This was on Craigslist for $40. Bought this in Benton Harbor, Michigan. They accepted my offer of $30. 7 tube chassis. Has the tuning eye tube. Cabinet in excellent shape, just needs an application of Howards finish restorer. It is a Firestone. Yes, the tire people. The clock did not come with it. It is a New Haven with a porcelain dial and keeps excellent time.
Real Nice Tom....I have picked up a few Firestone Radios in the past and they went for big bucks in resale....Doug
I also just bought a Firestone radio (though a much smaller model:S7402-7)
(http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss74/LarryinMichigan/Radios/FirestoneAndSonora_zpskanuryak.jpg)
Larry
I remember the Firestone and Goodyear tire and appliance stores in Sturgis when I was a boy.
Quote from: 19and41 on June 24, 2016, 10:01:39 PM
I remember the Firestone and Goodyear tire and appliance stores in Sturgis when I was a boy.
I believe both made radios also.
Quote from: 19and41 on June 24, 2016, 10:01:39 PM
I remember the Firestone and Goodyear tire and appliance stores in Sturgis when I was a boy.
They both had great Christmas records too. Remember those? The Great Songs of Christmas was Goodyear and Firestone also had a series of records called Your Favorite Christmas Carols, both in the 1960s. At first both were mostly classical selections and then both became a little more on the pop side with singers like Julie Andrews or Steve and Eydie or Robert Goulet. We had several volumes of Great Songs of Christmas when I was a kid, played over and over each year on the old Steelman Stereo Hi-Fi.
I was also a very loyal customer of our local Firestone store until they stopped carrying whitewalls for my Buick Roadmaster wagon and refused to order them.
Two pics below of some typical albums...
Both of them made great Christmas albums and Firestone also broadcast fine music the year round on both radio and television.
Most of the house branded radios each sold were manufactured in the Chicago area. Once you go through the service literature on the radios, they start to reveal the companies that made them. Here is a Voice Of Firestone broadcast ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UD7lh6Agxs
I'm no fan of Firestone because they screwed their employees in 1984 by terminating the pension plan.
I think there are few companies that haven't went sour since the good old days that typify our collecting desires. Wasn't it also Firestone that supplied the problematic tires that caused accidents with Ford SUV's that came from the factory ? But the old days Firestone was a driving force in the development of 'good roads' in the US. I frequent several sites for people who collect and most agree the current firms that manufactured the items they collect are an embarrassment in comparison to the old days.
Firestone marketed radios under the "Air Chief" name, and BF Goodrich sold them under the "Mantola" name. I don't know what the Goodyear radio brand name was. I seriously doubt that any of those companies actually manufactured radios, but they contracted with radio manufacturers to make radios for them. All of the retailers did that, like Sears ("Silvertone"), Montgomery Ward ("Airline"), Gamble-Skogmo ("Coronado"), Speigel ("Air Castle"), Western Auto ("Truetone"), and so on. My little Firestone radio resembles some Sonora models, so I wouldn't be surprised if Sonora made it. Belmont and Arvin made alot of radios for the retailers.
Larry