Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
It's the Continental "Power-Pac" 6-transistor radio from around 1960. The grille is, of course, the Fujiyama tartan, belonging to a people in the inner highlands of Japan who raise very polite sheep, wear kilts, and are known to be good with money.
Oh, I made that up. I don't know why this radio has a plaid grille. I'm just glad it does. This is the sort of random, whimsical design element that showed up now and then on radios from Japan in the golden age of the transistor radio. This is the sort of thing you would never see on a product said to employ so-called "good" design.
I'm fortunate to have the box with this Continental and, as you can see, even an outer cardboard sleeve. Power-Pac. It's a good looking box--not as elaborate as some, but worth saving--obviously it's worth it to ME, but I mean the original owner found it worth keeping.. and I'm glad they did. It's a real treat when we find not only the box but the paperwork with old things. Here in this case is even a hang tag--the kind of tag that would be attached to, or hang from, the radio as it would be on display in a store. We're used to a much more warehouse-like retail environment these days than existed back then. If this radio were sold these days, there would just be a stack of these boxes, sealed in plastic wrap. And this stack would probably be under lock and key. Back when this radio was new, stores would take one of them out of the box, attach this hang tag to it.. as a price tag, and put it in a clear display case.. In some of the more well-staffed stores, they would even put one out on the counter for customers to pick up and look over. Other papers in this box include the schematic circuit diagram--another relic of a past when things we bought could be repaired if they stopped working and not just thrown out... Now, here's the owner's manual--just a little folder really, but it tells you all you need to know--.. some words about the guarantee and getting service...annnd how to operate your new little radio with some notes on the controls, the battery used, and this description of the so-called "circuit system": Superheterodyne with six transistors plus one diode and one varistor. Thermister" And that's what it says. Here is a "Return This Card" card. Well, it's the "warranty registration card" but they don't frame it as such. This is just data collection. Many companies in those days told you your warranty was INVALID unless you registered it by filling out and returning a card like this with the coveted data. Continental made no such petty threat here. I appreciate that. Maybe I'll fill this out and send it in to them. Do you think 3 cents postage is still the right amount?
It's a nice looking case. It looks like genuine leather to me, like a nice new pair of Thom McCann's--and there's a matching earphone pouch tucked inside of it.
What a gorgeous thing is this little radio. Of course the colorful grille is terrific, but there's also some underpainting here too--both in the white top section and in the black bar beneath it. What a beauty. Continental... knew a little something about making beautiful radios, having produced a whole line of them, as you see.
The Continental Merchandise Company was based in New York City and was more of a sales agent or distributor than a manufacturer. They contracted with several manufacturers to make their radios, including Hayakawa Electric, better known to us as Sharp. Here is one of those Sharp-made models, the TR-182--the one on the top here branded Continental and the one on the bottom branded with the maker's name. For a time, Continental, acted as U.S. distributor of Sharp. And Sharp.. may have been the maker of the plaid radio we are looking at today. I don't see any proof of that on the radio or on its packaging, but I see nothing that rules it out.
Unlike some of the other brand names that were primarily sales organizations, Continental took an active role, at least some of the time, in the design of the products that were to bear their brand. Whether that active role was filled by an individual at the company, or an entire design group, is lost to history. My guess is that it would come down to an individual, working alongside--albeit via long-distance--their counterpart at the factory in Japan. Such an individual might not have even been on the Continental payroll, but rather someone at the company's advertising agency. Wherever--and whoever--he or she was... thanks.
There's not much to see inside, as this radio is made with the circuit board side out. That's a coat of foam on there--probably originally just a thin, loose piece of foam that has, shall we say, grown attached. The way I grew attached to this radio as soon as I saw it.
From around 1960, the Continental TR-683 Power-Pac transistor radio.
It's the Continental "Power-Pac" 6-transistor radio from around 1960. The grille is, of course, the Fujiyama tartan, belonging to a people in the inner highlands of Japan who raise very polite sheep, wear kilts, and are known to be good with money.
Oh, I made that up. I don't know why this radio has a plaid grille. I'm just glad it does. This is the sort of random, whimsical design element that showed up now and then on radios from Japan in the golden age of the transistor radio. This is the sort of thing you would never see on a product said to employ so-called "good" design.
I'm fortunate to have the box with this Continental and, as you can see, even an outer cardboard sleeve. Power-Pac. It's a good looking box--not as elaborate as some, but worth saving--obviously it's worth it to ME, but I mean the original owner found it worth keeping.. and I'm glad they did. It's a real treat when we find not only the box but the paperwork with old things. Here in this case is even a hang tag--the kind of tag that would be attached to, or hang from, the radio as it would be on display in a store. We're used to a much more warehouse-like retail environment these days than existed back then. If this radio were sold these days, there would just be a stack of these boxes, sealed in plastic wrap. And this stack would probably be under lock and key. Back when this radio was new, stores would take one of them out of the box, attach this hang tag to it.. as a price tag, and put it in a clear display case.. In some of the more well-staffed stores, they would even put one out on the counter for customers to pick up and look over. Other papers in this box include the schematic circuit diagram--another relic of a past when things we bought could be repaired if they stopped working and not just thrown out... Now, here's the owner's manual--just a little folder really, but it tells you all you need to know--.. some words about the guarantee and getting service...annnd how to operate your new little radio with some notes on the controls, the battery used, and this description of the so-called "circuit system": Superheterodyne with six transistors plus one diode and one varistor. Thermister" And that's what it says. Here is a "Return This Card" card. Well, it's the "warranty registration card" but they don't frame it as such. This is just data collection. Many companies in those days told you your warranty was INVALID unless you registered it by filling out and returning a card like this with the coveted data. Continental made no such petty threat here. I appreciate that. Maybe I'll fill this out and send it in to them. Do you think 3 cents postage is still the right amount?
It's a nice looking case. It looks like genuine leather to me, like a nice new pair of Thom McCann's--and there's a matching earphone pouch tucked inside of it.
What a gorgeous thing is this little radio. Of course the colorful grille is terrific, but there's also some underpainting here too--both in the white top section and in the black bar beneath it. What a beauty. Continental... knew a little something about making beautiful radios, having produced a whole line of them, as you see.
The Continental Merchandise Company was based in New York City and was more of a sales agent or distributor than a manufacturer. They contracted with several manufacturers to make their radios, including Hayakawa Electric, better known to us as Sharp. Here is one of those Sharp-made models, the TR-182--the one on the top here branded Continental and the one on the bottom branded with the maker's name. For a time, Continental, acted as U.S. distributor of Sharp. And Sharp.. may have been the maker of the plaid radio we are looking at today. I don't see any proof of that on the radio or on its packaging, but I see nothing that rules it out.
Unlike some of the other brand names that were primarily sales organizations, Continental took an active role, at least some of the time, in the design of the products that were to bear their brand. Whether that active role was filled by an individual at the company, or an entire design group, is lost to history. My guess is that it would come down to an individual, working alongside--albeit via long-distance--their counterpart at the factory in Japan. Such an individual might not have even been on the Continental payroll, but rather someone at the company's advertising agency. Wherever--and whoever--he or she was... thanks.
There's not much to see inside, as this radio is made with the circuit board side out. That's a coat of foam on there--probably originally just a thin, loose piece of foam that has, shall we say, grown attached. The way I grew attached to this radio as soon as I saw it.
From around 1960, the Continental TR-683 Power-Pac transistor radio.
