The N.Z. Vintage Radio Project

This reasonably scarce transistor radio is the only portable Bell Colt style set. It used a 9V battery mounted directly (albeit upside down) on the chassis, while every other known model was designed for 230V AC.  The old-style large brick 9V battery was held onto the connector using elastic straps that ran through holes in the chassis.

Some had a push-to-light arrangement on the tuning shaft for the dial lamp to help conserve battery life although the photographed model has no dial light at all so this was possibly either a later modification, an early but unreliable mod or perhaps there were two versions.

Interestingly the Columbus Radio Centre advert suggests it was made especially for them, which is possible given Radio Corp and the Columbus brand were wound up by Pye the year previous, and Columbus Radio Centres were now owned by Robert Francis Ltd, a music store chain based in Christchurch.

An interesting ommission in the cabinets - blue is not advertised as an available colour. Also note the push-on plastic knobs appear to have metal inserts in the advert.

The schematic shown below is for the Transette, a model with a very similar looking chassis

The Bell Colt All Transistor is part of the 'Bell Colt' series.

There is considerable information on the main Bell Colt page about this long-running Kiwi icon.

 

Bell Colts ran from 1951 through until 1980 - the longest running model of NZ built domestic radio.  It saw many different engineering changes over the years, and the last few models dropped valves in favour of new transistor technology.

Please note that not all radios shown in this series were known as Colt's - the Planet, the Mercury etc were models in their own right - but they have a Colt chassis in them and so are included here as part of the wider Bell Colt dynasty.

The items in this series are

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1951 Bell Colt
Main Information Page

1951 Bell Colt Original

c. 1953 Skymaster Colt

1953 Rolax Colt

1954 Bell Colt 5B4

1954 Bell Oak Mantle

1955 Bell Colt 5B5

1956 Bell Planet
Colt

1956 Bell model 5D5
Mercury

1957 Bell Explorer
Colt 5W7

c. 1957 Bell Colt 3B7 Champ
Colt

c. 1958 Bell Colt Cadet

1960 Bell Colt 5B60

c. 1961 Bell Colt All Transistor

1964 Fountain OA
Marine Band

1967 Bell Colt 5B67

c. 1968 Bell Solid State Colt

c. 1975 Bell Solid State Colt Mk III