[axle]

Hi, all.

I've been thinking about buying these 10 radios for sale locally in my area:
http://home.comcast.net/~dtekt/radio/Craigslist.htm

for $60. I don't know too terribly much about old radios... is this a bad deal? My end goal is simply for one of them to work so I can listen to NPR. I know there are cheaper ways of going about this, but some of them look pretty cool.

I did some looking on the internet--not as much information as I would have hoped.

Oh, they are:
1) GE 875 2) Stewart Warner 51T126

3) RCA Victor 56X10 4) Airline WG1801

5) Philco C583 6) Blonder Tongue R-98b

7) GE clockradio 8) Sentinel 293-7

9) Pilot T601 10) Bulova 100

TIA..

 

[skellington]

I would buy them for $60 just because they look so nice. You could set them up in your green house all playing at the same time - what a trip!

 

[mbriant]

If your goal is to have one working radio, why not just look elsewhere for one nice working radio that's been overhauled already? .... unless you feel you can sell off the other nine you won't need.

 

[mrarroyo]

For $60 you should be able to find a nice working radio that has been at least cleaned and checked. If you get lucky it may have had the caps replaced as well.

Another option you could go for is the Zenith Trans-Oceanic Multiband Royal 3000. It is the transistorized version of the older tube based Zenith Trans-Oceanic. I found one in excellent condition for $75 at a HAM Radio show. Here are some pictures (click the thumbnail to view the full size picture)

 

[Ham Radio Nut]

60 bucks?! Are you kidding me???!!! If the internals of those radios are in decent condition, you may be looking at radios worth several hundred dollars (at least) in total!!! Those are collector's items!!! I'd easily pay twice that.

 

[003]

Ya you might pay $60 for a putsy little model or one with a beat up chassis/internals, but you won't get anything nice, working and SAFE for that price.

I paid over $40 for a single Zenith X323 on ebay that had an almost pristine chassis, and then I paid over $200 to have it fully restored to 100% operational and safe working order. I had the work done by Paul Shin:
http://www.radioattic.com/attic.php?sellerId=45

I can highly recommend him, he does EXCELLENT work.

I since gave the radio to my grandmother as a birthday gift and she loves it and uses it every day.