insaneradio Posted April 29, 2010 Report Posted April 29, 2010 Evening Gentlemen, I am new to the Forum and have enjoyed my stay thus far. As much as I enjoy my car my true enjoyment comes from radio restorations. I am an avid collector of the 20's and early 30's radios. Been at it for about 15 years. Here is my web site if your interested. It is rather outdated but will give you an ideas as to what I collect. http://pages.suddenlink.net/davesradios/ With that said. I am contemplating offering radio restorations to memebers on the Forum. Please understand I am just contemplating it. I am not geard up for auto radio restoration but could be if the need arises. Right now I guess I am testing the waters to see how much a demand their will be. Is there much a demand for it?? Is there someone on the Forum that presently does restorations?? I do not want to step on any toes. Give me some feedback please. Dave Quote
55 Fargo Posted April 29, 2010 Report Posted April 29, 2010 My Chrysler 802 radio, needs a vibrator, and capacitors, at least that is what I ws told. I have a brand new dial face on mine, was hoping to get it operational one day..... Quote
insaneradio Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Posted April 30, 2010 Not a problem. I will keep you in mind. Dave Quote
old rat 49 Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 What about updating to a modern 12 v AM/FM ? Nothing fancy required. Quote
Jim Saraceno Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 I have two radios that would fit in my '35 Plymouth. One day I'd like to get one of them working. Quote
Greenbomb Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 Well, I know you are just mulling it over and aren't committed to anything, and each unit is different, but what kinda money does it take to fix the "average' radio. Ballpark figure, of course. Sorry, but money dictates alot for me. It's probably not possible to say, but I thought I'd ask, anyway. Quote
Greenbomb Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 Well, I know you are just mulling it over and aren't committed to anything, and each unit is different, but what kinda money does it take to fix the "average' radio. Ballpark figure, of course. Sorry, but money dictates alot for me. It's probably not possible to say, but I thought I'd ask, anyway. I have a '50 Plymouth that I'd like to get the radio going again. Quote
Flatie46 Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 Somebody will have to fix mine and it ain't gonna be me. What do ya charge? What's a worst case scenario for a '46 plym radio that don't pick up nothin but dust. Quote
insaneradio Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Posted April 30, 2010 Honestly I rarely take in customers radios. I just have a warm spot for my fellow car collectors. I typically only perform restorations on radios for friends and family. When I do take a radio in for restoration I am very fair with my rates. I am always cheaper than anyone who offers home radio restorations. I am going to pull my radio and perform a restoration on it. After doing so I will have a good idea of how much effort and time is involved. Let me first state I do not believe in doing a "repair". In-fact I will not do a repair. I will only do a complete restoration. Repairs will come back and haunt you on a 60 year old radio. I replace all wax/paper capacitors--capacitors are cheap. Tubes are quite reasonable and rarely bad. More than likely the most expensive part will be the vibrator. I will have to do some checking on its cost. As of this moment I am contemplating restoring radios to their original performance. I am not going to do FM modifications and the such. It is way to early to throw a dollar value out just yet as I am just getting feelers. You can be certain I will be less expensive than anyone out there. Radio restoration is a hobby for me and an enjoyment. I too am held to a budget and understand others that are as well. Dave Quote
randroid Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 insaneradio, Just a comment to thank you for the thought. I have two radios for my P-15 and have no intention of getting them restored, but if you want a whole one and most of another just to get your feet wet they're yours for the postage. -Randy Quote
Captain Neon Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 What about updating to a modern 12 v AM/FM ? Nothing fancy required. Check out http://www.turnswitch.com They converted my radio for me. The AM/FM radio works great! I had them do mine for 6 volt, and one even gets a 12 volt power tap in the bargain to charge a cell phone or run a GPS. Quote
insaneradio Posted April 30, 2010 Author Report Posted April 30, 2010 Check out http://www.turnswitch.comThey converted my radio for me. The AM/FM radio works great! I had them do mine for 6 volt, and one even gets a 12 volt power tap in the bargain to charge a cell phone or run a GPS. I am sure they do wonderful work. I am certainly more of a purist. That is the joy of this hobby as well as my radio hobby. We all can choose our level of "restoration". Dave Quote
Reg Evans Posted April 30, 2010 Report Posted April 30, 2010 Wow Dave....what a great collection! I didn't know that the 20's radios had that big separate mega phone like the old wind up Victrolas did. If you do decide to take on some separate work I have a small table model radio from probably the 40's that I use to listen to every morning with my coffee until the background noise started to over power the broadcast. Any idea what year this little radio might be. It say General Television on the front. Please excuse the dust. Quote
Reg Evans Posted May 3, 2010 Report Posted May 3, 2010 Thanks for the PM Dave ! My little radio is on it's way to you. Your price sounds very reasonable ! Quote
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