payment on a PT Cruiser. The wife says she wants either a 300M or PT Cruiser for her next car, whenever that may be.

My wife doesn't drive much nowadays as both of our jobs are within walking distance, 5 blocks for me and 3 blocks for her. Her '92 Acclaim with 140K runs great and probably has several more years left in her. Perhaps I will have both a P15 and a PT Cruiser some day.

Frankly, I am just too poor to go buy a PT Cruiser and too emotionally attached to my P15 to get rid of her. For me, it isn't necessarily about old technology as much as driving something unique. PT Cruisers are simply too common still.

If a few more pounds is gonna make the difference in whether or not a car weighing almost two tons stays planted on the ground, I shouldn't be out and about any ways. I should be at the plant and sealed up safely in our hyperbaric chamber.

Nope, I don't regret it one bit that I took an old 802 radio destined for the scrap heap and gave it new life in my P15 where she belongs. If any of her old parts were salvageable, they are probably being used in a restoration of some one else's 802. Until some one comes out with a completely new radio that will fit in our old MoPars, I will recommend the conversion at http://www.turnswitch.com .

[Norm's Coupe]

I remember my first transistor radio back sometime in the 50's. Was about the size of the one Don posted. But.........to make it work you had a wire coming out of it with an alligator clip on the end. You had to connect that alligator clip to something metal, like a wire fence to listen to the radio. Needless to say, I don't think those went over very well. You had to be tied to the fence to listen to the thing.

[Plymouthy Adams]

not quite the same Norm as there was no amplification..just the diode detector and a tunable slide coil..as a kid though you felt like you were stealing tunes right out of nowhere..

[radioguy7]

Have you actually seen a 40's model transistor radio? It must be quite rare as transistors were not invented until 1948.

My father (born 1902) was an electrical engineer and spent most of his life working in radio design. He was a big believer in vacuum tube amplification. He was working in the radio development division for Arvin in Columbus, Indiana when I was born 1n 1947. He left Arvin about 1950 and went to work in Indianapolis, Indiana for a company called I.D.E.A.

The son of the company president Ed Tudor recalls how the Regency name was incorporated.

“Electronics seemed to be the future of the company but the name Industrial Development Engineering Associates sounded too much like a building contractor.

One day during a meeting to discuss the company name, Ed Tudor sat fiddling with a pack of Regency cigarettes. He thought the name sounded classy and this prompted the beginning of the Regency Division.”

The head engineer for the Regency division was Dick Koch. He and my dad were good friends and Dick was a frequent visitor at our house in Indianapolis.

As you may or may not know the radio that this company produced was the TR-1. It sold for fifty bucks and that was a good bit of change in October 1954 when the radio was first offered for sale.

All company employees were given a radio for Christmas in 1954. The radio that was given my dad now resides in a museum owned by the founder of Yahoo in California

Follow this link for an interesting film clip.

http://people.msoe.edu/~reyer/regency/video1.wmv

Well Don, actually you are wrong,On November 17, 1947, Walter Brattain invented the first transistor. In 1953 a German company was actually the first to offer a commercially available radio and then Regency in 1954 offered them on an even bigger scale. There are many 1954 Regency transistor radios around and I have seen many offered for sale at radio shows but they are very expensive.

[Norm's Coupe]

Well Don, actually you are wrong

Geez, you mean the Don was wrong? How can that be? I thought the only time Don was wrong was when he thought he was wrong, but actually right.

[Don Coatney]

Yes Norm I got it wrong. The first transistor was indeed invented in December of 1947. I missed it by a month. However I stand fast in my statment that I.D.E.A./Regency was the first to market a transistor radio.

From Wikipedia

There are numerous claimants to the title of the first company to produce practical transistor radios, often incorrectly attributed to Sony (originally Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo). Texas Instruments had demonstrated all-transistor AM (amplitude modulation) radios as early as 1952, but their performance was well below that of equivalent vacuum tube models. A workable all-transistor radio was demonstrated in August 1953 at the Düsseldorf Radio Fair by the German firm Intermetall. It was built with four of Intermetall's hand-made transistors, based upon the 1948 invention of Herbert Mataré and Heinrich Welker. However, as with the early Texas units (and others) only prototypes were ever built; it was never put into commercial production.

