Most Recognized Vintage Radio: Fada 1000 "Bullet" or "Streamliner" - made in 1946 from Blue Swirled Catalin, All Original Serviced and Working

In a Nutshell
It's green - she says, it's blue - I says, and as always we are both right (see techies)

Introduction:
The Fada "Bullet" (or "Streamliner") not only is Fada's most recognized catalin radio, it's their most famous radio in general, and it may well be the quintessential vintage radio of all times. Its contour on the left is representing "The Radio" the same way as the dog on the right is representing "Pablo Picasso". The radio for sale is the 1946 post-war model 1000 in its first version with octal tubes and in the most collectible color lapis lazuli blue (see techies). The design of the radio goes back to 1941, when its first version came out as model 115. An excellent account of this radio can be found in refs.1 and 2, and questions around catalin are treated in ref.3.
F.A.D.A. represents the intitials of its founder Frank Angelo D'Andrea [1888 - 1965], a difficult character, who however may be himself responsible for the brilliant design of this radio - I am not aware of connections to one of the more prominent representatives of the Streamline Moderne design of the 1930's: Norman Bel Geddes, Walter Dorwin Teague, Henry Dreyfuss and Raymond Loewy.

Additional information:
ref.1: John Sideli, Classic Plastic Radios of the 1930s and 1940s, New York, 1990, p.69 ff
ref.2: http://antiqueradio.org/fada1000.htm
ref.3: http://www.maarc.org/Articles/Catalin_Corner/catalin_corner.htm

About my radio:
The radio is in mint condition and has all original parts, including all its butterscotch aged trims, its speaker cloth, dial lens, and back plane with FA-DA-SCOPE loop antenna. The cabinet has no cracks, hairlines, chips, scratches or heat burns, the chassis with speaker, dial and dial lens are original and in excellent condition too. The only new part is the power cord. The radio plays nicely (see movie by clicking on thumbnail 34), with extremely good sensitivity and selectivity, due to its sixth (RF) tube added in later models. Please e-mail me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.

For the techies:
Have a look at picture 35. This is how I bought the radio - the typical dull brown, catalin radios of almost any color finally turn into, when they get old. The phenolic formaldehyde resin, which is the chemical composition of catalin, under the influence of UV light, develops a layer of phenyl alcohol at light-exposed surfaces. Phenyl alcohol is yellow-brown and itself an excellent sun screen. This is why the surface layer remains very thin and thus can be easily removed, with any plastic cleaner of your choice. Because of its gem-like appearance catalin colors often have names like alabaster (white), onyx (light green), jade (green), ruby (maroon), lapis lazuli (blue). Red is called oxblood or tomato, and brown is called walnut, though. There is no butterscotch, because this color is the result of ageing alabaster. It is the only color that collectors prefer to see aged. All others profit greatly from polishing.
The known colors for the 1941 prewar model 115 and the 1946 post-war model 1000 are: all alabaster - alabaster with red - onyx with alabaster - ruby-like maroon with alabaster and blue lapis lazuli with alabaster. No green version was produced. When starting to polish the radio (by hand, of course), it started to turn from dull brown to olive green and then to the blue-green you see it now. I stopped polishing before it would turn back to lapis lazuli with alabaster, because of the butterscotch swirls, that look so much better than white. So, this is why my wife is right - saying this radio is green - and me too - saying it's blue. The more blue parts are at the bottom (pict.19) and inside (pict.22), which were less exposed to (UV-) light. Moreover the appearance is dependent on the lighting conditions. Take pictures 15 and 16 that show the same top of the radio under different lightings. Just in case you prefer the "before" dull brown look of pict.35: place the radio at a bright daylight location and leave it there for a year or so - it will slowly return to that look.

Here are the specifications:

Please have a look at more radios, phonographs and gramophones  here
Here we go to  my eBay auctions (stay tuned)
and here to  my craigslist ads (stay tuned)
and here to my usedvancouver shop
and here to my website (permanently under construction)

Thank you for viewing