Thread: found a new in box 1941 Packard radio at garage sale

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One of my neighbors moved to an assisted living facility and his kids were cleaning out the house. I have never seen some many TV error commercial items like the Veg-o-matic, etc...
On and end table near some busted up wood table top tube radios, was a dusty old box, I didn't bother looking into to. It was later in the Day and the people were starting to clean up the area. A guy asked the owner how much for the car radio, and I thought, Damb, should of looked in the box!
The owner said $15.00 firm. The guy said I'll give you 5. Owner no have to be 15, it's special. The guys thinks for a couple of minutes and then leaves. I jump in and ask what car is it out of. He says, it's actually a new radio that was left in parts inventory at the Packard dealership where his dad worked. He goes on to tell me when the dealership closed his dad took it home. He kept it all these years, hoping someone with a Packard would come along.
I did a quick cash inventory ancd had only 8 buck, which he turned down. I told him I understood, and only hoped that someone who realized how valueable this would be to a Packard owner bought it, and not someone who decided to shelf it or throw it away.
We talked for a while, and I asked if he would be around in an hour or so. With his affimative, I went to lunch and the bank.
When we came back I asked if he'd bundle the radio with three books I found and an old pocket knife for the 15 bucks he wanted. He jumped at it and said he was glad somebody who realized it's value bought it. I promised to find a Packard owner and to see it made it into it's original car.
So here are a few pictures of the radio. The chrome plating is peeling off, and all the push buttons are gone as well as one knob, but everything else looks perfect including the speaker.

If any here has a Packard or knows someone, I'd be happy to find it a new home!

History:

It has tubes in it, and a multi vibrator turns the dc into ac. The price of the tubes today would be outrageous if possible to even find. 1960 or so they were 25 bucks, metal base on them, average tubes for TV were 7 - 15 range for a comparison .

I have a friend that has several Packards, I'll email this link to him.

Thanks 36. The owner's son said it was new and never used. Had a few leaves in the box, like it set out side for a few days, but clean other than that.

Pepi I have used these guys for old tube radios before and replacement knobs
Radio Daze
Radio Daze, LLC. - Antique Radio Parts & Service

These guys actually have the missing buttons and knob
http://yesterdaysradio.com/pdfs/catalog.pdf

Originally Posted by stovens

Thanks 36. The owner's son said it was new and never used. Had a few leaves in the box, like it set out side for a few days, but clean other than that.

I was just talking about the technology of the day, regarding the radio. A true superheterodyne radio receiver, and no I could not spell the word.

Have you put voltage to it, here a hum? That would tell if multi vibrator is working. I think I remember you would hear that, almost sure of that. Physically until the tube heaters fired up and radio would play.

One of my first jobs working in a TV/Radio repair shop, $0.50 an hour.

Thanks for the link saving it just for the knowledge.

Cheers,

Steve, you've probably already thought to do this but just in case, there are Packard enthusiast boards plus the AACA site for general antique automobile enthusiasts, would be good places to see what the market for this is. My guess would be it's a very small market, but who knows til you fish...........

My father owned a television store and I too worked on radios and TV sets. You are correct, Pepi, about the vibrator - they made a hum and also got quite warm. This radio is a fantastic collectable and I would be tempted to build a power supply, get the missing knobs, hook up some speakers and create a display venue for it to show it off in my garage. What a find!

i like all the above suggestions! I haven't tried firing it up yet, as I don't have a 6 volt battery, though I've heard a few people mention using a 6/12volt battery charger for power source, just afraid of too many amps frying it.

You can use a 6 volt battery charger as a source to power it up; however, you want to make sure you have a speaker hooked up prior to turning it on as some early circuits did not respond well to no load on the output side! I'd use a 8-10 ohm speaker but make sure it has a load coil (1.5 ohm, 26 mH) as there will be voltage present at the speaker terminals.

You might want to put a 10 amp fuse in live with the positive connection as well.

Glenn it has a built in speaker, so I'll give it a try. The inside showed old philco dried up paper capacitors, so that may also be an issue

Cool! Remember that these things run hot - and if the smoke starts coming out of the radio do shut 'er down quickly..

Have fun. I am a bit jealous here

will it require an antenna ?