1958 Continental

[Hydrolastic]

Hello guys, I have had this one for about 6 months now. The electronics are at the shop now and i will be installing them soon to see just how good the continental sounds. Thought i would share the project in progress and test the photo posting process. Hydro

[electra225]

OOOOH! I like that! You don't often see one in ebony. Thanks for the picture.

[William]

Nice looking Maggie Hydro!

Bill

[Hi-Fi-Mogul]

Just Wow.

Hi-Fi-Mogul

[Hydrolastic]

Thank you. It is pretty, The contrasting black and white tops make it really stand out. An interesting thing became clear when i disassembled it It had been modified with extra speaker selector switches. Plural because there was one inside the console hanging and another one in the spot the hanging one was in. Another switch had been installed where the badge was. they did use a proper magnavox bezel and switches so i am wondering if it was a dealer modification to equip additional rooms with speakers. let me know what you think and i have an ad in the Classified for the proper badge. thank you Hydro

[electra225]

This is just a suggestion. I bought an old dog-eared Magnavox clock radio that had a perfectly good badge that I used on my Stereo Theater when its badge was missing. You might look around for an Astro-Sonic stereo that uses the same badge on many models. This might give you a place to start. Have you looked on ebay? I seem to remember a badge on there not too long ago. Good luck.

[Hydrolastic]

Hello, I purchased this badge on eBay but it obviously is a patina finish and not the brass finish. I will be patient. Sure to come across one.

[hermitcrab]

A Nice set. I like that dark finish

[electra225]

Have you considered painting the badge to make it look like brass? We did that all the time in the auto restoration business. That is a nice badge. It would be a shame not to put it to good use. Good luck.

[Hydrolastic]

Hello Guys, Yesterday I spent some time on the Continental. Hoping to do a test of the 409 on the nicotine film on it. I was so amazed i took photos of it just to show the difference you judge for yourself. I did do a plain water in a bucket and a sponge wipe after the 409. Hydro

[Hydrolastic]

Hello again After doing the off-white/peach painted portions i also wiped the black lacquered portion and realized what i thought was a failing finish was actually more of this film on it. Hydro

[electra225]

That's amazing! It cleaned up really nice.

[Moto_TJ]

I love my '58 Continental, I have a '57 in the basement that is a Blonde but in very rough shape and is going to get converted to an ebony unit when I get the time.

Attached is a picture of mine, I hot rodded it to '58 concert grand specs: Dual Amp-150 and the heavy magnet speakers. Deafening loud and sounds amazing. I call it the FrankenGrand

[TC Chris]

Those are really handsome units, well designed and with the separate units that offer lots of placement options. There is much to be said for separates. And, for that matter, much to be said for good design, both electronic and physical.

Chris Campbell

[Hydrolastic]

Moto, Those amps are big in the concert grand then you put them in half the space. Would be interesting to see the mechanical part of it. Did you put one amp in the extra speaker cabinet ? Hydro

[William]

That look great TJ, and I can only imagine how it must sound.

Bill

[Moto_TJ]

Moto, Those amps are big in the concert grand then you put them in half the space. Would be interesting to see the mechanical part of it. Did you put one amp in the extra speaker cabinet ? Hydro

Yes, one of the two amps is in the extension speaker, the mounting holes were there from the factory as some of the extension speakers came with an amp. Physically The Amp-148, 150, and the 182 are all the same size, just different tube layout.

With the kill-a-watt meter plugged into the FrankenGrand, it pulls about 350 watts from the wall, mostly for all of the tube filaments, 29 of them to be exact.

[TC Chris]

With the kill-a-watt meter plugged into the FrankenGrand, it pulls about 350 watts from the wall, mostly for all of the tube filaments, 29 of them to be exact.

Who needs a furnace when you have 29 tube filaments providing heat!

Chris Campbell

[Hydrolastic]

Hello, I don't get the kind of time i would like to put in, but for a couple of evenings i have been cleaning up the Continental and have washed the knobs scrubbing the fine knurled edges with a short bristled brush. I found a finishing compound for the marine industry that is a 3m product called finess-it 2. No abrasives but it has a polymer shine that people that know car finishes would recognize. i have used that stuff on the bezel and i carefully installed the tuner. Here are progress photo's. Hydro

[electra225]

Nice job, Hydro! Finesse works for lots of things. I rubbed the cabinet on the ST with Finesse. I used Simichrome Polish on mine. It's about the same stuff as Finesse.