Silvertone 7181 Restoration - Part 1

For this radio, I may do something a little different than a traditional restoration. First off though, I had to identify which model this was, and that was no easy task. With only a picture and a brand name, I started my search online. Google gave me nothing but links to Silvertone amplifier and guitar sites. I did finally find a site where a father-son team restores old Silvertone radios. I emailed them and after telling them what I had, the model number of the chassis and the types of tubes in the receiver, they told me this was model number 7181. The next day I verified this through my online post to the Philco forum. Another hobbyist told me the tube selection was unique to this model from Sears. I have yet to find a picture however of another one. Strange, huh? Well I ordered the electrical schematics for $10 online through another hobbyist’s website and I’m still waiting for him to email the document to me.

The cabinet was painted black sometime ago, which may have looked ok wherever it was, but it’s not authentic. I really would love to strip the paint off of this and see what’s hiding underneath. I also promised the antique store where I bought it from that I would send to them pictures when I was finished, so I want to show them a dramatic change.

While surfing eBay one day last week I saw a radio where someone had hooked up a connection to be able to play your iPod though the radio. That would be a really great idea I think. So I got to thinking about restoring the cabinet and then installing an mp3 station player inside using the chassis as an amplifier to get some really great sound out of it. Of course the dials wouldn’t work on the front of the cabinet; they would really just be for on-off-volume. Maybe I could hook up a remote to it to scroll through the selections. The possibilities are endless.