I found this really beautiful Philco Transitone 'Beach Boy Radio' at the flea market today for the low price of 5 bucks. It was pretty dirty and *looked* like a vintage piece (even the dirt looked vintage) but looked like it would clean up well which it did, so I was pretty excited. I was a little curious though about the fact that 1) it took AA batteries and 2) the battery terminals were exceptionally clean. I don't know enough about these radios or transistor radios from this period to know whether or not AM/FM actually existed in these models, but when I did see that it had both bands that had me scratching my head a bit too. The components in the board looked all current as well. So at this point I don't need to tell you, and I hope I'm wrong about this, but by all appearances this is a freaking re-issue! I couldn't get information on this exact model but from what I could see online it seems that Radio Shack was selling these as retro-repros back in the 90s. Am I right about that? Now that I know it's a repro, I kind of have mixed feelings about it leaning more toward the 'hey, it's still pretty nice for five dollars' end of the spectrum. It works fine, even though there's a funky intermittent issue with the volume, but no biggie. When I was walking down the street with it today playing some cool music (a live version of 'Alright Now' by Free that I'd never heard actually) blaring out into the air in a sea of people plugged into iPods and iPhones, I felt like the coolest most liberated guy in town. I own an iPod and enjoy it, but using this radio in public today showed me how oppressive the iPhones and iPods can be. Weird, but that's a whole other discussion…

These were on the market a number of years. There was a company that re-branded them as promotional items stamped with corporate logos to be used as gifts and prizes but yours with the Philco name is unusual and looks like it was a special order because of it's brown woodgrain front.



Dave

I have two of these Beach Boy radios in my collection. I include them because I think they look nice, and they do justice to the retro look. Yes, they are modern, but I don't mind. The two I have don't have a logo. These radios were made in various configurations. I include a picture:

I picked up a repo GE cathedral a few years back and at the end of it I couldn't stand it in the house anymore. Yours on the other hand I could definitely live with. And with the current trend climbing up the later into the 70's and 80's stuff who knows it might increase in value. Very neat radio regardless what decade it came from.

Ken

I bought one ( forget what year ) at radio shack new for 9.95 on sale . I think they are dorky and out of proportion looking . It was a real poor preformer . I have seen these all over ebay for several years .

Some people collect retro-replicas as a hobby. When you display a collection of this sort of stuff, it often looks fairly impressive. I somehow wound up with a collection of Thomas and Crosley '30's cathedral and tombstone replicas. I had them on display at work for several years. Most visitors didn't realize they were fake until I pointed out a few things like having an FM band and a cassette player on the side.

Dave

I have one of the "Beach Boy" sets, with the word, Transistor, emblazoned at the top of the bezel (the styling is copied from the Realtone TR-1088 "Comet"); terrible AM reception. Looks cute and retro, but that's about all it's good for, lol.

I Also have a "Studebaker"; they go for more $, and are worth it. Very good AM receivers.

I think these came in at least six colors. At least, that's all I've been able to find:

http://home.comcast.net/~btse1/vintrad/transistors/beachboy.htm

Tom

The color I have isn't pictured in the link. Mine is like a carmel color and has that marbelized pattern on the front, so maybe there was more than six put out there.