Best looking vintage radio you have ever seen or owned??

[vinrads]

Almost forgot this one it must be up there with the best! Mick.

[JacKam_]

I was going to post my fully restored B28, but after Panrock's post I give up.
Nobody can beat that !

[Panrock]

This isn't a competition and I for one would love to see the result of your labours. I'm sure I'm not alone!

Steve

[Bob_Moss]

National Panasonic RF-1110 DBLE
Bang & Olufsen Beolit 707
I know neither of there are British or particularly old but they do appeal to me aesthetically.

I got the Panasonic as a Christmas present last year.

I'm still waiting for a B&O to turn up at a Car Boot for £5!

[telstar]

Strad 511. I think that this is one of my favourite looking radios. The first time that I saw a photograph of one was in a service diagram that my late father once owned. I did not realize that one would turn up in Leeds market later on. Sadly there are no radios (today) for sale in Leeds market, Ebay has destroyed that opportunity.
Mike

[Phil G4SPZ]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

The RAP 846 is rather nice, with its elegant cabinet, lovely knobs and dial, chrome plated chassis and plate glass back window:

http://www.thevalvepage.com/radios/rap/846/rap846.htm

My vote goes to this set, too. Sadly, I don't own one, after dithering over one for sale at an NVCF years ago (it sold while I was elsewhere, dithering, and once I'd made up my mind to buy it, the inevitable had happened)

[jsbhavsar]

For me, My National Ekco model A731 in India from 1959-60.
It has 8 bands in all, a 3 section tuning gang and a tuned RF stage to boost the SW selectivity. The radio lacks the ferrite rod aerial inside inspite of ferrite being the norm for the MW those days. The radio comes with "coil packs" instead. 57 years works great on 7 bands, poor noisy MW band.

[tigger449]

That Blaupunkt is very stylish, shame it's not a table radio, would be ideal in on my breakfast bar!

[stevedee]

Certainly not the best looking or stylish wireless, but we are happy with the way our Bush VHF54 blends into our lounge.

Dad brought this home one day in the mid 1960s, and I'm so glad that I managed to save it from becoming land-fill, and bring it back to life!

[paulsherwin]

Most 50s woodies are like that. They were intended to blend into the room as a piece of furniture rather than look flashy.

[Argus25]

I think the answer to the question is very period and technology specific. The best radio from the 20's, the 30's the 40's 50's etc. Then transistor vs valve radios. Then it could be British vs American radios. So if there is a claim that one radio is the best looking one you have seen, there have to be a good number of reasons why to support that.

I'm pretty confident that the best looking radio from the 1920's is the Grebe MU-1. It looks like it escaped from the laboratory where H.G.Wells's time machine might have been manufactured. It captures the imagination and the artwork that typified the sort of decorative detail prominent in the 1920's. Is there a better looking 1920's radio ? I don't think so, at least I have never seen one.

And from the 30's era, the 1938 Philco model 38-7, image attached. Which might even get overlooked until you look closer. The cabinet design is ingenious, look at the way it wraps together. It is science and artwork rolled into one. The large retro-illuminated detailed dial with the tuning knob traversing the outer perimeter, and "cone-centric" tuning. The stylish, yet elegant and simple austere Art Deco nature of it, in my opinion, impossible to beat. Many radios were over decorated and too busy in their designs or the artwork & industrial design taken too far or not far enough. But the Philco 38-7 hit the nail on head. I still have never seen a better combination of form and function, except perhaps in the Levi 501 jeans.

As for sets from the other decades, I'm really not so sure. I have not seen any other sets stick out in any other decade, the way the 38-7 sticks out in the '30's and the MU-1 in the '20's.

Though it is probably fair to say that the Barlow-Wadley XCR-30 was a pretty spectacular transistor radio from the '70's, both in appearance & function.

[AC/HL]

Originally Posted by Argus25

I think the answer to the question is very period and technology specific.

I would also add person specific for obvious reasons. That would also include significant others, as well as yourself for reasons of domestic harmony. I find some frankly ugly, whilst others enthuse about them. I would never wish to impose my taste on anyone else, but I do like the Atwater Kent breadboard radios. I would probably be allowed to show one, if I could afford it!

[Dick Glennon]

I was shown a Bush Dac90A about 10 years ago.by a friend who had the good fortune to find it while clearing out an old radio dealers shop. It was brand new and in its brown box with instructions. It was brown colour. Beautiful.

[Nukeybrown]

Originally Posted by tigger449

That Blaupunkt is very stylish, shame it's not a table radio, would be ideal in on my breakfast bar!

Dont think its far off being a table radio , if you put the speakers on a shelf lol

Ps i still have it in my collection cabinet

[Mr Moose]

Hello,
I don't have one, but for some reason I rather like the 1947 Ferranti 447 radiogram shewn in the first picture.
I do have its less impressive table radio cousin (the 147), shewn in the second picture.
Yours, Richard

[Brettski]

I’m gonna bore you all now, but the Roberts R707 mk1 , providing its a good example with nice chrome, takes some beating, and the R600 has a nice and cheerful scale .

Brett.

[Nukeybrown]

Lol i will stick with the blaupunkt thanks brett lol

[crusher19860138]

My Ekco A22.

[John10b]

I like the look and proportions of the HMV model 1115, which has a push pull output, in such a small Radio!
Sorry I can’t inser picture I have failed miserable to do this from my iPad.
Cheers
John

[deliverance]

I have a few favourites but I love the look of the Hallicrafters 274D .