WORLD's UGLEST Vintage Valve Radio !!

[GlennSprigg]

I couldn't help myself... I want to give this poor thing a 'Life'! (eBay, $21.50 winning bid).
It was made in Australia, around 1940, and is a 'portable' that looks like a 'case', from an
Aussie company called... "Tecnico Aristocrat".  Here are images to weep over the poor thing...

And an image of the "Master Control Panel" (haha)... when opened up!...


GRANTED, it's NOT pretty, (YET!), however... (until I receive it in the post & check more), I've
checked for days on every facet of the 'Net', (Images/Info), and there is NOTHING!!
There's plenty of info on the regular sites for typical "Tecnico Aristocrat" Radios, but nothing
that looks like this!? So maybe it is quite rare.   I've been through ALL Aussie sites, including
the AORSM, and the HRSA, and the Worldwide www.radiomuseum.org , and although they
'may' have schematics etc., they have NO photos to identify this model! for correlation.

When i receive it, and open it up, I will know more.  I will make it pretty again regardless!!

[bd139]

Ugh that is right up there on the fugly scale isn’t it. Good luck. Deserves restoration 

[Alex Eisenhut]

What does it smell like?

[Bud]

Try reaching out to David Tipton, tonns of radio restoration videos on youtube, i believe he is in Aus.

[GlennSprigg]

What does it smell like?

Don't know yet!!!  Waiting for delivery....
Hopefully then I can find the 'magical' model number. just couldn't pass it up for the price!!
No other image on Google???  Must be rare! hahaha...

[GlennSprigg]

Try reaching out to David Tipton, tonns of radio restoration videos on youtube, i believe he is in Aus.

Yes, thanks mate. I've recently found 'David Tipton' on Youtube, and am following him.
He is someone that I will contact next, (and others) after I receive the radio & check it out!

[GlennSprigg]

Ugh that is right up there on the fugly scale isn’t it. Good luck. Deserves restoration 

That's what it's all about !!!   

[Bud]

The positive thing is that it may be all original, with noone touching it with their golden soldering iron. Also many ugly radios after restoration look great.

[schmitt trigger]

Wonder what the exterior material is made of.
Looks like cloth covered wood.

And the cloth most likely is cotton, as during WW2 the synthetic fibers were almost exclusively being used on the production of war materiel.

[Cyberdragon]

A big part of the issue is that it's REALLY dirty. The dial structure is really simple, but it's definately not supposed to be that color.

[Alex Eisenhut]

What does it smell like?

Don't know yet!!!  Waiting for delivery....

I missed that part. I won an auction for a NOS in box Tektronix plugin from the 1960s. It had never been opened. The rubberized horse hair they used as packing material smelled so strong I nearly tossed out the whole box!

I know how bad these rotting organics can smell...

[Syntax Error]

How many Wallabys died to make that covering? So would Dave class that as a dumpster score? You may need your PPE when carrying out the autopsy.

Found a Tecnico address from
http://www.thebakeliteradio.com/page55/page55.html
Tecnico Electronics, 13-19 Glebe St. Glebe. NSW
Which on Google Earth is now a block of luxury apartments. What a surprise. not.

[Lamé Üsernåmê]

Tecnico 859, or something around that number I believe. Not 1940 - style is later than that; I would've said late 40's, maybe early 50's - and the 859 is from 1948.

[Circlotron]

Could be a custom case somebody made for it.
What is the valve lineup?

[vk6zgo]

Could be a custom case somebody made for it.
What is the valve lineup?

I'm inclined to agree------it doesn't look as professional as I would expect from Technico.
As to ugly, have I shown you the "Number 11 Radio set " I used to own?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_set_No._11

[GlennSprigg]

To answer a few various questions here...
It's still in the Post, and since this Covid-19 business, they are slow!!
As a result, I am not aware of the Tube-Lineup yet.
And no, it is not a home made case. I have since found ONE image of one, from an old
auction site, going back 4 years, with the SAME Case/Material. I 1st thought it might be
the SAME unit, (now being sold by someone else), until I noticed that THAT one has 2
latch-clips, where as the one that coming to me (photos above) has only 1 latch.
Must be an older model!! hahaha... 
And yes, to take the weight of the chassis & batteries, I imagine it is cloth covered wood panels.
I know an upholsterer, and will avail myself of his expertise to totally re-cover it, like new!! 
Regarding the crappy 'plastic' dial front cover, I will fabricate a new clear one!, including heating and
smoothly out-denting the shape, as per the original. (I know how...  )
When it comes, and I open it up, you/I will know more....

[GlennSprigg]

Could be a custom case somebody made for it.
What is the valve lineup?

I'm inclined to agree------it doesn't look as professional as I would expect from Technico.
As to ugly, have I shown you the "Number 11 Radio set " I used to own?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_set_No._11

Show us a pic of that !!!   

[vk6zgo]

Could be a custom case somebody made for it.
What is the valve lineup?

I'm inclined to agree------it doesn't look as professional as I would expect from Technico.
As to ugly, have I shown you the "Number 11 Radio set " I used to own?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_set_No._11

Show us a pic of that !!!   

I don't have it any more, & can't find any pix that will let me copy them.

The best I can do is the wiki link.
Just click on that, then on the small pix on the page for a full screen pix.

Both the one in the pix  & mine were AWA made Oz ones!
I'm fairly sure they had a different set of valves to the Brit ones.

[GlennSprigg]

Could be a custom case somebody made for it.
What is the valve lineup?

