A micro-console?

[Dave Allen]

Interesting little radio. Only the knobs give a clue that it's only 17" tall!

Were "U.S. Grant" radios sold at Grant's dept store?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA ... 0372949309

[joeygc67]

Grant's was W.T. Grant.
I lost count of how many names I've seen this radio sold under. It's a strangely designed set.

[err ducks]

[y2k Bruce]

[tube42]

Man that thing is freaking cool!
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[VintageTunes]

Hi All,
I agree with joeygc67....I have seen several names on this identical set.
I have three.....A Musicaire, a US Grant and a Detrola.....
they are all indentical....cases, speakers, antenna coils, chassis...all the same.
not bad performers...
they were very unique so I started looking and collecting.
I would think that this one is priced about right....
a good, clean radio with a unique design for under a hundred bucks.
If I did not already have one, I would have snapped that one up.
the front case is usually slightly discolored and has spider cracks near the curves...
its kind of a strange design...the outside plastic is clear, the inside is sort of a butterscotch color and they are sandwiched together. You can actually take them apart and clean in between them and polish the outside one up.
I like 'um

jeff
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"nothing is so amusingly naive as a young man rediscovering an old Idea and calling it his own"

[Richmond Designs]

[Mr. Detrola]

It's a Detrola 576, which is one of their more common postwar models, branded with the US Grant logo, which makes it a relatively scarce radio. Just like most of the other postwar Detrola products, 576's were made with more than 50 different brand names, however this one was supposedly never sold to the public.

What I have learned over the years is that these were specially ordered by the US Grant Hotel, in San Diego, California, for use in their rooms. Apparently at some time in the late 70's or 80's, over a period of several years, the hotel began remodeling the rooms and removed the radios. One earlier eBay seller stated that his father used to work at the US Grant Hotel and some of the employees were going into the dumpster to retrieve the discarded radios. Every once in a while one shows up on eBay or at a radio show, but there can't be many of them around today. The total production run of these wouldn't have been much higher than the number of rooms at the hotel allowing for a few spares in case any were damaged or stolen.

They are very good playing radios, in addition to having a unique look. It's difficult to find any 576 where the plastic insert at the top front is in perfect condition. This model could be one of the last "tombstone" designs to be made, it was never intended to be a miniature version of a console according to former Detrola employees.
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Dennis

[Dave Allen]

.....inactive.....

Thank you. Whoever.

[gary rabbitt]

Hi,
A friend had one of these with the name like Kentucky Co-Op on it, so there are many names for this Detrola set.
The guy who sold it to him said it was a 'salesman's sample'. Yeah right. We filled him in on what it really was.

[glasdave]

Hard to stay upright with a 3" foot
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Stumbling through the hobby since 1967.