TRANSISTOR RADIO DESIGN

This offbeat Arvin 61R16 ‘Checkmark’ was manufactured in the USA in 1961. Although it was made in the USA it uses Japanese parts inside. In the late 1950’s American manufacturers started to use Japanese parts in their shirt pocket radios in an effort to lower prices. American companies simply could not compete with the cheap parts and labor that went into Japanese sets. By the end of 1963 there were no American shirt pocket sets being made with all-American parts.

Ref: ‘The Portable Radio In American Life'  by Schiffer

This little Arvin 61R16 also goes by the moniker of ‘Checkmark’ amongst collectors. It features a deep gold V/checkmark that cuts deep into the plastic speaker grill! The cabinet color is officially known as ‘Mint Green’ and it also came in ‘Red’ and ‘Black Pearl’.

The CD marks are oddly positioned at the bottom of the tuning dial and need to be lined up with a vertical line running through its center. These little marks are more commonly found between the 6 & 7 and the 10 & 16.

The gift box for this Arvin is not the usual cardboard offering; it is made of high gloss plastic! Stamped with ‘Arvin’ in gold on black it is a very elegant vessel for a very classy radio. It has a queer (pardon the pun) gold insert in the lid of the box, very quaint and indicative of another age…

The radio also comes with a leather case, an old earphone and an Arvin cleaning cloth!
 

Made in the USA is marked on the back and ‘Japan’ is clearly marked inside on the speaker.