Alvis TA14 Mulliners Saloon Restoration

[Mash]

I've sometimes taken a break and done other bits and pieces.





Ply backing for the boot



This radio was original spec and is listed in the parts catalog so when a reconditioned one came up for a reasonable price I snapped it up.



I spent a day a week back at my high school turning new phosphor bronze bushes on the lathe and renewing other elements of the brake system. It's all girling rods and linakages which makes it a bit more involved to repair but looks great seeing all the parts of it working as they should

[JPB]

Someone made a lovely job of the cabinet on the Philips, last time I saw an example of that set, it was at the bottom of a pile that were awaiting attention:

[pryantcc]

Lovely work Mash! Keep it up, great to see all your progress!!

[Mash]

They seem quite hard to find, i've only seen the one you pointed out and another that turned up on ebay while ago. They're actually made by Ecko and are the CR32 model. It's quite fun as it picks up stations from europe and on a good day, even america. To tune it, you use a peg that goes in and connects to something so once you've set it, it's not very easy to change

[suffolkpete]

They're actually made by Ecko and are the CR32 model.

To be pedantic, it's Ekco, short for E K Cole. Slightly off topic, but does anyone know where I can get a set of push button tops for a Motorola like the third one down from the top? I've got a set like it on my Rover and they're all damaged.

[Mash]

Fair point, It has spent the last year wrapped up stored safely out of harms way so I had forgotten I didn't realise it stood for E K Cole though

[JPB]

Yep, based in Southend On Sea and makers of some weird and wacky stuff which might explain how Philips came to be in bed with them on certain projects as they too were keen on their mad chassis designs with valves arranged around the inside of a circular chassis like barrels on a radial engine, permeability tuning (little ferrite slugs diving in and out of coils instead of air-spaced varicaps) and pitch caps when everyone else was using wax.
I have sets with this same chassis in both Ekco and Philips versions, I've also had a Pye one through my hands, these from long before thae three manufacturers joined forces "officially" and started using the three brands on similar radio and TV sets that were sold through different outlets back in the days when it wasn't the done thing for retailers in the same street to compete against each other on similar items.
Had I looked at the badge properly before posting I'd have known straight off which manufacturer's badge that was, the large E in the middle being a bit of a clue!

Pete, I'll have a look in my pile of bits and see whether I have any of those Motorola preset buttons, they're the same as used by quite a few makers. Exact dimensions and a piccie of the part that fits onto the steel prong beneath would help.

[suffolkpete]

. Exact dimensions and a piccie of the part that fits onto the steel prong beneath would help.

There is no part that fits on the steel prong. This could explain why I can't pull the button out to pre-set the tuning.

[Mash]

Ah interesting, I do like the sound of these old sets, the valves definitely provide a warmth that isn't often matched by transistor radios. I also have a HMV radiomobile 100 radio as a backup, that really is a nice radio and very clearly picks up american stations on long wave, I had it set up in the garage to listen to while working on the Alvis for a while but feared for it's safety. It's in need of a little tlc though, all original and still with it's positive and negative plugs which go in the power supply to easily switch the polarity.

[JPB]

American stations on long wave

Most strange! The Americans never used Long Waveband other than for various military purposes and these days, although LW certainly is lively at night, stations on there will be from France, Britain and Ireland, whose RTE1 station is on 252KHz. Unless the set has the wrong valve used as LW local oscillator, which could cause some stations from the LF end of the MW band to appear on the LW band. I have encountered this on a couple of occasions when using a British DK91 in place of a 1L6 in an old Zenith Transoceanic multiband set. It sort of works as these valves do have just enough in common to provide some reception of something, but at the expense of calibration and it causes some confusing results. I love all of these old things, as the 200+ vintage radio sets (and Betamax VCRs, old TVs, record players, etc.) around my house would tend to confirm.