Crosley car radio or “what am I supposed to do with this?”

[scuba]

I recently picked-up this little “gem” thinking it might make an interesting restoration project. After figuring how to take it apart, I found this nightmare. How on earth a colony of dirt daubers found their way into it is a mystery to me. Anyway. To make a short story long, the guts are toast, destroyed by dirt, moisture and what I can only assume is a new and yet undocumented form of life growing on the resistors. I think I may salvage the case and chassis and try to shoehorn a fender champ in it. It would be neat to use the existing controls for the tone and volume, somehow incorporating the dial in it. Perhaps as a kind of volume indicator.

 

[scuba]

Roamio, my Roamio. Wherefore art thou my Roamio. Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

 

[rcs16]

Good luck with that mess

 

[gadget73]

bad as it looks its probably salvageable but it will be a decent amount of work. Most of the caps and resistors would be bad anyway so no great loss there. Just need them enough to read values. The transformers and such are likely unaffected but its going to need a deep clean to have much hope. I wouldn't be surprised if the tube sockets end up needing replacement too.

What you'd end up with at the end of the day is just an AM radio. Whether or not thats something you actually want or have any use for is a different story.

 

[init4fun]

I agree with Gadget, I've seen worse and restored it to working condition. Wasn't easy, but doable if, as Gadget said, your really wanting an old car's AM radio.

..... Which, BTW, runs on 6 volts

 

[Lavane]

I personally wouldn't do anything with it unless I was just wanting a challenge. Or repair it if your really into listening to politics.

 

[raycarr00]

o boy, what a challenge it would be! maybe donate it to some classic car parts business?

 

[Mr Creosote]

That radio is probably late 30s early 40s. Very cool and possibly of interest to owners of cars from that era. keep it together if possible.

 

[scuba]

Cleaned it up a bit more with compressed air and a brush. It doesn’t look quite as bad as I first thought though the case has a lot of corrosion.
After some light cleaning with a wire brush I found that under what remained of the paint and crud, the metal was copper plated. I wonder if a bit of home electroplating may not be in order once the rust has been taken care of.

 

[scuba]

I agree with Gadget, I've seen worse and restored it to working condition. Wasn't easy, but doable if, as Gadget said, your really wanting an old car's AM radio.

..... Which, BTW, runs on 6 volts

..... Which, BTW, runs on 6 volts

i thought it might. I have a bench power supply that can power it, should I go that restoration route.

 

[scuba]

bad as it looks its probably salvageable but it will be a decent amount of work. Most of the caps and resistors would be bad anyway so no great loss there. Just need them enough to read values. The transformers and such are likely unaffected but its going to need a deep clean to have much hope. I wouldn't be surprised if the tube sockets end up needing replacement too.

What you'd end up with at the end of the day is just an AM radio. Whether or not thats something you actually want or have any use for is a different story.

I have quite a few AM radios that are either waiting to be restored or have already been so. Another one more or less won’t make a difference and I do like a challenge. I'm not sure which way I will go though I am leaning towards restoration. At worst, it will make an interesting conversation piece.

 

[scuba]

o boy, what a challenge it would be! maybe donate it to some classic car parts business?

Not the worst idea I have ever heard. I do know one or two people in the classic car arena. I may fix it up and then donate it.

 

[raycarr00]

I'd try using a pressure washer on it...bet that would bring out the shine.

 

[scuba]

So…. Brown hammer-tone paint it is.

approx 8 or 9 hours and two batteries later, this! I’m guessing not nearly enough amperage to plate such a large piece.
A good coat of black rust converter paint as a base coat and the brown hammer-tone paint to finish would seem to be in order.
I will clean-up the main chassis and components as best I can and evaluate where to go next based on how much it will cost to restore it. I should have many of the caps and resistor values in my tickle trunk, but not the tubes. I will test them tomorrow and see if they are still useable. I don’t really want to throw a Benjamin at a project that may not be salvageable anyway.

 

[gadget73]

did you pre-charge the solution with copper first? Last time I did copper electroplating I stirred some stripped copper wire in the peroxide/vinegar solution until it was a nice blue color, then I stuck my parts in.

the other problem is just distance between the stuff. thats a big plate so you'd really sort of need a sheet of copper, or a bunch of copper wire strands spaced along the pan so that all parts of the steel are a similar distance from your copper, otherwise its just going to plate on the spot near the copper supply. I was doing small pieces so I did it in a jar and formed a sort of "nest" out of scrap copper wire that surrounded my part.

 

[63pontiacgp]

It's amazing the things I've found in old radios over the years.

Mike

 

[scuba]

did you pre-charge the solution with copper first? Last time I did copper electroplating I stirred some stripped copper wire in the peroxide/vinegar solution until it was a nice blue color, then I stuck my parts in.

the other problem is just distance between the stuff. thats a big plate so you'd really sort of need a sheet of copper, or a bunch of copper wire strands spaced along the pan so that all parts of the steel are a similar distance from your copper, otherwise its just going to plate on the spot near the copper supply. I was doing small pieces so I did it in a jar and formed a sort of "nest" out of scrap copper wire that surrounded my part.

Hi Gadget.
No, I didn’t pre-charge the solution. It looks like I would have to scale up the process if I wanted to plate the whole case and I’m not sure I want to go to that extent.

 

[scuba]

This part was broken when the radio arrived. I initially thought it was a solenoid of some type but the schematic has it labeled as a vibrator.
I have no idea what it does but would like to test it to see if it works at all.

 

[jayvis]

I think this thing would have been more valuable to the mud daubers.

 

[scuba]

An interesting link to the purpose and function of the radio vibrator.

Radio Vibrators

Radio Vibrators for Classic Cars - Learn how radio vibrators work in the restoration of classic car radios and new radio installations in vintage car dashes.

www.vintagecarradio.com