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With the help and good suggestions of a couple of member here I've been in contact with Harold Rushing. He was able to give me considerable information about my radio (see previous Topic "1939 Radio?"). I can now tell you that it is a 1937 radio that was used, as more than one person suggested, in a limo. It resided in the passenger corner of the trunk and the control head was in the passenger side armrest. There were a couple of different options for mounting the speaker in the trunk but it was often placed directly behind the center armrest (equal sound for everyone in the seat I guess).

This is a Philco Transitone Model P1530 for anyone that might be interested. If you have a 37 limo and need a radio feel free to contact me. I will assume that the radio needs to be rebuilt and that cost is $250 from Mr. Rushing (unless it needs the vibrator which is $30 extra). This sounds like an excellent deal to me and I plan to send mine off to him a little later.

Gene

Correction!
This radio was actually used in the 1938 Packard rather than the 1937. This was entirely my misunderstanding of the information I was given. Gene

Glad you were able to ID the unit -- and glad to see it is a 38 after all since the knobs and dial are on the same level. At least the pictures are correct in that regard.

Did he happen to mention if there is a hidden number or way to determine various head models or is it just by experience? The Rider's P1530 schematics I have do not show or mention a head - only info is on the chassis.

With electrical being a switch and light bulb, the rest of the head is mostly just a mechanical apparatus connecting into the chassis with speedometer type cables. Would imagine any number of them would work. Be nice to know if there is a way to determine what is correct & would or wouldn't work.

I am still kind of intrigued about the lack of finish or seemingly rough construction of that head as compared to others. Wonder if it was custom modified by a coach builder to fit the allotted space.

HH, it's often pretty easy to recognize the radio heads designated for rear armrest installation on models with a divider by the size of the head. Also easy to spot if you look under models so-equipped - you'll see what appears to be a second battery box hanging down from the frame in the area beneath the rear seat - that's the box for the "works". Radio heads that were mounted in the divider rather than the armrest were perhaps different - I have some photos somewhere.

No doubt the demand for those rear compartment sets was quite small so it seems likely a standard head was modified to fit the arm rest by someone though I doubt the coachbuilder did it. The head was covered with a rather elegant fascia, often wood to match the rest of the rear trim work.

There is a number on the head but he did not give me a cross reference to that information. The information I gave was for the radio being a 1938. The head did have a number on it if you have any additional information as to the heads. That number is 56734 and it is printed where the number strip is stapled together.

In my limited experience I would first say that the knobs are not original looking and do not both fit properly after careful examination. One fits OK but the other does not and you can see a difference in the height in the pictures. I would "Guess" that this was a custom job by the coach maker for that application. The lettering, except for the 56734 even appears to be hand-lettered (see original post) but that may be intentional on the builder's part.

It is a shame that the original fascia on the armrest has been lost, misplaced, or simply was not included in the package I purchased. I did ask and was told that I had everything that was taken off of the car. I suspect that someone, at some point in the past, bought this radio during their restoration and used it in the dash with the dial turned side-ways just because it was available when they needed one. But, that is pure speculation on my part. The man I bought it from said that he did play it before he removed it and it did work in the car but I have not had it on myself.

Thanks again for your continued interest in this find.
Gene

Dave, I kind of figured the size as a giveaway to a rear seat on a post in the other thread but then started looking at the catalogs. The 38 dash unit is also very small compared to other models -- except the dial is different. It is the first year with everything in a horizontal line that I could find.

The things that strikes me odd on the unit in question is the rough sheetmetal front plate and the loop of flex cable and exposed gear area of the dial with no housing or protection.

The other units I've looked at seem to be more integrated with complete sheetmetal boxes or diecastings enclosing all the major working parts. This unit seems to have been done in a hurry. At any rate, it is interesting to see the lengths gone to to make it work.

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Not that it's the same but just for general interest here's a picture of a rear arm rest radio head installation in a 1934 Eight one-off razor-back towncar by Rollston. If interested, other pictures of this unique Packard can be found at:

packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=867

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Perhaps someone used the head from a different model or different car altogether but it would had to be compatible with the Philco P1530 for the cables to fit properly. If, as was mentioned in a previous post, these were rare units with little demand the individual installing them may have simply put them together them-self using available materials. If you look again at the dial, the numbering looks hand-lettered; notice the way the "5" is made? The numbering is much more precise on the one installed in my car with tics marked between the numbers PLUS the numbers were used with the zero included as in "150" instead of "15" as in the one below. The one I bought only has tics at the numbers; compare the two pictures.
Gene

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Nice picture and that helps to make my point about this one being hand-numbered. Even the 1934 radio head has multiple tics between the numbers and numbers included the "0".

Now I really wish I had a way to track down the person who originally did this. It makes you wonder whose car it was in and what happened to the car. Is this a great hobby or what? There is always something to keep you interested and intellectually stimulated.
Gene