Sonomatic Radio Buttons
The white plastic buttons on these 1960 Buick radios are notoriously fragile. I guess whatever chemistry they had going on in this plastic was susceptible to UV damage, so after all these years, it’s rare to see a radio without at least one button broken, and the rest ready to fail if you touch them. I read in the 1960 Buick Universe Facebook group, that guys are filling the underside cavity of the buttons with epoxy or bondo, which strengthens them enough for use. I did this to a few on my Wonderbar radio that I bought off eBay several years ago, and one letter from the radio thats in my car. I anticipated using what I had, but I would be still missing a letter “I”. Then I thought I’d try another search on eBay… this time, instead of “1960 buick radio” I searched for “Sonomatic radio” figuring somebody might have listed one not knowing what it was. BINGO! I found a 1960 Buick Sonomatic radio with ALL of it’s buttons intact. AMAZING! Got it for $60 bux shipping included. Not bad.
The buttons on my radio are trashed too The buttons on my radio are trashed too, thinking about re-creating them with Bondo or a self hardening clay. Any thoughts?