1958 Zenith Royal 200, chassis 7AT48Z
Small portable radio, thermoplastic cabinet
6 1/2 x 4 x 1 3/4 inches / 165 x 102 x 44.5 mm
Seven transistors (Zenith), four 1.5-volt AA cells
Manufactured by Zenith Radio Corp.; Chicago, Illinois
One of my favorite Zenith radios, with a tuning dial plate in the style of a 1950's automobile speedometer. The Royal 200 is bigger than the 500 series radios or the Royal 300, more the size of Emerson's 888 and 988 radio cabinets. The dial plate on the Zenith 200 is really susceptible to scuffs and scratches, and few examples found today are free of them. I bought this example because of its lack of scuffs and also because its "Charcoal" black cabinet contrasts so well against the gold tuning area. And I'm convinced that, as with many radios I've gotten on eBay, this Royal 200 is in nearly-new condition only because it must have spent its whole life in its leather carrying case.
I'm calling the cabinet, "thermoplastic", a broad term that includes ABS and nylon, because even though it feels like nylon, a solvent test show that it's not. Also, the cabinet walls are more the thickness of ABS than the thinner walls of nylon cabinets. So maybe it's ABS, but it doesn't feel like ABS.
All seven transistors in this set were made by Zenith. The numbers I can see looking at the transistors themselves, not the label, are: 12191, 12192, 12193, 12194, 12195, and 2 x 12196, which are Zenith parts numbers rather than standard 2N numbers.
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