Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Hello,
My name is Ciprian, I am from Romania and I have a passion for old radios. I just found an Ingelen Geographic radio for sale here in my country (which is rare here), I called right away and after a few days, it was sitting in my livingroom. It's a U-Super 438 WG (1937/1938 maybe), pretty complete and in overall good shape. I think all parts are original. I disassembled it and now I'm in a search of the right repairman in my country. Will keep you posted.

Here are some more pictures:
http://oldbaiamare.blogspot.ro/2016/07/ingelen.html

Hope it's OK for me to post on this forum, but maybe you can answer some of my questions I'll have about it.

PS. English is not my first language, but I will do my best :)

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

That's a very good looking set- somewhat art deco with an unusual but effective tuning dial.

Definitely something to be proud of- I would be!

Best of luck getting it sorted, it shouldn't be too difficult- it looks quite conventional inside.

Looks like one of these:

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ingelen..._us_538wg.html

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Welcome to the forum!
Don't worry your English is better than some of us native speakers.
Very attractive radio, I do like the dial. Would like to see a picture of it when you know the radio is safe to use and switched on.
Peter

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

I agree with Reelman:

Welcome to this site and thank you for the photos of your fabulous radio.

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Fantastic early use of fibre optics on that dial. The placement of those glass "light pipes" must have been a very demanding task - an art form in itself. Thanks for sharing this with us Ciprian, we are very unlikely to see anything like this in the UK.
Neil

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

A rather splendid set, I look forward to seeing it fully restored. Pity I can't play with it then.

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Thank you all for your nice words, the radio will be completely restored, I will ship the cabinet these days for refinishing. I will keep you posted.

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

:thumbsup:

;D

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Very nice rare and interesting set.

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Wow!

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Ciprinian,

An impressive tuning dial!

A question for you about mains voltages in Romania (where I assume the radio was used back in 1937/1928). I suppose the voltage is 220 now - but what was it back then?

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Yes, the voltage since 1950s is 220, but before that it was 110V. This Ingelen supports 110-130-150-200-220-240V.

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Thanks Ciprian for that. I note the radio could run on 150 volts. This is not the only radio (or tape-recorder) to have such a voltage tapping option. I'm still trying to find out where in Europe such a voltage was in use ! (a long term goal for me)

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Finally, I have some news and updates. Work at the wooden case has been started, the old finish has been taken off with chemicals, the few spots with missing veneer were repaired, and the whole case was sanded and prepared for new varnish. After a long search, I found a chrome plating shop and I shipped all the metallic ornaments to be rechromed, can't wait to get them back ;D

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

After 2 coats of lacquer:

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Beautiful cabinet and finish.

Kev

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

The cabinet after 5 coats of lacquer:

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Eee, that's lovely.

I spent today repairing a Victorian 4 panel door that my friend's errant 5 year old son had kicked in. It came out well, but I wish I'd been working on something as exciting as this! ;D

I'd really like to see that dial lit. If it were mine I'd be scared stiff of dropping the tub full of glass tubes!!

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Definitely a thread to watch!

Re: Ingelen Geographic - proud owner
 

Thanks for watching, the complete restoration will be presented here, including the big moment: the working dial, with pictures and, why not, a movie :)