Good for you, Super-Sweeper!
I hate to think what thrift shop morons throw away. I got some less than stellar home recordings on one or two tapes I bought, from 1957 and '58. Check your Craigslist up there for recorders!
Magnavox tape recorders were sourced out, but Collaro (the Magnavox changer source) made them for a few years. Sanyo made some of the portable reel to reels. Panasonic made the smaller of the two 7 inch reel recorders, the really grand looking one, I'm not sure. Magnavox was mostly a middle of the road company, not garbage, but not the upper echelon gear the stereo snobs craved.