From Valves to DAB, the iconic and classic Bush radio!
Bush MB60: This is the first incarnation of the classic Bush radio which was intorduced to the British public in 1957, and is often seen in old films and TV shows. It remained a very popular radio set throughout the 1960's as model number TR82, and the chances are if you get hold of one of these radios and take the back off it (remember to take the centre screw out), you will see transistors and it will be a TR82. When removing the back off a Bush MB60, a radio dating from the late 1950's, you will actually see valves. The MB60 is a 5 valve mains/battery portable set, dating from 1957-1959. It seems that Bush was a little nervous about going for the then new transistor technology, and it was two years before they took the plunge with the successor to the MB60 the TR82 transistor set. At the time the MB60 was launched Pye Radio already had a transistor set on the market - the Pam 710 (Pam was a Pye brand name) and this was the first British transistor radio intorduced in 1956.
The batteries are no longer available for the Bush MB60 but replicas can be made to power the set up. The Bush MB60 is much more of a rare set when compared to the Bush TR82, but even more rare is the mains lead used to power these radios. The original mains lead if you can find one, is now probably worth much more than the actual radio set itself.
The Bush MB60 is a classic design, as British as they come, designed by David Ogle, and first released in 1957. When Bush Radio in 1959 decided to go into the transistor radio market with the Bush TR82B, they used the exact same case as used for the MB60. If the design is right first time don't fix it! The original design is so iconic it was brought back to life in 1997 as the TR82/97, a limited edition, sold mainly in mail order catalogues, but it was to continue in production for many years later as an Argos product (so much to the limited edition). Argos who now own the Bush brand name, and even added a DAB version of the set - the TR82DAB, which was in production along with the TR82 repro until around 2014. Not many radio designs span the decades such as this one. When you think that the original MB60 radio cabinet design hit the market in 1957 and after a very long break (of about 30 years) it was reintroduced in 1997 and then survived in production until 2014. The reproduction sets are far inferior to the quality of the original MB60 and TR82 sets, but when compared to what is available on the market today, they are not that bad, and cost much less to buy in 2014 than they did in 1957. It is also amazing to think that the later reincarnation of this radio, had a much longer life span than the original set did. All credit to David Ogle!
