Flashback to mid-March. In the driveway after a road trip. A Drexel Motorola sitting in the back of the van. It was a very satisfying moment. Got another three channel on the cheap. Even visited a different state for the pick up. Looked at the wifey sitting next to me. I felt great. I thought she would too. Nope. She just shook her head. "That's it. You're done. No more. No more Craigslist. No more Etsy. No more road trips. No more consoles." What? Where did this come from? I thought she was cool with my obsession. Even helped me with contacting sellers. And planning the trips.
"How many consoles do you have? One in the dining room? And two in the garage?" Well, that wasn't true. Actually it was now three in the garage. "See? Four consoles! Four! What does anybody do with four stereo consoles? You're like an addict. You'll never have enough. This will keep going and going and going. You're not going to stop". Not true. There are actually only a couple consoles I would be interested in getting. Call them grails if you will - three channel grails.
But she was probably right. I had enough consoles in the garage to keep me occupied this year. Why get more? Is it the hunt? Finding a pristine artifact from a long-lost era? Or solving the puzzle and getting a console working again? Probably a little bit of all of the above. But still, she was probably right. I should step away. At least not look for any more consoles. And just work on the ones I already have.
Flash forward to the end of April. No consoles. No road trips. No Etsy. No Craigslist. Well, maybe a little Craigslist. It was during a lunch break at work. I was just doing mid century searches. Local ones. In Akron. No road trips. Then I saw it - Blonde. Atomic. Three channels. Damn. A grail.
I texted the wifey. Asked if she was free for the next hour. And if the van was empty. She texted back: "What? NO! Not another console!

" Yep. Found a new listing. And this one will be gone by the end of the day if we don't jump on it. She texted back: "I thought we agreed on no Craigslist. And no road trips". True. I did look on Craigslist. And I am an addict. But there's no road trip this time. The console's only 10 minutes away. And it's a grail.
Let's make a long story short. The wifey takes the van to a small shop in Tallmadge. Texts me. "You're right. This is a nice one. It won't last long. Do you really want it?" Yes. I really do.
So here it is. A 1959 Motorola SK28B three channel stereophonic high fidelity console with optional dealer installed AM/FM tuner (I know - its a ridiculous mouthful, but oh so true). Owners manual is included. Here are pictures, including the one the wifey took of the console in the shop and one with it still in the wife's van. This pretty lady will be jumping to the front of the line in Santa's workshop this summer

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Greg