This sinister Toshiba 7TP-303A was manufactured in Japan in 1961. It is a fascinating design that is alive with religious symbology. Flip it upside down and it could easily grace the dark altar at a secret assembly of the Freemasons…! The big ‘V’ is an ancient sign that was a symbol of Satanic benediction during Masonic rituals, or so says some religious fanatic on the web… Oh you bad bad radio!!
It is nicknamed the ‘Cats Eye’ for obvious reasons….
This crazy Toshiba 7TP-303A is simply out of this world! It looks almost alien and would be right at home on Mars or wrapped in the slimy green tentacles of some menacing space creature from a 60’s B grade movie. Speaking of movies, you might have seen it recently blazing atop Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings…
This Toshiba 7TP-303A is certainly unique looking and from a design aspect it has a lot going on! Check out the impressive reverse painted face featuring a malevolent cats’ eye tuning dial! It also features a large silver chevron on the speaker grill framing the ‘7’ which stands for ‘7 transistors’ of course. Or is that ‘Transistor 7’? Well that’s how it reads on the face of the radio….
This Toshiba Cats Eye is bonkers! It has a manufacturing date of February 1961. The date of manufacture was obtained from the serial number code! The EVIL serial number code….
To learn more about dating Japanese transistor radios refer to Alan Kastner’s excellent site ‘Radio Wallah’!