The Truetone "Super Six" is an old-school transistor radio that looks an awful lot like... what?
It looks an awful lot like the Trav-Ler Super Six Power-Mite transistor radio. And there's a video of that Trav-Ler radio on this channel. This Truetone came in black and in red and, like the Trav-Ler, is primitive and a delight to look at. It's a made-in-the-USA radio and was stamped on the back in gold foil "Made in USA." On most of these radios, that gold has long since rubbed off.
The reason it looks so much like the Trav-Ler is that Trav-Ler made it. And Trav-Ler also made a version of this radio for the folks at Sonora. And those are pretty rare. But the rarest of the lot is, I suppose, the CBS version. Yes, CBS. The Columbia Broadcasting System. CBS wanted to be RCA so bad.
Here's the case for this radio. "Leatherette" they used to call this, but it's just vinyl pretending to be leather.
The Truetone brand belonged to Western Auto--and that's where this radio was sold, in a Western Auto store, along with the Western Flyer bikes and a HUGE variety of all you can imagine. Check out my video on Western Auto to take a virtual tour through their Spring catalog flyer, 1962.
The reason you see the Wizard brand listed as the preferred battery replacement option is that Wizard was another of Western Auto's brands. And so you were encouraged to return to the store for your replacement batteries and, oh, while you're here... those tires you drove in on look pretty shabby--oh, and so do your clothes. How about a new washing machine. No, I'm kidding, drumming up business by insulting your customers hadn't been invented yet.
As a manufacturer, I see Trav-Ler as sort of the Studebaker of transistor radios. They were interesting--and different--just a little bit off of the mainstream. I can see where certain people would favor them. I had an uncle who was a Studebaker buyer. He liked the styling, but I think even more he just liked to support the little guy and in those days when it came to cars they were about the last little guy left. When Studebaker finally passed into oblivion in 1966, my uncle, with nowhere else to go, slid over to Ramblers. He just wasn't going to buy from the Big Three automakers. Anyway, I can see him buying a Trav-Ler radio, or better yet, a nice Truetone version from his neighborhood Western Auto store.
