*SongBird Logo was a registered trademark
of the Carson City Parlour Inc. of Shakopee, Minnesota . Also
known as Carson City Manufacturing, Inc. (The company is no longer
in business)
As I gather information about the SongBird Jukeboxes,
built 1989 to 1991, I will be adding links and quotes from other sites
that I run across.
General info: You'll find the SongBird in
several colors, most are in a shade of pink like the above photo.
A few may be found in red, turquoise, robin's egg blue, and white.
The standard colors were for top and bottom of "car". One could order
a white top with any of the colors as an option. Some are set up
to play 45s, others are set up for CDs. The one pictured above plays
45s. The taillights blink when turned on. There is also a light
behind the license plate and in the exhaust outlets. The taillights
take standard 57 Ford rear light lens either with or without the chrome
trim. Though the rear bumper looks like the 57 Tbird bumper, it is
of one piece construction in fiberglass. The license plate area will
take a standard license plate frame. It's lit from behind.
Each handbuilt jukebox has a unique serial number. It uses the German
NSM ES-2 mechanism for selecting the records. There are 160 selections
when all 80 slots are full. Price from the manufacturer was $4695.
When I first picked up our Songbird in 2008, I
put out a request for more information thru the Classic Thunderbird Club
International (CTCI) in their Early Bird magaznine looking for more information.
Recently I was contacted by an owner in Texas who had the white one shown
below. He had bought his brand new through a deal that Carson City
Parlour Productions (CCPP) had offered
to Classic Thunderbird owners. He sent me copies of the original
paperwork he had saved when he ordered his. The literature said that
CCPP made them for private individuals without the coin mechanism in them.
You'll note that the white model shown below does not have the holes for
the coins nor the coin return slot. He also sent along a copy of
another brochure that was produced. He also sent along an
article written about them. Price for this special edition was
$3995.
The following is an excerpt from a Jukebox
History written by Jert J. Almind.
-
"The editor will conclude this short historical
survey by mentioning, that a rather interesting design patent was granted
in England only a decade ago (1994). Stephen K. Joynes used the rear of
a Morris Mascot (the Mini) as the cabinet for a jukebox, probably well
inspired by the Songbird jukebox introduced late in 1989 by the Carson
City Manufacturing Co. in Shakopee, Minnesota (a copy of the tail section
of a classic Ford Thunderbird of 1957). "
There was a CD version pictured at Flippers.com
however it has sold.
Nostalgia Sounds.com
repairs vintage Jukeboxes and has had SongBirds in the past for sale.
Another search of the net brought up a red
SongBird. You'll enjoy the pics of the garage/playroom, too.
Some have even made it to Europe. There
was a report on the internet several years ago about an importer who brought
in 10 of them. The report indicated that the 10 did not take too
well to shipping and repairs were needed on them when they arrived.
There is a google
forum on jukebox collecting where there have been a couple of inquiries
about the system the jukebox uses.
Just found a site that is cataloging various Jukeboxes,
called JukeBox Guide. He has a page
listing for the Carson City Manufacturing SongBirds. Looks like
there were 4 versions of the record playing model. Pictured
is one with a 120 selection mechanism. No pictures for any of the
others.
Carson City Manufacturing also made a "Country
Classic" jukebox - in the shape of the front end of a pickup truck
and they also did the rear view of a boat called the "Star Cruiser".
A CCPP pickup truck just recently (2010) sold on ebay that
came from the estate of Michael Jackson. A video history
of it's latest owner is on youtube
.
December 2010 I received contact from an owner
in Switzerland informing me of four models of Classic Cars that Carson
City Manufacturing had built. Here's what he had to say about them:
"What a surprise to find out about this
very nice site. Carson City used to manufacture four models. The Star Cruiser,
Country Classic, Songbird and the CC Rider. The CC
[Rider] was made of a real all steel 57 Chevrolet Convertible. I think
they did less than 50 CC Rider as it was difficult to find bodies of 57
CC's. At the time I wanted to buy the CC but it was too big to get into
my flat. So I bought the Songbird for 45's which was smaller. Both of these
jukeboxes were on display at Macy in New York for a price that was expensive
at the time. $20'000 for the CC and $10'000 for the Songbird." --Jean-Luc
He also sent me scans of the brochures
for the 4 models. I've added them to the following digital images.
If you have more information about the Songbird
or the other Jukeboxes from Carson City, please contact
me
John's Juke has this on his website: http://www.flippers.com/jukebox_service.html
Please READ that page when your SongBird is in need of repair. There
are forums, email lists, etc... that will be of better help for you in
getting yours repaired. There are also service manuals, etc. available
for downloads from the internet.
Do a google search on NSM repair manual. Also search
on ebay.
Places on the internet that
advertise as repairing NSM mechanisms:
http://nsmvinyljukeboxrepair.com/
- 45 rpm records mechanisms only<
Does anyone know what NSM mechanism is
used for the CD machines?
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