Ekco Gondola RM204

AEI Ekco, Ediswan-Ekco (Aust.) Pty. Ltd.; Sydney, NSW

These were released in 1958 following an U.S. anti-trust case that required General Electric to exit the Australian market. Up until this time AEG (Australian General Electric, later to be known as Australian Electrical Industries) was owned jointly by General Electric in the USA and Associated Electrical Industries in the UK. All the radios sold by AGE/AEI were made by AWA and sold under the names of 'Bandmaster' or 'Hotpoint'. Once G.E. had divested it's Australia opperations AGE/AEI became a wholly owned subsiduary of AEI in the UK. The UK company EDISWAN-EKCO was also owned by Associated Electrical Industries Ltd in the UK. This company set up a factory to make radios and TVs in Sydney at Villawood and was known as EDISWAN-EKCO (Aust) Pty Ltd. Despite one million pounds of money being poured into the operation, few EKCO radio models were made in Australia. They soon ran into difficulties and closed down together with many TV set manufacturers in the hectic years after the introduction of TV to Australia. Pye took over the television factory. Major companies such as Astor (itself later to be taken over by Philips), AWA, and HMV  with major overseas backing were to prevail until tarrifs were removed in 1973.   

This example was sitting forelornly at the end of the Melbourne Radiofest in September 2023. This is surprising geven that a complete set of colours was also sold on the weekend.

It's a very basic set, it looks quite empty inside. It is not working, but hums. I paid well under $100 for it. Is it because it's grey?

More F#cking Gondolas - John Cleese as narrator in Away From It All - 1979