1957 GE P-715/716
Portable radio, aluminum cabinet
6 7/8 x 3 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches / 174 x 89 x 38 mm
Six transistors, two 1.5-volt AA cells or two rechargeable ni-cad cells
Made by General Electric Corp., USA
The most distinctive thing about this radio is that it has an all-metal cabinet (extruded aluminum, "gold"-anodized), and because of that, it required the ferrite rod antenna to be somehow outside the cabinet body. The solution was to provide a cut-out area along the top back edge of the cabinet where the antenna could be housed in plastic (see photo below) — a compact and unobtrusive solution, and also much less memorable than Motorola's bulky plastic antenna-handles used on its many aluminum cabinet models.
This radio also came as a P-716, the only difference being the 716's plaid design on its speaker grille and a black leather or leatherette area surrounding the on/off/volume knob and the tuning dial. And GM Delco's 1959 Buick 'Transistor Portable' uses the same extruded aluminum cabinet scheme as the GE P-715/716, though a bit bigger in depth and height.
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