Car or garage memorabilia is quite collectable with 'petrol heads' as we call them in the UK, nothing more so than the metal tire or oil signs, selling for hundreds of pounds these days, even to the extent that many enamel signs are being reproduced for re-sale. I was quite surprised at the originality of this little item, measuring about 4 inches diameter with metal hub cap for tuning and metal lock nut for on/off volume and real rubber tire!! The two halves of the tire are clipped together to enable the battery replacement,
PP3 9 volt type. Mine came without box and chrome stand.
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| This is how they were sold back in the day |
I'm not sure about the date, but it was made in Japan and using audio transformers on the sound stage, so that suggests late 60's or early 70's. I brought it as un-checked, and it was dead, when I removed the rusty screws holding the printed circuit (using hot iron) the rear was covered in escaped battery acid, the only corrosion though was through one aerial coil wire from the ferright rod. This was soon found to be from the base of TR1.
Thanks to those nice Japanese people a circuit was glued inside the back and I removed the acid with WD40 and a tooth brush, always taking care to photo the inside before disturbing it.
The arrangement for tuning and volume is made through 5 gear cogs as shown here, these were all working fine, the back tension spring was a little rusty, but rather than remove it just cleaned it.
The chrome stand was lost with my buy, but a similar support may turn up if I keep my eyes pealed. I hope this short Blog help anybody thinking of restoring one of these novelty radios of a time gone by.
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