When I was a kid I went through a phase where I played around with tape recorders. I taped radio shows, TV movies (this was before VCRs), LPs that I didn't want to wear out, and so forth. I grew up at the end of 8-track and the beginning of cassettes. And while cassettes were easy and cheap and convenient, they were mostly crap.
My father eventually let me use his Wollensak T-1500, and I became a reel-to-reel fan. I'm not going to say that open reel was perfect; like everything it had its advantages and drawbacks. But I quickly concluded that I was far better off with late 50s "hi-fi" technology than 70s cassette recorders. (My opinion of cassettes later improved when the Sony Walkman came out.)
The Wollensak was a better machine than my Webcor 210, and it was truly portable; and I later picked up a nice Roberts (Akai outside the U.S.) that was far better than both. But I still have a sentimental attachment for old Webcors.
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These pages are an attempt to collect and share whatever info I can find on Webcor recorders. I'm interested in the reel-to-reel tape recorders first, and wire and other recorders to a much lesser extent. Webcor's other big consumer business was phonographs; I'm not covering those here at all (sorry)..
Webcor reel-to-reel models compared
Webcor Fonograf models compared
Reel Recorder Directory (various manufacturers)
Webcor model 210 owner's manual