Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Some of the cutest little transistor radios from Japan in the late 1950s bore the brand Fleetwood. But in some circles, Fleetwood meant..something else. It meant...
It meant the top of the line Cadillac. And this Fleetwood, the 1948 model, was the first car with tailfins, modest though they were in their debut year. Annnd the folks who put the Fleetwood name on transistor radios, the New Hope Industrial Company, Limited, out of Osaka, Japan, also put the Fleetwood name on their sewing machines. And they are, it seems, quite highly regarded sewing machines, even to this day. And New Hope gave us tube radios. Some really GREAT.. looking tube radios such as this Fleetwood NR-260 portable. And as strange as it may seem to have a maker of sewing machines produce terrific little radios, New Hope were not the only ones. We saw the Morse name on some cute little transistor radios and sewing machines. And even the famous Singer sewing machine folks offered little radios with the Singer brand. The Singers I've seen aren't much to look at, I don't think, but this is, this exceptional little Singer television set, made for them by Mitsubishi in Japan.
Well, we COULD go on and on about TV sets and sewing machines but we have on hand, right at this moment, one of those adorable Fleetwood transistor radios--and in the box too. I like this box--the gold coloring, the dots and rectangles. Yeah, I'm not just drawing this out like some sort of tease, I think this is worth looking at... I'm surprised to see in here one of those silica packets--it's maybe the oldest one of these I've ever seen. I don't remember them showing up in products until the 1990s or so. But I guess they were around long before.
And there's an earphone here, in its pouch. The carrying case is stamped "Japan" underneath. Nowhere does it claim to be genuine leather but we'll see what the owner's manual has to say about that.. in a bit. The case remains nice and supple. Its design echoes the asymetrical styling on the front of the radio. This detail is yet another hallmark of a great radio. I've heard this sort of case referred to as a bikini case. I'm not sure why except maybe for the revealing nature of it.
It's an impressive owner's manual we get with this stylish Fleetwood. Twelve pages with all you need to know: Simple control Operation. Clear Volume Indicator. Specially Designed Speaker. And over here we read about the..Beautiful Showpiece Styling. Then there's a list of Some of the Engineering Features, with Printed Circuit, Thermistor, and Ferrite Core Antenna underlined.
Here's where everything is on the outside of the radio..... And here are a few words about Dial and Knob Operation...
((fast: ))"The compactness of our set enables you to enjoy full listening pleasure while inside your shirt or coat pocket. The operation of the control knobs in such instances are simplified due to the fact that all moving dials are conveniently located on the top of the set."... ((end fast))
Leather carrying case is available for traveling ease and protection of the set....
Yeah, leather... And here's how to open it up...
The accessories...
The technical data...
And a schematic diagram... The back of this booklet is printed in a very light blue. It's hard to make out but I think this is an illustration of the factory in Japan... I like the cover art on this very much. The art here on this booklet, like the box art, is world's better than the art on this advertising.
Fortunately, the design of the radio itself also transcends its advertising. These radios are almost always found with little cracks around the screw that holds the plastic dial plate to the front. The asymetric design in the underpainting is a real treat, and this was one of the first products to use the mirror-finish look in underpainting. You see it here in what I'll call the large arrow. Some designers went overboard with this mirror look in this era, producing things that to my eye are unpleasant to look at, as in the recent video I showed you featuring a Firestone radio. But here, well, they got it just right.
The cabinet is kind of squarish or I suppose I should say rectangularish--or boxy--straight sides without contours. But this ties in with the angularity of the dial design and so while on a later, cheaper radio, this boxiness would be a detractor, here it just seems.. right.
I can't tell the brand of the transistors--they all seem to have grown wooly coats on them for the winter. That's the sort of shenanigans one might expect of electrolytic capacitors which are in some sense "wet" inside, but transistors are supposed to be solid state. Actually, the cause probably IS the electrolytic capacitors, and they're just sitting there looking all innocent while the transistors get wooly coats, and the blame. If you grew up with a.. brother, you know what I'm talking about.
Yeah, and by the way, remember this guy? Isn't it the silica packet's job to prevent the parts from growing...
