Global GR-711 transistor radio vintage Japan, boxed

I think it was my discovery of THIS radio, early in 1989, that cemented in my mind that my budding collection of transistor radios was going to be about more than just the history and the technology. Clearly these things were also... art.

This is perhaps Global's most commonly found transistor radio model, but obviously there is nothing at all "common" about the way it looks. With its uniquely-shaped grille, shapely and underpainted top, and kinked handle that also serves as a stand, it is an absolute delight. Amazingly, this radio came in three distinctly different versions with three different cabinets made from different molds. The cabinet parts are of slightly different sizes on the three versions and parts are not interchangeable. And... these three versions contained three different chassis inside as well. This book goes all into these different versions--and even shows a version of this radio with the Zephyr name on it and an easel stand on the back.

I got this one with a group of a dozen or so just like it. I bought them out of the trunk of someone's car and was told they came from a warehouse--from clearing out a warehouse. What warehouse they couldn't--or wouldn't--say. All the radios in that group were new with their boxes but... had a slightly used vibe about them--a little wear on the box, a scuff or two on the radio. This one has wear at the handle mounts and at the coin slot. Oh, and none of the radios in the group worked. That's unusal--that not a one of them worked. So I figured they were all customer returns and rather than being repaired or sent back to the factory in Japan, they were just stored somewhere and forgotten. Though my purchase of these things happened many years ago, these kinds of stories can give us all hope that such warehouse finds can.. conceivably.. still happen.

This isn't the most deluxe box ever to come out of Japan, but it's not bad. It opens in a backwards sort of way but I think this is so it will look right when folded around and set up for display. I'm not going to fold it up like that and I'm sorry if that disappoints, but a thing in this condition needs to stay in this condition, if I can help it. The instructions are as plain and simple as can be. Just a little folder with a teeny tiny schematic diagram on the back and an even teenier tiny parts list. A magnifying glass would help, but I think you'd really need a microscope.

Six transistors.. Made in Japan. Here's another tiny schematic diagram inside the back. And the chassis--circuit board side out. This board-out design discouraged owners, especially the young ones, from fiddling with the parts inside their radio. Some of us, however, had soldering irons and could convince ourselves that what this radio needed was a reheat of some of those solder joints. And why would we think the radio needed that? Because... we had a soldering iron.

Of the three versions of this radio that I mentioned, this is the smallest one, though it's hard to tell with the naked eye, even when they're side by side. One of the clues mentioned in that book is that the smallest one is the only one to have external screws visible on the sides near the top... as we see here.

The beautiful and shapely six-transistor Global GR-711. The technique of underpainted plastic is one of my favorite things on a product, and as you can see, this radio does that exceptionally well.

#transistorradio #antiques #collectibles #transistor #1950s #1960s #Global #Zephyr