Texas Instruments was behind the Regency transistor radio. In May 1954, they had designed and built a prototype and were looking for an established radio manufacturer to develop and market a radio using their transistors. None of the major radio makers were interested.

The Regency TR-1, announced on October 18, 1954 by the Regency Division of I.D.E.A (Industrial Development Engineering Associates of Indianapolis, Indiana) and put on sale in November 1954 was the first practical transistor radio made in any significant numbers. Patented by Dr. Heinz De Koster (Ph.D. of physics), a Dutch employee of the company. It cost $49.95 (roughly $364 in 2006 USD) and sold about 150,000 units. Raytheon and Zenith Electronics transistor radios soon followed and were priced even higher. Even the first Japanese imports (in 1957) were priced at $30 and above. Transistor radios did not achieve mass popularity until the early 1960s when prices of some models fell below $20 ($140 in 2009 USD), then below $10 as markets became flooded with radios from Hong Kong by the mid to late 1960s.

RCA had demonstrated a prototype transistor radio as early as 1952 and it is likely that they and the other radio makers were planning transistor radios of their own. But Texas Instruments and Regency were the first to put forth a production model. Sony, at the time still a small company named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, Ltd., (aka "Totsuko"), followed soon after introducing their own five-transistor radio, the TR-55, in August 1955, under the new brand name Sony[2]. With its release, Sony also became the first company to manufacture a radio from the transistors on up, and to utilize all miniature components.

Sony's first official import to the U.S.A. was the "pocketable"[3] TR-63 released in March 1957[4], a model which proved highly successful in that market. (The term "pocketable" was a matter of some interpretation, as Sony allegedly had special shirts made with oversized pockets for their salesmen[5]). In January 1958, the company changed its name to Sony[6], adopting the name that had previously been the reserve of its radio brand. The Sony TR-610 was released some months later, marking another resounding success and taking its place as the first transistor radio to sell more than a half-million units.

[T120]

..there's a great deal of knowledge to be gained from reading this forum.

[Plymouthy Adams]

even more if you read the internet...!

[BobT-47P15]

Back in the mid to late 1950s, I had a transistor radio that sort of

resembled this one. I think it got only AM. It was maybe

made by RCA or GE or one of the big names. It was the most cool

after about 10 pm when local stations went off the air and you could

then pick up places like Del Rio, Texas (Wolfman Jack)

and Nashville, Tenn (WLAC) who had programs sponsored by

record shops. They sold package deals of several records by various

artists. I used to take it to bed and listen.

[Norm's Coupe]

Yes Norm I got it wrong. The first transistor was indeed invented in December of 1947. I missed it by a month. However I stand fast in my statment that I.D.E.A./Regency was the first to market a transistor radio.

Don,

I was just giving you the business after radioguy made his post. This argument/discussion is between you guys. I had no idea when the first transistor was invented or by who, nor did I really care.

Now, here's what I really want to know. Who can answer this one?

We know all about the story of Santa Clause/St. Nick and where they started. But.............If Easter is in remembrance of when Jesus was crucified and arose from the dead, how and where did the Easter Bunny and Chicks get in the picture?

Maybe someone can come up with this answer either off the internet, or just make something up. Like I know where Peter Cotton Tail came from. That was from Gene Autry.

http://www.geneautry.com/images/homepage/home_header3.jpg

[Plymouthy Adams]

believe the bunny and chick is more in reference to the time of year...spring..

[Norm's Coupe]

Tim,

I don't know about that. Sometimes Easter Day is before the official date of the start of spring. Easter is not like Christmas. Easter is not always on the same date, or month.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Norm..it does not have to fall on the same day to consider the season of spring...as Christmas is one day and as such is Easter, spring is generally in the vicinity of 90 days...

[Norm's Coupe]

Ok Tim. But........say I go along with that answer. Now, spring does not bring out the chickens or the bunny's. I have bunny rabbits hopping around my yard all year round. No chickens though. You'd have to live on a farm for that, which I don't. So.........if chickens and bunny's are around all year, why do we associate the bunny with Easter only. Why not also include them for Christmas, and Thanksgiving? Officially Easter is the celebration of my previous post, not of spring.

