The 'cabinet' (really just a ‘box’ with a single coat of varnish), was made of two layers of native pine veneer with a single low grade core, so not really ‘plywood’ in the traditional sense. It had no glass in the dial, but why not? Glass is made from sand – hardly a scarce resource, and only about 2” x 3” was needed. Thousands of acres of glass were being produced weekly to replace bomb-damaged windows. Much of that new glass was recycled as off-cuts that could have been used, but at least the lack of a glass dial obviated damage in transit or use.
Maybe due to its austere utilitarian appearance, the WCR is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a Wartime ‘Utility’ Receiver (even by Wikipedia) but that isn’t correct. 'Utility' had a specific meaning, and had the set been a 'Utility item' it would have been a ‘controlled commodity’ stamped with the 'CC41' Utility logo - a British Board of Trade requirement that appeared on footwear, utility furniture, textiles and utility clothing for just over ten years from 1941.
Many such items required coupons – CC41 furniture for example was mostly reserved for people re-housed due to bomb damage, and for newlyweds setting up home. CC41 meant "Controlled Commodity" indicating that the item met the government's austerity regulations. The austerity provisions governed precisely what could or could not be used in the manufacture of clothes and shoes (E.G: the number of buttons, pleats or pockets, the height of heels, amount of lace or embroidery, no turn-ups on trousers and no double-breasted suits).
A ‘luxury’ - not a 'necessity':
The WCR - as with many goods, carried Purchase Tax, which meant it was in the ‘luxury goods’ category – not a ‘necessity’. At £12.3s.4d inc Purchase Tax, the WCR wasn’t cheap either – that equates to £530 in 2020. In contrast, the Pilot Little Maestro, introduce in February 1939, cost £5.5s.0d (Equivalent to £335 in 2020).
Purchase Tax was levied between 1940 and 1973 on the wholesale value of luxury goods sold in the UK. It was introduced on 21 October 1940, with the stated aim of reducing wastage of raw materials during World War II. Initially set at a rate of 33⅓%, it was subsequently set at differing rates dependent upon the individual item’s degree of "luxury" as determined by the government of the day. Items deemed as 'necessities' were designated as tax-free. (Sometimes a cabinet would be taxed as furniture - the chassis taxed at a different rate).
By 1942, an estimated 1 million domestic radios were out of action due the lack of spare parts or valves as industry was geared to the war effort.
There was also a shortage of skilled people to repair them as most were called up to the Armed Services. Though it wasn't known how long the war would last, the WCR didn't come onto the market until June 1994 (after D-Day), and few were produced relative to the pent up demand for new sets - 175,000 AC models, 75,000 Battery sets. If anyone really needed a radio it would have been Hobson's choice and as soon as more appealing sets came along, I dare say many WCRs were discounted to shift them off the shelves. I think they'd have little appeal except to the likes of us.
It's often said that 'a camel is horse designed by a committee'.
Given how many vested interests were involved in bringing the WCR belatedly to the market, I think the WCR is more of a camel than a horse. An interesting anachronism which didn't really fulfil the brief of using minimal materials, but succeeded magnificently in creating what was priced and taxed as a luxury item, but which looked like what many thought (and still think), was a 'Utility Radio', befitting the austere times in which it came to market. I'm surprised that so many have survived to this day.
Mine was in a sorry state when I bought it at a car boot sale many years ago. It had no back, a shabby dial and a drab cabinet (box/case?), and torn speaker fabric. For it to earn its shelf space it just had to be 'pimped up'. I stripped the cabinet and applied a coupe of coats of Danish oil. New speaker fabric, I made a replica back and paper label and created a new dial. Some pics attached. There was an article in March 1990 BVWS Bulletin, which can be found at the link below to the Bulletin Archives, but I've attached it as a PDF.
https://www.bvws.org.uk/publications...olume15number1
Hard to create an authentic set-top transfer because the originals have degraded so much that we haven't got much idea what they looked like when new. The one in my earlier post is someone else's best efforts, which I shamelessly copied. I've no idea who it was that created the design, so can't give them credit for it, but if they're reading this, thanks for your efforts!