This audacious Lafayette FS-91 was manufactured in Japan circa 1960 for American company Lafayette Radio Electronics Corp. I’m unsure who manufactured this little jewel but Author Norman R Smith has a Lafayette FS-91 listed under the ‘Crown’ section of his excellent book ‘Transistor Radios 1954 – 1968’. It sure looks like the type of spectacular design that Crown would come up with.
The debut of this radio was advertised in a August 29, 1960 edition of Billboard Magazine. Lafayette called it ‘The Mighty 9’ and advertised it for $26.95. See the ad below.
Established in the 1920s, Lafayette Radio Electronics Corp was a thriving mail-order catalog business supplying electronic components to amateur radio operators across the USA. Lafayette opened their first company store in 1968 and eventually closed up shop in 1981.
