12 grand radio

Pete said:
That would be a fair price if it had been restored but it needs a LOT of work.
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Wow! Are they really that rare? What a difference a year makes. A 1933 restored is approx 500 dollars. For a Zenith that is, maybe the Grigsby Grunowis more? I have heard that the Zenith 1933 is a better radio than the Grigsby Grunowis?
 
FrankWest said:
Wow! Are they really that rare? What a difference a year makes. A 1933 restored is approx 500 dollars. For a Zenith that is, maybe the Grigsby Grunowis more? I have heard that the Zenith 1933 is a better radio than the Grigsby Grunowis?
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A restored radio looks and operates exactly as it would right out of the original factory box. This entails completely stripping all parts from the chassis, replating it, finding or reproducing exactly all internal parts that are aged or worn etc etc. Considering the age of that radio, I would guess it would take at least a year to do the job.
I was recently involved in the restoration of a 10 kilowatt HF transmitter and that took 8 people 5 years.
I wouldn't want to pay for that job...lol
 
deuce_roadster said:
I don't know of anywhere you can get a properly restored 33 radio for $500. 12k for a 32 fixer is a bit excessive.
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Two years ago I bought one for 500$.
If I had to pay 12k for a radio, I would install a hidden digital system.
For 12 K I could get that 1930 model A coup I was looking at!
 
It's only money. If you have all the money you will ever need and you don't have all the radios you need, buy it. Then you will have the best of both worlds.
 
At least both referenced radios are really '32s judging from the speaker brackets. The most commonly encountered so-called '32 radios are actually '33 models with much simplified speaker brackets. (The glove box radio was not released by Ford until August, 1933; that's what those rectangular depressions in the floors of '33s are for, namely where to cut to create the openings to insert the motor generator and receiver boxes)

Both referenced radios are incomplete as they are missing their original running board antennas. The antenna with the $12K version is a replacement and does not conform to the original except in general appearance. (See page A-19-7 in The 1932 Ford Book.)
 
And memories... Back in the late 1970's a swapper at the LA roadster show was showing off the NOS 1932 radio head he had found in a $1 box. Happy guy.
 
It pukes gold coins . . . right outta the damn speaker . . . really it does . . .

But then again, sometimes I wonder at the prices I've had to pay for some "rare" 32 engine parts - it is all supply and demand in the end . . .
 
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