Introduced in 1987, the Colonial was Sound Leisure’s handcrafted interpretation of the 1941 Wurlitzer Model 780, better known as the “Wagon Wheel”.
With its solid mahogany cabinet, distinctive wagon-wheel detailing and American pioneer-inspired styling, the Colonial was a departure from the more contemporary jukebox designs of the 1980s. Created with country clubs and traditional interiors in mind, it combined the character and craftsmanship of a classic American jukebox with Sound Leisure’s own modern technology.
But the story of the Colonial began in a rather unusual way.
Built by Eye
When Alan Black decided to build the first Colonial, he did not have an original Wurlitzer 780 in front of him to copy or measure. Instead, he worked from a photograph in a Wurlitzer booklet.
There was one problem: the photograph did not provide the dimensions of the machine. Fortunately, a man happened to be pictured leaning against the jukebox. Alan estimated that the man was around 5 ft 8 in tall and used him as a scale, working out the proportions of the jukebox from the photograph before building the cabinet by eye.
Later, Alan had the opportunity to take measurements from an original Wurlitzer 780 and built another Colonial using its actual dimensions. The result is the two machines you see here today.
The Colonial goes CD (1991)
In 1991, Sound Leisure adapted the Colonial for the compact disc era. Only three Colonial CD jukeboxes were produced, making them an exceptionally rare part of the model’s history.