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McIntosh Portable AM/LW Radio Circa late 40s, early 50s?

BillyBatts

BillyBatts

ALOHA!
Aloha gents.

I am hoping one of the McIntosh gurus here can help me. Back in the 80s, I was given a McIntosh portable AM/LW radio. Battery operated. Wooden cabinet, green and cream cloth covering. If I were to guess, I'd say it was a late 40s, early 50s model. It sounded absolutely amazing for what it was. If I recall, it had pushbutton switches on the top to select AM or LW. The original design probably ran on D cells, but someone had modified it to run on a bank of AA batteries.

I used to sit on my patio in the summer or lay in a hammock in the back yard and use it for listening to AM Baseball broadcasts because that small radio sounded like an FM set. Probably the combination of a wooden cabinet, combined with a quality speaker and McIntosh circuitry helped it deliver incredible sound for a portable AM radio. After about 10 years it stopped working and I put it aside. I eventually lost it in all of my moves around the country. I have tried to find that model online, just so I could identify what model it was. It was definitely only AM and LW reception. No FM. Probably 10" wide by 8" high by 5" thick.

Does anyone have any idea what model this may have been, or where I might find a picture of it? I've tried over the years to find something online, but have failed every time. I'd love to acquire another, but that's probably a pipe dream. Any help would be appreciated.

Mahalo!
-Billy
 
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Thanks, Pio. It definitely had a McIntosh Logo, 3D, in gold if I recall. Perhaps silver. We're talking the 80s so my memory is slipping. But the logo was affixed to the radio professionally, like a lapel pin mounted to the radio. I'm wondering if Mac ever did a licensing for England, or did a production run for England shortly after WWII or in the early 50s. I say this because of the Long Wave setting on the radio, and I know the BBC had one or two standard LW stations.

I'll look over your links. Thanks very much. The help is greatly appreciated.

-Billy
 
jlovda said:
Why don't you download a picture?
Click to expand...

I don't have a picture. I've been searching for one online for a very long time. I never snapped a pic back in the 80s. Long before cell phones of course. Film cameras. Inconvenient. Never thought I'd need a "picture" of that old radio.
 
Pio1980 said:
I think you are describing a fairly early better transistor portable.
My head keeps going "Ferguson", fwiw.
Click to expand...

Well, it definitely had a McIntosh name on it. But the body, as i posted, was a wooden box, covered with cloth. Green and cream. To me that screamed late 40s early 50s, but that would have been way too early for transistor. So that again makes me think it was an English model for sale in Great Britain. Did Mac ever do 3rd party licensing for manufacture overseas? My guess would be it was made for sale in Great Britain and was never offered here in the US. That would explain the rarity and why I can't find any information about it.

My aunt (RIP - she just passed away last year) was a quality control inspector for McIntosh. I asked her about it once about 10 years ago, but she was too far removed from her work at Mac by that time. She retired from McIntosh in the mid 80s.
 
Image search turned nada.
It could have been a valve set, most of the push button portables I've seen were transistor with some exceptions.
Zenith made the famous Trans Oceanic multi band valve portables with push buttons.
 
Pio1980 said:
Image search turned nada.
It could have been a valve set, most of the push button portables I've seen were transistor with some exceptions.
Zenith made the famous Trans Oceanic multi band valve portables with push buttons.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I never really examined it that closely. I now wish I had. If it were a valve set, perhaps that's why it quit so suddenly on me. Don't hold me to this, but I recall putting in a set of C batteries. And the battery holder looked aftermarket. So perhaps it had a proprietary battery at one time. That would make sense.
 
BillyBatts said:
Interesting. I never really examined it that closely. I now wish I had. If it were a valve set, perhaps that's why it quit so suddenly on me. Don't hold me to this, but I recall putting in a set of C batteries. And the battery holder looked aftermarket. So perhaps it had a proprietary battery at one time. That would make sense.
Click to expand...
A valve set would have had two separate type battery sets, low voltage for filaments and higher voltage for the circuits.
 
Pio1980 said:
A valve set would have had two separate type battery sets, low voltage for filaments and higher voltage for the circuits.
Click to expand...

True. I don't recall that, so it must have been solid state, and that dates it later than late 40s - early 50s. So we are talking a radio that LOOKS like ti was made in the late 40s to early 50s, but with solid state circuitry. 1954 was the debut of transistors, but Mac probably didn't produce solid state that early. I guess a radio built in the mid to late 50s could have looked a bit older in cabinet design. There has to be a blurb about this mysterious Mac portable radio somewhere. I'll keep digging. Thanks.
 
BillyBatts said:
True. I don't recall that, so it must have been solid state, and that dates it later than late 40s - early 50s. So we are talking a radio that LOOKS like ti was made in the late 40s to early 50s, but with solid state circuitry. 1954 was the debut of transistors, but Mac probably didn't produce solid state that early. I guess a radio built in the mid to late 50s could have looked a bit older in cabinet design. There has to be a blurb about this mysterious Mac portable radio somewhere. I'll keep digging. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Maybe 1957-196#.
 
Pio1980 said:
Maybe 1957-196#.
Click to expand...

You are probably spot on, Pio. The case looked so outdated to me, at glance I'd put it in the late 40s to early 50s. But not possible with solid state.

Oh well, I genuinely appreciate your help. I'll keep searching. I do plan on getting to McIntosh Labs in person at some point in the next two or three years. While there, I'll broach this subject with them.

Mahalo!
 
Would Magnavox have been licensed to put out a product with a McIntosh logo? This radio had a McIntosh three dimensional logo attached to the front panel.
 
The ML1 speaker from the early 1970s had a small gold McIntosh logo on the tweeter/midrange grill (behind the main grill). Maybe a McIntosh fan used one of those on the radio?

Larry
 
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