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This is a beautiful 1938 Zenith12-S-265 radio. It has a 12 tube chassis, robot dial, motor drive and works fine on AM, I did not test shortwave. The robot dial, also known as ashutter dial,was Zenith\'s ingenious way of displaying the 3 bands. Instead of having a single busy dial where you have to search for the band desired, the bands on this radio move out to the side, showing another singleband that is playing behind the glass. so you turn knob and three dials to pick from. really cool and when you show someone they are amazed. Keep in mind I only got AM to work, I believe others are shortwave, I do get static on those and seems to try and find stations, but I am assuming need very long antenna or maybe internally fine tuned, I do not know. AM is loud and clear.
The owner had the wood restored years ago he claims at a cost of $850. see pictures, it sure is nice.
The serial number is R249038 so I believe from 1938. There is a small paper label with model 12S265.
Few strands of grill cloth are starting to get loose at very bottom of grill, minor, but trying to mention everything.
Has motor drive quickly gets the pointer from one end of the dial to the other. You don\'t have to take the time to spin the knob if the desired station is on the other end of the dial. The motor drive gets you across the dial quickly in either direction. However when you turn the motor drive knob it hums but does not work, It may indeed be a simple enough repair, I do not know. You can manually tune fine.
This radio works very well and has that great sound Zenith\'s are famous for. The eye tube is bright and works well. The wood \"Z\" knobs are originalas well as I believe is thespeaker. Speaker is marked Zenith. The original dial is as nice as can be found. This is a very nice 1938 Zenith radio!
The I think original antenna is included but not mounted, it is rough. That is the only thing rough, see the last picture. I believe when he had it restored years ago he decided not to use that antenna. But as you can see the radio is wonderful. see pictures, I tested it with just a piece of wire and alligator clip. You may want to use original antenna if you know how it should mount or buy a cool ornate one on .?
I have never seen a floor model Zenith this nice, come see. I will not ship, you are welcome to send a truck, I will help load. But I will not be involved in shipping. I prefer someone to pickup and inspect and see in person. The radio tunes and gets AM fine to me, picks up some of theflorescentlights on certain stations as all tube radios here do. This is being sold a final sale, as is, due to age. See my responses, my thousands of followers are always happy, but this is very much like selling an antique car, a week from now a tube can go bad, etc. Again I welcome you to visit ! Located Pittsburgh Pa. open 10-6 Monday through Saturday, Closed Sundays. call [phone removed by ]. Please serious offers only. Paypal as soon as sale ends or pay in person. If weather is bad, I can store for say 10 days, but really I need the space, and is only reason I am selling. Come see it. !!
If you are a Zenith fan, or radio fan or just want a show piece for your restaurant, this is it, honestly I have never owned a nicer radio, ever. Priced to sell. Thank
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