Antique Auto Radio info needed

[safariknut]

Went antiqing today and at a flea market found an antique auto radio.The main box mounts under the dashboard and is marked,"Firestone Air Chief".On the side are 5 red knobs marked with various frequency ranges(possibly early style pre-sets?).There is a plate that mounts to the dashboard with 9 buttons and two knobs.The knobs are connected to the main box via cables(like mini speedometer cables).There is a separate speaker that plugs to the main box.
I'm assuming it is 6 volt as it looks to be 40's era and perhaps earlier.Has anyone ever seen anything like this or know of any websites devoted to vintage radios?I'm thinking of sending it off to my ex brother-in-law who has been a radio tech for many years to have it checked out.I'm enclosing a few pics of it.any help would be greatly appreciated(but I'm not giving up any of Denise's cookies in trade for info!LOL).BTW my investment was only $10 and it is worth that as,"Shelf Art".
Ray

[safariknut]

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[safariknut]

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[safariknut]

last one

[SwitchBlade327]

no info on it, but that thing is cool as shit! if you get it working and work your painting magic on it it'll definately be badass.

[Big A]

Just turn it on and you can still hear WBAP's Saturday Night Barn Dance crackling out of that thing. Nice find.

[manyolcars]

Air Chief was started in the 1930s for GM in Australia and continued into the 1950s

[cadlights]

Here's one I have, it's out of a Packard I think. For sale of course.

[marq]

Yeah i have a real early set for my truck,it's real nice normally there were only about 3-4 companies making these things at the time so it may well have been made by motorola or another company like it.That is a real rare set you have and if it's restorable like mine when it's done it will be worth quite a nice amount,far better than the standard 50's style sets.Over in the uk they are even rarer thats why i had to get mine from America but when it's done it will be worth about £500 or $900 here.There aint nothing like the sound of a good valve radio in an old car.Theres a guy in England that can either restor or convert them to AM-FM radios just like you have in your car now but the site is quite informative it is www.radios.freeserve.co.uk (http://www.radios.freeserve.co.uk) it aint cheap but as i said a radio like that in your car that works as it should is better than 6 carbs on a hemi............Marq