An old gentleman from my wifes church gave me a Silvertone 4586 console radio today.Someone decided to paint it solid brown at one point,and it needs several cosmetic items,from the glass and frame on the dial,to the end of the dial pointer,to 2 of the original knobs,which have been replaced with non matching knobs.All the wood and the structure are in good condition,as is the grille cloth.The guy turned it on in front of me(YIKES!) and it is operational,but is in obvious need of restoration.I pulled out the speaker,and its in amazingly good shape,but looks like there was a small tear in it that was "repaired" with scotch tape .If I was to have it professionally restored,would I have to sell my house to do it?It looks like it has real potential,and I would hate to see a piece of radio history just destroyed or tossed out.It seems there is a lot of info,here and elsewhere on this model,so I think there might be hope...Just curious.
Jimmy

What a score! :thmbsp:

These are beyond just cool. Apparently there were 2 possible radios inside this cabinet. Is your tuning knob below the dial or to the right?

http://www.radiophile.com/silv4586.htm

jc

Its the 101425,made by Colonial Radio,according to that great link! :thmbsp:
I was thinking of just stripping the brown paint off,and seeing what I have as far as the original finish.If it comes out passable,I might have a local restorer work on the radio itself.It looks like it could be a nice unit.The guy who gave it to me said that up until the early seventies,he was getting broadcasts at night as far away as Tawian.As soon as I can,ill post pics of it.I was also given the strangest thing from this same man.Its a suitcase with a record-player /radio in it,that you can also record from the radio or a mike straight onto a 78.Its called a "Recordette" and its made by Wilcox-Gay.This is just an all out peculiar unit.It has no plug,and when I pulled it up out of the suitcase,it had no power source whatsoever.Perhaps it used a large battery to power it?Id hate to just give it to goodwill or something,because its a real curiosity.All in all,a very nice day,at least the part after work ended..... :)
Jimmy

yeah that is a nice radio :thmbsp: I use the paste type stripper myself and don't use metal to scrap the paint off. Odds are the original finish was bad and will be worse after stripping but since the radio works you could recap it yourself and it'll prob work great :)

I pulled out the speaker,and its in amazingly good shape,but looks like there was a small tear in it that was "repaired" with scotch tape

A little bit of paper glue should fix the tear. But only in the cone area, avoid using glue in the outer flexible area between the cone and the metal mounting rim. Glue would make it stiff and you don't want that there in the flex area.