Post by trombone on Nov 18, 2021 20:01:37 GMT 12
Hi Everyone,
There seems to be general agreement that that first New Zealand made car radios were those produced by Autocrat after the Second World War.
But John Stokes, writing in the 15 - 4 Bulletin on the evolution of the car radio mentions two other intriguing possibilities.
He mentions a radio called a Sonomatic as being possibly N.Z. made but gives few other details. I have the feeling that "Sonomatic" may be an American trade name for one of their radios, possibly Buick but that would not have stopped an N.Z. manufacturer from pirating the name. It seems such piracy was not uncommon then.So has anyone heard of,worked on or know about this brand as an N.Z. product?Steve Dunford has done some clever research to find several advertisements offering "Sonomatic" radios for sale around this time but none proclaim "proudly New Zealand made" unfortunately.
The second possibility Stokes hints at is in his handwritten addendum to his own article in the 15 - 4 Bulletin where he mentions Radio Ltd as having produced two sets in 1939 listed as Models DD and DE.Looking through the models listed on my NZVRS Circuit file under Radio Ltd there is a thundering silence around the letters DD and DE.But the kind folk who run our library have gone an extra mile and discovered in the late Ernie Hakanson's lists for Radio Ltd mention made of Model DD and DE radios and of their being car radios. Sadly there are no further details or circuits attached.
Can any one throw any further light on this question ?
Cheers,
Trombone
There seems to be general agreement that that first New Zealand made car radios were those produced by Autocrat after the Second World War.
But John Stokes, writing in the 15 - 4 Bulletin on the evolution of the car radio mentions two other intriguing possibilities.
He mentions a radio called a Sonomatic as being possibly N.Z. made but gives few other details. I have the feeling that "Sonomatic" may be an American trade name for one of their radios, possibly Buick but that would not have stopped an N.Z. manufacturer from pirating the name. It seems such piracy was not uncommon then.So has anyone heard of,worked on or know about this brand as an N.Z. product?Steve Dunford has done some clever research to find several advertisements offering "Sonomatic" radios for sale around this time but none proclaim "proudly New Zealand made" unfortunately.
The second possibility Stokes hints at is in his handwritten addendum to his own article in the 15 - 4 Bulletin where he mentions Radio Ltd as having produced two sets in 1939 listed as Models DD and DE.Looking through the models listed on my NZVRS Circuit file under Radio Ltd there is a thundering silence around the letters DD and DE.But the kind folk who run our library have gone an extra mile and discovered in the late Ernie Hakanson's lists for Radio Ltd mention made of Model DD and DE radios and of their being car radios. Sadly there are no further details or circuits attached.
Can any one throw any further light on this question ?
Cheers,
Trombone
