1939 Canadian RCA A-20 Globe Trotter Radio Design John Vassos
Very Rare 5-tube SW Radio Model A-20 "Globe Trotter", made by Canadian RCA Victor in 1939, in cabinet attributed to John Vassos, near mint condition
In a Nutshell
This is the fifth A-20 Globe Trotter radio I restored, some having been documented in refs.1 and 3
Introduction:
The Canadian General Electric Co., Ltd., and the RCA Victor Co., Montreal were important centers of radio development and production in Canada during the 1930's. In preparation for the 1939 World's Fair "Building The World Of Tomorrow" in New York and 4 months before the beginning of WWII, RCA came up with a series of radios designed by its chief leading consultant designer John Vassos. The first series of "The New Yorker" bakelite radios 5Q55 and 5Q56 radios was so successful that the series was expanded to include export models like this Canadian RCA Victor "Globe Trotter" model A-20. An enthusiastic account of the radio has been written by John Rose (ref.2), who found his at the Bayhead Radio Museum in Bayhead, Nova Scotia, Canada. John as well as Mark Stein in his book "Machine Age To Jet Age I" attribute the cabinet to John Vassos. The radio as many of Vassos' designs (pict.31), features chrome parts, here two vertical bars across an arched speaker cloth. The slanted dial scale, and the intricately interleaved round and sharp edges give the radio a unique and rarely seen look. The set features a wide frequency range, with expanded broadcast-band including police band, and two shortwave bands continuously covering the whole SW range from 2.3 to 22 MHz.
About my Radio:
The radio is all-original, including the still acceptable grille cloth, and the finish with several decals. I can confirm that there were at least two, but possibly more different original grille cloths fabricated. The radio still has separate antenna and ground connections, needing extension by a long wire or an external loop to receive optimally. The radio for sale here is exceptional in that it has a blue apparently factory riveted type plate that specifies "25 cycles" instead of 60Hz (pict.17), whereas the mains transformer is obviously a 60 cycles transformer. Confusing, to say the least.
The radio has been partly recapped (there is no hum and all voltages are within specifications), and a 3.5mm closed circuit cellphone adapter plug installed. The radio has been serviced and aligned. I recommend to buy it together with my General Electric JM-3 teardrop record player, to obtain a nice 1939 John Vassos group. The record player is fully documented at ref.3, and I made a youtube video about the two playing together (ref.4). Please
e-mail me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.
