[AMRadio] SP200/BC1004

[CL in NC]

Does anybody know the history of a SP200/BC1004 with unpainted front, just clear coat, with black color in the engravings? I've seen gray ones and black ones, but not bare metal.  It has the original cabinet with it with the top and bottom trim strips.

This is not one that somebody stripped, under the name plate it is bare metal and the screws on it have never been removed as far as i can tell.   I painted it black at the request of the buyer, but after he backed out, I stripped it down again. Since it was a bit rough, some rust had etched a couple spots, I tried gray wrinkle, didn't like it, was considering plain gray, but after chemically removing the deep rust sanding did not get, went back and clear coated it with satin so you don't get blinded when a lamp shines on it.  It is a very easy rig to work on.  Needed to get into the RF deck to remove bad caps, and after removing 12 screws, and unsoldering 9 wires, the whole deck came right out.  Of course the front panel was already off.  The wires were just inserted in their appropriate terminal strips or tube socket pins and soldered, they were not wrapped around, so they just slid right out. The chassis even had little half moon cutouts so the wires
 and grommets of the RF deck passed through the chassis without hang up. 

So were unpainted SP200's common when new?

Charlie, W4MEC in NC