1958 Bulova "Hercules" 660 series
Coat pocket radio, thermoplastic cabinet
5 3/4 x 3 1/2 x 1 5/8 / 146 x 89 x 41 mm
Eight transistors (all TI?), four 1.5v AA cells
Manufactured by Zenith Radio Corp.; Chicago, IL
Distributed by Bulova Watch Corp., Woodside, New York
A truly beautiful radio worthy of selling in jewelry stores, which is just where Bulova radios were sold. The entire face is gold in color, and the handle is brass or brass-colored. The metallic speaker grille is an extremely unique grid of elongated diamond shapes overlaying a mottled black-and-gold fabric. The black cabinet body on this example is perfect as a backdrop to the gold metallic face. On an antiquesradios.com post, Bulovafetish notes that the 660 series was the last Bulova transistor radio made in the US. And I'd really love to know why Bulova chose to name a radio, "Hercules"!
The Bulova 660 chassis is very similar to later Zenith 500's chassis in general -- and actually, the Bulova chassis was made by Zenith: see the side-by-side photo below. One thing the Bulova is missing is vernier tuning. All the transistors I could identify are Texas Instruments transistors, tightly tucked among the other chassis components -- maybe some I can't see in there are not TI transistors.
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