HMV Model 5127. Year of manufacture?

[Davezs6avm]

Good day all,

I picked up an HMV Model 5127 and can't find any info on it. Need to know the year of manufacture. Can only find the Model 1251 which looks the same apart from the fact it has FM

Kind regards, Dave

[Herald1360]

MW and a bunch of SWs says "export model". Info may be hard to find in SA let alone UK!

Something UK domestic with same valve lineup and similar chassis may be the best bet short of reverse engineering it.

[Davezs6avm]

Thanks very much Herald,

That's obviously why I can't find it on the Net
It has a what seems to be a plastic grill, so I'm thinking early 60's
I only started collecting a few months ago, as such, still learning about all these different radio's
As mentioned it looks just like the 1251 apart from the fact that mine does not have FM. As you alluded to it has MW and a whole bung of SW Bands
The radio works just great and the Magic Eye is the brightest I have seen and works as it should
The cabinet is a bit shabby, veneer issues, so will do a full restoration

Thanks again Herald

Kind regards, Dave

[Restoration73]

It seems to use EM81 magic eye, introduced in 1956. Later sets will use the EM84
"twin bars" magic eye, which came in 1959 onwards. So somewhere in that period.

[G6Tanuki]

Definitely a made-for-the-tropics model: the SW1 band covers the 60, 90 and 120M "tropical bands" that were used in equatorial areas for local/national broadcasting in preference to MW/LW allegedly because of less susceptibility to lightning-interference.

[dazzlevision]

Your model looks very much like the UK market HMV model 1251 that I had. That was made around 1956 and had a plastic speaker grille material. Take a look at its entry of the Radiomuseum website: http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/hismasters_1251.html

EMI stopped making their own radio and TV sets in 1957 and licensed Thorn Electrical Industries (Ferguson) to make HMV and Marconiphone badged sets.

It's very easy to tell a real EMI made set from a Ferguson made one. Yours is surely a real EMI made export market set.

[Paul_RK]

Yes, everything seems to point to 1956-7. That plastic grille material was very popular for a while, used by Roberts on their portable radios from around 1953-7, by Ekco on numerous items where it was sometimes sprayed gold, and on any number of record players including some Dansettes.

Paul

[ukcol]

Yes, looks like its based on the 1251 but without VHF/FM. VHF/FM didn't start in South Africa until 1961.

http://www.oldradio.com/archives/int...l/safrica.html