Uploaded May 2024 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
Toshiba knew what THEY were doing when they made this beautiful example of top-notch 20th-century product design.
Lots of brands in the 20th-century had sister brands that their manufacturing companies used for their products. These products would be similar, but somehow lesser, or cheaper, or of lower status.
This was built in to the auto business in the US. In 1964, Chevrolet would make an Impala. Then they'd leave some chrome off, maybe put a smaller engine in it, and call it a Bel Air. Then they'd leave MOST of the chrome off, remove some more features and call it a Biscayne.
On these Chevy models, if you bought the Impala, you got three taillights on each side. If you cheaped out and bought the Bel Air or the Biscayne, you only got two. All right. So you're more likely to be rear-ended and paralyzed for life, but you saved money! These are the kind of goofy choices corporations gave people in those days. I'll let you think about the goofy choices they give us today, to which we acquiesce, and which are objectively ridiculous.
But this Trancel radio from Toshiba is not ridiculous. There's nothing second-tier or second-rate or second-to-anything in this radio. Nor in any other Trancel I've seen.
This one features a nice underpainted dial area. Engineering types like to call this the escutcheon. Kind of trips right off the tongue, doesn't it? Escutcheon. Anyway, it's pretty, alright, and has those distinctive Toshiba letters and numbers on it.
Toshiba was a high quality outfit, there is no doubt about it. Inside the back you can see that they even used insulation on the leads to all the parts. A nice touch not seen, to my recollection, on transistor radios by any other maker. Not even Zeniths have this, except where absolutely necessary. But Toshiba, and Trancel, radios have this consistently.
The "V" feature, or chevron, or wings, or whatever you like to call it, on the front was seen in many different permutations on radios and indeed in much of 20th-century design. These design motifs reflect that century's growing fascination with flight--first with the Wright Brothers,... then with commercial air travel,... then with jets,... and finally with the space age. In those days, nothing said "up to date" on a consumer product more effectively than visual references to whatever was the latest thing in flight.
Oh, and for those of you too young to remember, car makers did that too. Wings, fins, and rockets with a vengeance!
The Trancel 6TP-348 by Toshiba. All dressed up to go out in its genuine leather case. It's a beauty in, or out of that case.
Toshiba transistor radios. "Masterpiece of radios ever produced. Unique design, versatile uses, long-life battery." "Toshiba new products multiply your sales." And a rice cooker!
Tokyo Shibaura Electric Company, Limited. Transistor radios, rice cookers, and.. a whole.. lot.. more. Look at this list.
Toshiba knew what THEY were doing when they made this beautiful example of top-notch 20th-century product design.
Lots of brands in the 20th-century had sister brands that their manufacturing companies used for their products. These products would be similar, but somehow lesser, or cheaper, or of lower status.
This was built in to the auto business in the US. In 1964, Chevrolet would make an Impala. Then they'd leave some chrome off, maybe put a smaller engine in it, and call it a Bel Air. Then they'd leave MOST of the chrome off, remove some more features and call it a Biscayne.
On these Chevy models, if you bought the Impala, you got three taillights on each side. If you cheaped out and bought the Bel Air or the Biscayne, you only got two. All right. So you're more likely to be rear-ended and paralyzed for life, but you saved money! These are the kind of goofy choices corporations gave people in those days. I'll let you think about the goofy choices they give us today, to which we acquiesce, and which are objectively ridiculous.
But this Trancel radio from Toshiba is not ridiculous. There's nothing second-tier or second-rate or second-to-anything in this radio. Nor in any other Trancel I've seen.
This one features a nice underpainted dial area. Engineering types like to call this the escutcheon. Kind of trips right off the tongue, doesn't it? Escutcheon. Anyway, it's pretty, alright, and has those distinctive Toshiba letters and numbers on it.
Toshiba was a high quality outfit, there is no doubt about it. Inside the back you can see that they even used insulation on the leads to all the parts. A nice touch not seen, to my recollection, on transistor radios by any other maker. Not even Zeniths have this, except where absolutely necessary. But Toshiba, and Trancel, radios have this consistently.
The "V" feature, or chevron, or wings, or whatever you like to call it, on the front was seen in many different permutations on radios and indeed in much of 20th-century design. These design motifs reflect that century's growing fascination with flight--first with the Wright Brothers,... then with commercial air travel,... then with jets,... and finally with the space age. In those days, nothing said "up to date" on a consumer product more effectively than visual references to whatever was the latest thing in flight.
Oh, and for those of you too young to remember, car makers did that too. Wings, fins, and rockets with a vengeance!
The Trancel 6TP-348 by Toshiba. All dressed up to go out in its genuine leather case. It's a beauty in, or out of that case.
Toshiba transistor radios. "Masterpiece of radios ever produced. Unique design, versatile uses, long-life battery." "Toshiba new products multiply your sales." And a rice cooker!
Tokyo Shibaura Electric Company, Limited. Transistor radios, rice cookers, and.. a whole.. lot.. more. Look at this list.
