CB DAZE

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

CRAZY PRICES ON VINTAGE CB's
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It comes in waves....waves of money that is, and each time I say to myself "I can't believe these prices", I end repeating that same mystified quote over and over again!
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Sometimes you can see why the rig sold for a very high price, like this Poly-comm Pro, which has to

be one of the nicest I've seen. Most Poly's show their age, and if you find one that looks good cosmetically, sometimes the "Guts" appear as if they were left out in the rain...for a couple decades.

But this one has it all, inside and out, and the final auction

price was $330 + shipping, which compared to my next example is a good deal! I know, you're wondering, "THAT'S a good deal??" But I guess you'll have to trust the 'ol Woodster on that.

EXAMPLE NUMBER 2

MIDLAND 78-999

Now we're jumping ahead a decade or so to a 40ch solid-state am/ssb Base Station. I've heard wonderful things about this rig from current and past owners, although I've never actually owned or operated one myself, but this is where the good deal / bad deal comes into play. While the Midland is relatively hard to find, it is a fairly modern

rig (compared to the Poly-Comm), so you would expect to find more of these in nice condition as opposed to a tube rig. Yet the 78-999 sold for $360 + shipping! If you're looking for something new to use today, then you'd probably buy this, but for a collector, the Poly-Comm Pro (in the above condition) is a far better investment.

EXAMPLE NUMBER 3

EFJ Gold Award Messenger III

As most of you know, whenever a CB

had gold plating, or even a microphone like the D-104 "Golden Eagle", they looked good for several years, but a quarter of a century or more later, it's hard to find one that looks like it just came off the assembly line. Here is such a rig. Recently on Ebay, this E.F.Johnson "Gold Award" Messenger III sold for a whopping $560!! Not bad for an AM-only mobile rig.

EXAMPLE NUMBER 4

Lafayette Telsat SSB-140

This r

ig is a favorite in several different respects: There is a hardcore Lafayette collector bunch out there (I'd include myself in that group), so anything marked Lafayette, and ecspecially "boxed" is desirable, and it also has a good reputation for being a solid rig - something a person would want as a daily user radio. Once aga

in, the pricing is not what you would expect. For instance, if I had to rate them, I'd pick the Poly-Comm Pro as the highest price, next in line the Gold Messenger III, followed by the Lafayette SSB-140 in the box, next, and last but not least, the Midland 78-999. But, go figure...

THE BLUNDER THAT MADE YA WONDER

I think every company has made a blunder of some sorts. I suppose you could rate them on a scale of 1-to-10 (1=hardly noticable vs. 10=like a thumb in the eye). When someone asks me what the biggest marketing blunder was, usually Coca-Cola's decision to ditch the old Coke for the "New Coke" comes to mind, but not far behind that was Cobra's "Plus" Series of radios. Not only were they ugly, but reportedly a bear to repair as well!

Cobra, as a rule, started to put profit over quality, usually picking the lowest bid from a manufacturer. That manufacturer was then blessed with slapping a Cobra name on the radio. I don't think you see many of these forsale (compared to their usual line)because there aren't many that still work. Nonetheless, the mistake was made, and corrected shortly thereafter.