What does it feel like to be old? Of course that's far too complex a question to have a simple answer, but one of the reminders of that thing you try to forget is that so many people around you seem to know so little. I'm reading a story set in the 1950's, generally realistic until you read about how the driver of the 1955 Chevy pulls over and turns on his emergency flashers. You may be puzzled at my amusement, but they were not furnished in those days, not for another ten years.
I'm watching one of those programs where "experts" poke around in attics looking for treasures. a mid 60's table radio is discovered and the hunters marvel that it has tubes.
"Look - tooobs! That's what they had then before the chips and transmitters came in. This could be valuable"
It wasn't worth more than a few bucks at most, even if it worked. Obviously he has no idea about the history of radio or what a transistor is.
Go ask some thirty something what "Ethyl" is or how you dial a phone, or if he remembers the Sylvania "Halo Light TV." He won't know. Chips and transmitters indeed, it brings tears to my aging eyes.
Ever notice all those period dramas where someone turns on the 1930 Motorola "tombstone" radio ind the sound comes on instantly? Yep, it sometimes seems like everyone was born yesterday. It's because you're old jack and that's a fact.
In the early 1960s, dad bought a used Grundig hi-fi. The speaker was a three-inch oval, monophonic, of course. It probably had much less than 10 watts of power. It had a MW-FM-LW-SW radio. It had the names of major cities in Europe stenciled into the glass over the tuning needle. I had quite forgotten that it took a few seconds for the sound to come up as the tubes heated up.
ReplyDeleteLater in my twenties I began collecting old German stereos and a table radio. I still have my 1959 Telefunken console. I use the speakers. Beautiful, three-way, hand-made speakers. It must have cost a pretty penny the year I was born.
I'm a radio collector and amateur historian, although I've reduced the collection to just a few in recent years. Yes, those radios were really high quality rigs. The only thing I have like that is a Chinese copy I got in Beijing 20 years ago. Looks exactly like the German original, but it isn't! Radios from teh 1920's used rather huge tubes which took quite a while to warm up. It's the earlier wireless telegraphy stuff that interests me the most.
ReplyDeleteI noodled around on-line after thinking about my old tele looking for pictures of similar models. I found quite a few restored and polished up to look very pretty indeed. Hobbyists replace all the capacitors and find replacement tubes and they magically start to work again like new. One actually included the original retail price in 1959 Deutsch Marks, of DM 1898 or over $450 U.S.
ReplyDeleteCareful, there's teh danger of addiction. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather (passed away in 1990) used to repair radios and televisions. I wish I could see his face today--nooo tooobs!
ReplyDeleteThat's been a hobby of mine since I was a kid actually.
DeleteI'm not up on the history of tires, but my Dad's 1937 Plymouth seemed to have blowouts on a regular schedule. He had to remove the tube, scuff it with steel wool and paste a piece of rubber over the leak with a foul smelling rubber cement and pump it up with a hand held pump. It was good for at least another hundred
ReplyDeletemiles. Not sure, but I think I was one of the kids in 'A Christmas Story'....