[Merle Coggins]

WOW, this thread sure has strayed from its original topic.

Oh well... might as well go with it...

Here you go Norm, from http://www.easterbunnys.net/easterbunnyhistory.htm

Easter Bunny History

The Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season.

The bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have it's origins in Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1500s. The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s. These were made of pastry and sugar.

The Easter bunny was introduced to American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. The arrival of the "Oschter Haws" was considered "childhood's greatest pleasure" next to a visit from Christ-Kindel on Christmas Eve. The children believed that if they were good the "Oschter Haws" would lay a nest of colored eggs.

The children would build their nest in a secluded place in the home, the barn or the garden. Boys would use their caps and girls their bonnets to make the nests . The use of elaborate Easter baskets would come later as the tradition of the Easter bunny spread through out the country.

[Merle Coggins]

Of course you do know where Easter eggs come from, don't you Norm?

So be carefull this weekend when you're out driving around. You don't want to ruin Easter for the youngins

[Young Ed]

Merle Merle Merle we all know Norm doesn't drive around

[Norm's Coupe]

Merle,

Mmmmmmmmm.........Fried rabbit sounds good about now. Wife would not cook it or eat it though. Wonder if Culver's will come out with a fried rabbit dinner someday?

I guess I'll go along with that story about the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs.

But.......that still doesn't explain the Easter Chicks.

[Don Coatney]

that still doesn't explain the Easter Chicks.

Norm;

Easter chicks can only be found on Florida beaches. I would think you would know that but I guess not. I cannot find any postable pictures that will not be edited so use your imagination assuming you have one.

[Norm's Coupe]

So be carefull this weekend when you're out driving around. You don't want to ruin Easter for the youngins

Merle,

The other option if I hit the Easter Bunny is, I can do what the Blonde did.

A man is driving along a highway and sees a rabbit jump out across the middle of the road.

He swerves to avoid hitting it, but unfortunately the rabbit jumps right in front of the car.

The driver, a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulls over and gets out to see what has become of the rabbit.

Much to his dismay, the rabbit is the Easter Bunny, and he is DEAD.

The driver feels so awful that he begins to cry.

A beautiful blonde woman driving down the highway sees a man crying on the side of the road and pulls over. She steps out of the car and asks the man what's wrong.

"I feel terrible," he explains, "I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny with my car and KILLED HIM."

The blonde says, "Don't worry." She runs to her car and pulls out a spray can. She walks over to the limp, dead Easter Bunny, bends down, and sprays the contents onto him.

The Easter Bunny jumps up, waves its paw at the two of them and hops off down the road. Ten feet away he stops, turns around and waves again, he hops down the road another 10 feet, turns and waves, hops another ten feet, turns and waves, a nd repeats this again and again and again and again, until he hops out of sight.

The man is astonished. He runs over to the woman and demands, "What is in that can? What did you spray on the Easter Bunny ?"

The woman turns the can around so that the man can read the label. It says..

(Are you ready for this?)

(Are you sure?)

(You know you're gonna be sorry)

(Last chance)

(OK, here it is)

It says,

"Hair Spray”

Restores life to dead hair, and adds permanent wave."

[radioguy7]

Btw Don, Wilkpedia is not a valid form of information, anyone can post to it so there is a lot of incorrect info out there. Also I'm curious, are you sure your last name isn't "Gloatney" ? :D

Never seen anyone that HAS to be right so badly, is it from childhood scars?

[Don Coatney]

Btw Don, Wilkpedia is not a valid form of information, anyone can post to it so there is a lot of incorrect info out there.

I agree Wikipedia is not always acturate pretty much the same as your answers are not always acturate. :D

As an example what is Wilkpedia

Are you related to Norms coupe?

[Dennis Hemingway]

I just set on my patio with my BB Gun and wait these hop by, then it's target pratice. It's the only way I've found to keep them away from Kathy's garden thay ate all of our squash while I was in the hospital.

Dennis:rolleyes: