Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
Now I ought to have known better than to buy this transistor radio. What a dog.
And I'm sorry for the insult.. to dogs. If this radio can be said to have any style to it at all, it's all in the giant V on the front of it. It's big enough to have been on a car. There's probably a huge Cadillac running down the road someplace somewhere missing this V and feeling very lost without it.
This diamond pattern grille with slots to let the sound through reminds me of the grille material we saw on those early Mitchell transistor radios made by Regency. Let's have a look at those. Oh yeah, that definitely looks like the same stuff--quite probably from the same supplier. It's not often we can identify trim parts common to radios from different makers. Internal parts yes, but not external trim parts. This happened probably more than we realize. The companies saved money this way, but lest they sully their brand, were mindful not to make this too blatant, or to do it too often.
I'm missing the volume knob on this Capehart and that's a shame,.. though it doesn't keep me up nights. It would pretty much match the tuning knob that's on the other side. This was a fairly typical layout for a portable-style radio--having the knobs on either end. This monstrous radio receiving device says on itself "Genuine Top Grain Cowhide." And it's some pretty thick cowhide at that. The back is more or less a flap, held down by two snaps along the bottom.
Opening it up, we see that it is powered by nuclear bowling balls or something huge, and two of them too, because there are two battery clips. When it comes to the actual chassis, well that is relatively small compared to this radio's overall size.. It's a metal chassis in here with point to point wiring on the underside. There's no printed circuit board here. The transistors are in sockets for easy replacement. It has the kind of speaker you'd find in a clock radio of that era, the typical four inch speaker. Capehart V66. I shouldn't have bought it. I don't know what I was thinking. Oh yes I do. I was thinking I might never see another one. I was thinking that this was maybe going to be my LAST CHANCE ever to have one of these. And you know, I think it was. I've never seen another one... Not that I want to.
Now I ought to have known better than to buy this transistor radio. What a dog.
And I'm sorry for the insult.. to dogs. If this radio can be said to have any style to it at all, it's all in the giant V on the front of it. It's big enough to have been on a car. There's probably a huge Cadillac running down the road someplace somewhere missing this V and feeling very lost without it.
This diamond pattern grille with slots to let the sound through reminds me of the grille material we saw on those early Mitchell transistor radios made by Regency. Let's have a look at those. Oh yeah, that definitely looks like the same stuff--quite probably from the same supplier. It's not often we can identify trim parts common to radios from different makers. Internal parts yes, but not external trim parts. This happened probably more than we realize. The companies saved money this way, but lest they sully their brand, were mindful not to make this too blatant, or to do it too often.
I'm missing the volume knob on this Capehart and that's a shame,.. though it doesn't keep me up nights. It would pretty much match the tuning knob that's on the other side. This was a fairly typical layout for a portable-style radio--having the knobs on either end. This monstrous radio receiving device says on itself "Genuine Top Grain Cowhide." And it's some pretty thick cowhide at that. The back is more or less a flap, held down by two snaps along the bottom.
Opening it up, we see that it is powered by nuclear bowling balls or something huge, and two of them too, because there are two battery clips. When it comes to the actual chassis, well that is relatively small compared to this radio's overall size.. It's a metal chassis in here with point to point wiring on the underside. There's no printed circuit board here. The transistors are in sockets for easy replacement. It has the kind of speaker you'd find in a clock radio of that era, the typical four inch speaker. Capehart V66. I shouldn't have bought it. I don't know what I was thinking. Oh yes I do. I was thinking I might never see another one. I was thinking that this was maybe going to be my LAST CHANCE ever to have one of these. And you know, I think it was. I've never seen another one... Not that I want to.
