New acquisition

[XP715]

Just picked up a General Motors product from 1930 a few hours ago after work; anybody care to guess what it is?

[daves87rs]

[vonVeezelsnider]

Just picked up a General Motors product from 1930 a few hours ago after work; anybody care to guess what it is?

a refrigerator?

[balthazar]

??

[XP715]

Nope, not a fridge. Excellent guess, though. It IS an item that is used in the home.

[XP715]

Nope, not a light and nothing under the Delco Name; this is a General Motors product. Another excellent guess, though. I'll entertain a few more and then post pics.

[Robert Hall]

Hmmm...a Frigidaire room air conditioner? Ice-cream cabinet? Chilled toilet? milk cooler? Drinking fountain?

[XP715]

All good guesses, but no, not any of them. And once again: this is a General Motors product, not Frigidaire or Delco or any other of their subsidiaries.

[Oracle of Delphi]

The 1st electrical GM generator, for when the power goes out.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Nope, not a fridge. Excellent guess, though. It IS an item that is used in the home.

Lol, interesting story behind the pick... My neighbors down the street have a late depression era fridge in their basement (still running keeping food cool!) that bears the "General Motors" brand.

[BigPontiac]

General Motors Tone Selector Radio?

[Robert Hall]

Lol, interesting story behind the pick... My neighbors down the street have a late depression era fridge in their basement (still running keeping food cool!) that bears the "General Motors" brand.

Fascinating..I knew about the Frigidares, but never knew there were any GM branded consumer products..

[XP715]

Lol, interesting story behind the pick... My neighbors down the street have a late depression era fridge in their basement (still running keeping food cool!) that bears the "General Motors" brand.

That's really neat; I'd love to see pictures of it. My grandparents have a Chrysler air conditioner in their house from the late 1930's that still blows cold after all these years.

General Motors Tone Selector Radio?

Very good, sir! Mine is a Model 252 console:

General Motors Radio Corp.;Trade name after acquisition of Day-Fan by RCA the company was formed end of 1929, but did not survive. In response of an anti-trust suit by the Department of Justice in May 1930, RCA and GM liquidated GM-Radio about November 1931.

After 1931 GM-Radio produced under Delco and also under their different Car divisions, e.g. Chevrolet, Cadillac etc.

It looks very presentable for its age and works beautifully!

Picked it up along with two other consoles, a Grunow Air-Wave that needs some love but is savable and a Philco model 41-258 that is beat to death, all for $100. There really is nothing like the sound of an old vacuum tube radio. I'm thinking I should buy a nice 1930 Cadillac V-16 model to set on top of it!

Edited September 9, 2008 by XP715

[Sixty8panther]

I hate you XP.... you've acquired a lot of nice "grown up toys" as of late.

So now you have THREE old school, giant pre-war transistor radios, all of

which at some point broadcast the fireside chats.

You're lucky too, to have a G/F that shares many of your hobbies,

cars and anything antique included. She's not too bad for a person of

the XX chromosone persuasion.

If only my wife was a little less leniant w/ me beig a CAR-parphenalia pack-rat.

On a (somewhat) related note I always loved Everclear's "AM RADIO"

even before GM bought the rights to it for their commercial.

"You can hear the music on the AM radio, Am radio, AM radio...."

Edited September 9, 2008 by Sixty8panther

[XP715]

Two of the three radios I'm getting rid of; they are beat to death and one for sure (the little Philco) isn't worth restoring. The Grunow Air-Wave could be saved if somebody who is very skillful with woodworking got a hold of it, but the cabinet is a mess. The veneers are all chipped and cracked and beat up and the base especially is bad because it sat in somebody's damp basement, meaning it's a little rotted and swollen and everything's delaminated down there. Shame, too, as it's a very handsome art deco radio that even has a tuning eye and everything. I bought them all specifically for the super rare General Motors radio: the girl that owned them said I would have to take all of them if I wanted it, so that's what I did. The GM is mine and the other two are being resold immediately.

[Sixty8panther]

What a piece of junk... this thing does not even get FM reception, never-mind H.D. and XM.

You got ripped off. (also Rolls Royce made similar radio in 1930 but it had

a much nicer tunning knob) of course it DID cost 17-times as much.

Edited September 10, 2008 by Sixty8panther

[Robert Hall]

What a piece of junk... this thing does not even get FM reception, never-mind H.D. and XM.

You got ripped off. (also Rolls Royce made similar radio in 1930 but it had

a much nicer tunning knob) of course it DID cost 17-times as much.

It would be cool to take a vintage radio like that and replace the innards with modern equipment so it has AM/FM, iPod jack, etc...

[Sixty8panther]

only if the guts were junk.... those giant glow tubes are half the fun.

[knightfan26917]

Hey XP...CONGRATS on that GM radio ... that is cool .

[XP715]

Thanks, KF; it's always nice to have another old tube radio around the house. I listen to the morning news on it while I eat my breakfast before work.

[knightfan26917]

Thanks, KF; it's always nice to have another old tube radio around the house. I listen to the morning news on it while I eat my breakfast before work.

THAT has to be neat...to be able to listen to the morning news on an old fashioned radio!

Mom and Dad have Dad's parents' old Victrola (sp?), but that's about it in that arena, as far as I know.....