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Wurlitzer Serial #'s and Estimated Production - Tomszone.com ...
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Jun 26, 2002 - 1940-1962 Speaker Serial Numbers & Production. Wurlitzer Jukebox Serial #'s & Production 1934-1950. Serial Number.
History of the 1018.
The Wurlitzer 1015 became a big hit in 1946. Wurlitzer had to call a halt to the production of jukeboxes due to the war in order to produce important war products such as radar components.
The engineers, especially designer Paul Fuller, had continued to work on new jukebox models over this period. The result was called the "1015". Between 1946 and 1947, 56,000 of these machines were built and sold in just 18 months. The exceptional design of the "1015" had made it possibly the most attractive jukebox of all time. In all events, it was sold more than any other model in the 20th century. The "golden era" of the jukebox continued into the first post war years.
The "Silver era" of Jukeboxes began around 1950. The design was changed, the 45 single made inroads, and the selection from 100 titles became standard. Jukeboxes with shiny chrome and magical lighting began to be produced. They became a fascinating focal point in any bar or caf?. In 1956,Wurlitzer produced their first jukebox with a selection of 200 titles perfectly timed for its 100th company anniversary, the Wurlitzer 2000.
By the end of the Fifties much of the earlier classic styling had been lost. Tooling costs to produce new models each year and compete with rival jukebox manufactures, had weakened the company and the jukebox boom years where coming to an end.
Wurlitzer continued to produce jukeboxes throughout the Sixties and early Seventies, but never in the numbers of better times. The visual play machines had gone and boxy cabinet designs where the order of the day. In a last ditch attempt to revitalise their dwindling market the company looked back to their Paul Fuller creations for inspiration and came up with a nostalgia model for 1974, the 1050. It did not prove to be a popular model and sounded the ***** knoll for Wurlitzer who ceased manufacturing jukeboxes in the USA the same year.
The name Wurlitzer lived on as they had set up a German subsidiary (Deutsche Wurlitzer) in the early Sixties to accommodate a booming European market. The German factory continued to manufacture jukeboxes and supply jukeboxes worldwide as well as it's range of high quality vending machines.
Some 40 years after the Paul Fuller design of the 1015, Wurlitzer started production in 1986 of the "One More Time" nostalgia jukebox, a recreation of the legendary 1946 model but with modern technology. This proved to be very successful and in 1990 the "One More Time" CD model was introduced.
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