I am making decent progress with the broken RCA bakelite cabinet. I have several others I want to fix. The Zenith 5D611 that I have been working on the electronics for some time, chasing an oscillation. The other is grandma's old Bendix 0626-A that sat on her refrigerator for 40 years. The cabinet i...

Update.....it runs! Sounds as good as it ever did. No leaks, even the Dynaflow is still full, which is a miracle, and which hardly EVER happens. When a Dynaflow quits leaking, you need to check the fluid. The lifters didn't rattle. The brakes work. I don't have the turn signal switch adjusted right ...

Okay, the car report.....

Good news and bad news. Good news first. The battery was not dead. Bad news is that the engine would not start. So, now I'm on my way to the gas station to get a dram of gas in a gallon gas can so I can give it a good drink so it will start.

I've had breakfast, so it's time to run down to the storage facility to see if I can start the Buick and to also see what atrocities have occurred in storage. Dead battery, leaky heater core, flat tires, that kind of thing. The reason I mentioned the heater core is that it is easier to replace the e...

You might try contacting the owner to get more information. Even the model number might help determine if it has tubes or not.

It is in a nice hardwood cabinet in good condition. I don't see anything that says "solid state" and, considering the tube box in the photo, there is a good chance it has tubes. Good luck!

The batteries died in my camera and we don't have enough replacements, so.... I am probably 80% done with the "body work" on the cabinet. This cabinet will never be 100% perfect, due to the lousy job I did of putting the cabinet back together years ago and the amount of damage that was don...

This should be our last week of over 100 degree days for awhile. Time to do the fall maintenance chores. You guys in the Midwest clean your gutters and rake leaves. Here, we have no gutters. We, instead, power wash the house, get the dust and dirt out of the stucco. This deposits junk and dirt on th...

Grandpa had a '47 International KB-8 truck, powered by a Buick straight 8. In the summertime, the windshield folded out and there was a cowl vent. He would take the sides off the hood to let out heat. The heat that came out of the sides of the engine came right up and in under the windshield and in ...

I had a near-mint C-825 that worked nice. When it worked, which was not often. One thing after the other. The dial cord broke and was a nightmare to replace. The selenium rectifier smoked, and you know how that went. SMD was another issue. I was fortunate to find a replacement transformer. I have ba...

The plan is to lure the cat to the back yard......

We believe this cat belongs three doors down. If so, I have talked to the owner, who INSISTS the cat is a house cat and couldn't possibly be the one peeing on our door. One of the kids of that guys told me when I rode by on the golf cart one day that she was looking for their cat. An indoor cat that...

Both bands have tuned RF. The front end is very robust in this series of RCA radio. It has two stages of IF on each band. The Zenith guys seem to think the C-845 series of Zenith radio was the best table radio. This series of RCA sets will outdo them in almost every category, IMHO. The Zenith sets h...

Dark burgundy is a good idea. The cabinet was originally two-toned. The outer body was bare bakelite, the panel with the dial was painted a dark rose, or dirty pink. What if I did the main body in dark burgundy, the front panel is a dusty rose, dark pink type color. Paint the "RCA Victor" ...

Even the air conditioned cars had vents. The vents in my Buick are opened by a vacuum motor, you select "Vent" on the "Four Season Air Conditioning" control knob. The non-air cars had a knob you pulled out on each vent. So both of the Cadillacs Walter posted pictures of are 1962 ...

What year Cadillac is that parked nose to nose to yours? Looks like a coupe with the Buick Electra roofline. '62, maybe? You don't see one of those very often. I like your white Cadillac. Very elegant.......

If I had the intention of ever restoring this cabinet, when I received it smashed 30 years ago, I should have done a better job of expoxying the broken pieces. My work in that regard was exceedingly poor. I left gaps and misaligned pieces that I know better not to do now. That said, I am encouraged ...

I am going to start a topic in "Cabinets and Grille Cloth" on the restoration of the cabinet....

Nice work! The louvers are impressive!

There is a really pretty gray, apparently well-kept male cat that pees on our front screen door, and drives Mittens nuts. She'd clobber him if she could get to him. Cat pee is extremely acidic and ruins everything it comes in contact with that is metal. So far, there has been no permanent damage to ...