Sharp GF-320 Portable Stereo (1985)

This was my Grandmother's stereo - a Sharp GF-320 AM/FM cassette AC/DC portable with detachable speakers. My mother paid about $100 for it around Christmas of 1985. It has a surprisingly good tone and volume for the small size of the speakers. Something went wrong with the cassette deck around 2003.

This was the only piece of equipment my Grandmother ever owned that she could play her own music on - surprising since she was 75 years old when she got it. Before this, she solely had a General Electric flip-clock radio and an inexpensive York transistor radio that picked up TV channels. For years I picked up big-band and easy-listening records (like Bing Crosby & Lawrence Welk) and taped them for her to play on this unit. When the cassette deck stopped functioning in '03, she gave it to me, as there were no more easy-listening stations on the air in New Orleans. I plan on getting the cassette deck working one day and finding a battery cover. This is not something I would normally collect, but it has a lot of sentimental value and is really a very decent portable stereo.