Found a Sonora A40 radio/phono locally and am toying with the idea of buying it. Any idea of a general value for something like this? It appears to be in decent shape and complete. Seller was asking $250, then $150 but says he'd take $100. It's very pretty, however it's BIG and HEAVY.

Looks like this one (photo from radio attic's archives) http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=6620

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=181965&stc=1&d=1393974450

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sonora_pho_a40.html

I'd probably go $100 if the cabinet is decent and no parts are obviously missing.

$100 is a good deal for this. Sonoras from that era aren't common and that one looks nice.

If it wasn't so big it would be a no-brainer. I'll have to give it some thought...... Not like I need another radio around here !!

Well, another one bites the dust....:sigh:

Stopped by the shop today and notice the Sonora had a 'SOLD' tag on it.

So I commented to the owner, "hey I see you sold the radio". His response was "yeah !!!....... in pieces". He went on to explain that a lady wanted the cabinet, and struck a deal with another customer to purchase the guts.

I guess a guy needed the speaker for a restoration he was doing, and just took the rest of the guts too. The lady, I'm told had plans to paint the cabinet blue.

Ugh.... :no:

Oh, Prunella! :D Some peoples kids.

Oh, that's sick....

Oh, that's sick....

I know, right?!! But it bears out what he told me before. He'd said that often he gets customers that only want the cabinet. That's how I got a plate of tubes, field coil speaker and power supply, and by doing some detective work figured out he'd parted out a Zenith model 52 in a similar manner.

I hate seeing this but with around 30 console radios already in my home, I just can't rescue them all. But it still breaks my heart. That Sonora survived intact for around 90 years, only to fall victim to a 'crafts' type person. :tears:

Unfortunately, this kind of crap seems to be on the rise. One of the reasons my shop looks the way it does is because of all the stuff I saved from the "repurposing" crowd; but, like you, I can't save them all.

I have all the parts, minus the cabinet, of a '50 Philco combo that fell victim to this. The cabinet became a liquor cabinet but I managed to save everything else including the original paperwork, cardboard control layout chart and hang tag. I've been looking for a cabinet for 5 years now and I hope someday one will pop up so I can put this set back together.

It really disgusts me to hear about stuff like this.