1959 Hitachi TH-666
Shirt pocket radio, thermoplastic cabinet
3 15/16 x 2 3/8 x 1 11/32 inches / 100 x 60 x 34 mm
Six transistors, one diode (Hitachi: 2N215, 2 x 2N217, 2 x 2N218, 2N219, 1N34A), one 9-volt battery
Manufactured by Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo
For most radio cabinets, white is my least favorite color -- but here it's pretty gorgeous. I really wasn't much of a fan of the 666 until I got this one. Hitachi called the color combo, "Silver and Pearl". For some reason, there are no CD marks on the dial, nor on others that I've seen.
Hitachi's claim (see the brochure images below) that the TH-666 was the smallest shirt pocket transistor radio of its time can only be true if the TH-666 had been released before the 1958 Sony TR-610, which has a slightly smaller cabinet volume than the TH-666. Alan Kastner has confirmed that the TH-666 was released after the Sony TR-610, making the brochure text's boast pure hooey, and he adds, "Hitachi would never get away with claiming that were today’s advertising laws in place at the time". And by my own reckoning, there were likely several other radios smaller in cabinet volume that may also have pre-dated the 666, such as the Standard SR-D210, produced at the beginning of 1959.
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