Real Cool Duals – The BumpereX

The 1950’s was an innocent time. Things were simple. Easy. Safe. It’s a cliche point of view that we’ve all read time after time. I didn’t live in the period, so who am I to argue? No one.

However, my perspective of the time was blemished when I started collecting old transistor radios. It was an arms race of sorts in the 1950’s and 60’s. The radio with the most transistors won. Greed got the best of the infant electronic makers and it wasn’t long before trickery was placed into practice.

“The New Zenith 7 Radio. Pocketable. Brilliant. Its 7 transistors defy comparison!”

Of course, things weren’t as they seemed. Sure, the Zenith had seven transistors onboard, but only three were actually functional. The other four were simply faked. Screw honesty… This is an arms race!

Even so, I love the gimmicks of the period. Even if they are blatantly dishonest, there is something pure and simple about them. And, hell, many of them were honest-to-goodness gimmicks with a purpose! Case in point – “The BumpereX.”

Check em out: