TRANSISTOR RADIO DESIGN

AFCO was founded in 1937 in Oakland California. After World War II AFCO formed trade ties with Japan and began to export clothing and the like. During the late 1950’s AFCO began to import transistor radios from Japan which led to them becoming AFCO Electronics.

During this time AFCO distributed electronics to Wal-Mart, K-Mart and others. In 1959 AFCO began to distribute transistor radios for Matsushita Electric Corp (Panasonic). They also distributed radios for other Japanese radio manufacturers as well (see Hi-Lite YTR-601). AFCO Electronics is still going strong today!
 

This AFCO features a starburst design on the speaker grill and an unusual silver under-painted face! It has a nice little AFCO cloisonné badge below the speaker grill. When the volume knob is turned the circle visible in the little window becomes larger or smaller depending on whether the volume is increased or decreased.

This AFCO originally sold at Fred Meyer’s for $19.88! During the late 1950’s and 1960’s many Japanese shirt pocket radios were sold at large department stores like Meyers and also through Drug and Hardware Stores.
 

This AFCO MTR-831 comes with a black ‘high gloss’ gift box, leather case and foldout instruction sheet.

 HAVE A LOOK INSIDE!