Some of the cutest little transistor radios from Japan in the late 1950s bore the brand Fleetwood. But in some circles, Fleetwood meant..something else. It meant...
It meant the top of the line Cadillac. And this Fleetwood, the 1948 model, was the first car with tailfins, modest though they were in their debut year. Annnd the folks who put the Fleetwood name on transistor radios, the New Hope Industrial Company, Limited, out of Osaka, Japan, also put the Fleetwood name on their sewing machines. And they are, it seems, quite highly regarded sewing machines, even to this day. And New Hope gave us tube radios. Some really GREAT.. looking tube radios such as this Fleetwood NR-260 portable. And as strange as it may seem to have a maker of sewing machines produce terrific little radios, New Hope were not the only ones. We saw the Morse name on some cute little transistor radios and sewing machines. And even the famous Singer sewing machine folks offered little radios with the Singer brand. The Singers I've seen aren't much to look at, I don't think, but this is, this exceptional little Singer television set, made for them by Mitsubishi in Japan.
Well, we COULD go on and on about TV sets and sewing machines but we have on hand, right at this moment, one of those adorable Fleetwood transistor radios--and in the box too. I like this box--the gold coloring, the dots and rectangles. Yeah, I'm not just drawing this out like some sort of tease, I think this is worth looking at... I'm surprised to see in here one of those silica packets--it's maybe the oldest one of these I've ever seen. I don't remember them showing up in products until the 1990s or so. But I guess they were around long before.
And there's an earphone here, in its pouch. The carrying case is stamped "Japan" underneath. Nowhere does it claim to be genuine leather but we'll see what the owner's manual has to say about that.. in a bit. The case remains nice and supple. Its design echoes the asymetrical styling on the front of the radio. This detail is yet another hallmark of a great radio. I've heard this sort of case referred to as a bikini case. I'm not sure why except maybe for the revealing nature of it.
It's an impressive owner's manual we get with this stylish Fleetwood. Twelve pages with all you need to know: Simple control Operation. Clear Volume Indicator. Specially Designed Speaker. And over here we read about the..Beautiful Showpiece Styling. Then there's a list of Some of the Engineering Features, with Printed Circuit, Thermistor, and Ferrite Core Antenna underlined.
Here's where everything is on the outside of the radio..... And here are a few words about Dial and Knob Operation...
((fast: ))"The compactness of our set enables you to enjoy full listening pleasure while inside your shirt or coat pocket. The operation of the control knobs in such instances are simplified due to the fact that all moving dials are conveniently located on the top of the set."... ((end fast))
Leather carrying case is available for traveling ease and protection of the set....
Yeah, leather... And here's how to open it up...
The accessories...
The technical data...
And a schematic diagram... The back of this booklet is printed in a very light blue. It's hard to make out but I think this is an illustration of the factory in Japan... I like the cover art on this very much. The art here on this booklet, like the box art, is world's better than the art on this advertising.
Fortunately, the design of the radio itself also transcends its advertising. These radios are almost always found with little cracks around the screw that holds the plastic dial plate to the front. The asymetric design in the underpainting is a real treat, and this was one of the first products to use the mirror-finish look in underpainting. You see it here in what I'll call the large arrow. Some designers went overboard with this mirror look in this era, producing things that to my eye are unpleasant to look at, as in the recent video I showed you featuring a Firestone radio. But here, well, they got it just right.
The cabinet is kind of squarish or I suppose I should say rectangularish--or boxy--straight sides without contours. But this ties in with the angularity of the dial design and so while on a later, cheaper radio, this boxiness would be a detractor, here it just seems.. right.
I can't tell the brand of the transistors--they all seem to have grown wooly coats on them for the winter. That's the sort of shenanigans one might expect of electrolytic capacitors which are in some sense "wet" inside, but transistors are supposed to be solid state. Actually, the cause probably IS the electrolytic capacitors, and they're just sitting there looking all innocent while the transistors get wooly coats, and the blame. If you grew up with a.. brother, you know what I'm talking about.
Yeah, and by the way, remember this guy? Isn't it the silica packet's job to prevent the parts from growing...