I'm inclined to agree------it doesn't look as professional as I would expect from Technico.
As to ugly, have I shown you the "Number 11 Radio set " I used to own?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_set_No._11

Show us a pic of that !!!   

I don't have it any more, & can't find any pix that will let me copy them.

The best I can do is the wiki link.
Just click on that, then on the small pix on the page for a full screen pix.

Both the one in the pix  & mine were AWA made Oz ones!
I'm fairly sure they had a different set of valves to the Brit ones.

UGLY!!... are you mad!... that's BEAUTIFUL !!!!!
The epitome of wonderful military nostalgia that I LOVE !!!!!!!! 

[vk6zgo]

Could be a custom case somebody made for it.
What is the valve lineup?

I'm inclined to agree------it doesn't look as professional as I would expect from Technico.
As to ugly, have I shown you the "Number 11 Radio set " I used to own?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_set_No._11

Show us a pic of that !!!   

I don't have it any more, & can't find any pix that will let me copy them.

The best I can do is the wiki link.
Just click on that, then on the small pix on the page for a full screen pix.

Both the one in the pix  & mine were AWA made Oz ones!
I'm fairly sure they had a different set of valves to the Brit ones.

UGLY!!... are you mad!... that's BEAUTIFUL !!!!!
The epitome of wonderful military nostalgia that I LOVE !!!!!!!! 

The funny thing, Glenn, is that looking at the picture, I can still remember what it smelled like!

I bought it in the very early '60s, from "Andy Anderson" in Perth, who had a lot of surplus military electronics stuff in his Murray St store.
From memory, the No.11 was five quid!($10 to the "younguns")------as that was a week's wage to me back then, I had to save up!

I would have done better to have saved four times longer & got a No.22, which had 6 volt tubes & was more amenable to modification.
Andy's is also where I bought the 6SH7's for my R,TV & H "Set for young DXers", which probably, with all its problems, was more useful to me than the  No.11, but didn't look quite as cool!

In Andy's other store, in Hay Street, he had an eclectic collection of junk, from radial engines out of an Avro Anson to Hupmobile headlights, & every conceivable thing in between!

There were quite a few similar establishments, such as ""Jack's Equipment Mart" in Wellington St, & "O.W. Strang" in Victoria Park, who had a complete Rolls Royce Merlin in his window!

I guess most cities had similar establishments.

[Connecteur]

I can understand the concept; it's not something to decorate your living room like a piece of furniture.  It's an early example of a purely utilitarian design, much unlike many of the things we have nowadays.  Its functionality constitutes  a style and form of its own.

[Labrat101]

What does it smell like?

Don't know yet!!!  Waiting for delivery....
Hopefully then I can find the 'magical' model number. just couldn't pass it up for the price!!
No other image on Google???  Must be rare! hahaha...

Nice Find .
 Good Luck . You maybe lucky and only need a few Caps . & love and tender care . Those old tubes will be fun .   
  I hope this wasn't the source of the Virus out break .. 

[GlennSprigg]

What does it smell like?

Don't know yet!!!  Waiting for delivery....
Hopefully then I can find the 'magical' model number. just couldn't pass it up for the price!!
No other image on Google???  Must be rare! hahaha...

Nice Find .
 Good Luck . You maybe lucky and only need a few Caps . & love and tender care . Those old tubes will be fun .   
  I hope this wasn't the source of the Virus out break .. 

Thank you mate!, & to all other contributors.
Regarding your comment about the 'virus'... with my last few deliveries, I raise the roller-door, and
the delivery guy just throws it inside, & doesn't even want a signature!!  hahaha...!!
Yep. It will be a work of love!!....  It's the 'unknown' insides that I'm excited about!   
To 'vk6zgo'...
Obviously your no 'Spring-Chicken' either, with you interests, work, play history with 'Contacts' !! 
Years ago, I lived in Adelaide, and had a great relationship with an old Guy near Port Adelaide.  I must
have collected thousands of dollars of equip/parts over the years, which I still pine over many decades
later, as it is ALL gone now! (Divorce/house/property etc.. sigh). I had COUNTLESS pieces of old valve
based test equipment , and HUNDREDS of not just common, but very RARE tubes, military & otherwise.
Damn.  I hate 'remembering' what I once had...  All gone!!!

[Labrat101]

yup 44 yrs married ...  You only get 25 years for murder ..  "" I would have been Free 19yrs  by now ""   

You Can't worry over what was . as Einstein said you cant destroy matter. You can only create Watt Matter zzz   

  Just be careful with your new Found TIME MACHINE ..   

      It May still have some magic in it !!! ..  .. May have belonged to The Dr.?   

[GlennSprigg]

yup 44 yrs married ...  You only get 25 years for murder ..  "" I would have been Free 19yrs  by now ""   

You Can't worry over what was . as Einstein said you cant destroy matter. You can only create Watt Matter zzz   

  Just be careful with your new Found TIME MACHINE ..   

      It May still have some magic in it !!! ..  .. May have belonged to The Dr.?   

Ha!!... It's interesting what you (Einstein) said there, about destroying matter... (Well you can, sort of!).
What was actually said, is that "ENERGY can not be created or destroyed, but can ONLY be transferred from
one object to another, or transformed from one form to another".  Obviously, in a nuclear explosion, that
original small amount of 'Matter' is being converted to 'Energy' as we know it, in the form of heat, light, and
various others on the spectrum, as per the famous 'E=MC2'.  Also, 'Matter' (at atomic particle level) has been
re-created in high energy accelerators, which leaves me with the only logical conclusion...

MATTER is but a 'Form' of ENERGY, and visa versa...