Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Dear All,

The radio in Laurie's 38 developed a short or series of shorts at some point. The power supply (? transformer looking thing), vibrator and other components show serious heat damage.

So, two questions:

1) Is it a reasonable project for me to undertake restoring a radio showing this much damage?

2) If I do decide to send it to someone, to whom should I send it?

Thanks,

Tom

There should be radio hobbyists or old repair persons in your area. A car radio is practically the same as a household radio except for the vibrator.

If you can't find anyone local there are experts on the net, sorry I can't recommend anyone in particular.

If the transformer is burned out you may need to find another radio to rebuild. This may not be as hard as it sounds, there are a lot of old tube radios lurking around.

Tom,

Unless you have a basic understanding of electronics my suggestion would be to find a repair shop that specializes in tube radios.

If you want to learn how to do it yourself, and have a source for most of the parts you'll need to repair the radio, visit:

http://www.tubesandmore.com/

They have some good books on radio repair and restoration from beginners to experts. BTW they also carry a solid state version of the original mechanical reed type vibrator found in most cars of this era.

The solid state version generates no RF static that you may hear on the car radio. If you decide to do it yourself I'd suggest getting:

Practical Radio Repair
by Ray Bintliff

An excellent guide on radio repair, containing practical information on how to repair and restore vacuum tube radios and related electronic devices. Covers tools and test equipment, working safely, troubleshooting methods, making repairs, good workmanship practices with over 270 illustrations and tables.

138 pages, spiral bound, 0.75 lbs, 8.5" x 11"

If you need some sources for sending it out for repair:

http://www.oldradiodoc.com/

http://www.redwoodradio.com/car_radio_repair.htm

http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Antique_Radio/Repair_and_Restoration/

http://www.antiqueradios.com/resources/Repair_and_Restoration/

This is one carries schematics for old car radios, a must have if you're going to tackle the work yourself:

http://www.justradios.com/oldcarschematics.html

Regards,

Dave

Dave,

Thank you for the information! Do you, or anyone, have any experience with any of the radio repair folks you have listed?

I also found this company:http://www.bobsradio.com/

It would really be great to get some feedback on whom folks have used before I send off the radio.

Also thanks for find the schematics site. I have been looking for those, guess I missed that site.

Cheers,

Tom

Tom,

I did visit Bob Eslingers shop a while back.

He is,http://www.oldradiodoc.com/

Had a nice well equipped shop and guaranteed all his work. Seemed like a fair dinkum type person.

I wanted to check out his early battery operated radios. In addition to Packard stuff I've been collecting and restoring these for a while.

Regards,

Dave

Had my monaural AM 5-pushbutton radio on the 1954 Packard Clipper Super restored at..

South Texas Antique Electronics, Inc. in Portland ,TX down by Houston.
www.SouthTexasAntiqueElectronics.com.

Proprietor Rene van Gaalen.

Did an excellent job on my radio with about a two-week turnaround time. Put in a pigtail connection for an ipod for an extra $50 bucks. With the dearth of AM music radio available it's really nice. You just download all your period music onto the ipod, connect it to the plug in the concealable pigtail and it sounds nice through your original speaker. I am now constantly living in the '50s.

Steve and Dave,

Thanks for the feedback. I will check out both of those shops.

Steve,

I had the same modification done on the radio in my 34. For the drive around part of the show at Warren in 2010 I was cranking Led Zeppelin. Folks were confused . Most of the time, however, I listen to old radio theatre broadcasts.

Tom