Technical Aftermarket radios in the mid 50s

Those '40s Plymouth vertical radios were a work of art in themselves! The whole dash is cool in those things, and the radio just tied it all together.

 

Typo: resistor/capacitor. The old wax and foil ones can leak over repeated heat cycles. Kind of crazy, I've had some 50 years old still going strong. I reckon some brands were just made better than others.

I believe you can count the number of tube manufacturers today on one hand. Many brands but few plants. Unfortunately none are made in US, last time I looked. Russia, China, Czech Republic, IIRC.

Joe

 

Nobody makes car radio tubes though. There is still a demand for audio output tubes, rectifiers, and some signal tubes like 12AX7. The Stereo hi-fi and guitar amplifier tubes still have demand.

 

Hello,

There weren’t too many aftermarket radios when we were driving age or before. By 1957, the 57 Chevy had the Wonderbar, but most of the internals were the same as the regular AM radio. By 58, the AM radio was pretty strong as far as reception, but would lose any connection when going through tunnel of any length. Even going under a short, airport overp*** near LAX, the signal would blank out for the moment.
A black 1958 Impala with red interior + Skylark Wire Wheels… thanks @themoose

In Long Beach, we lived and cruised around an area around the LB Airport, Douglas Aircraft Company and LBCC + Veteran's Memorial Stadium on Lakewood Blvd. There were tunnels created when they extended the runways. Every time we drove any car in the area under the runways, the radio signal cut out.

It was not the quality of the radio. Our friends had high end foreign cars and their Blaupunkt Radios were the top of the line, but, when they went under the runways, the signal cut out, too. But, those quality foreign car radios sounded a slight bit better than our GM factory radio units.

So, what was the problem? Most of the time it was the AM signal from the faraway stations. Most signals in So Cal were located/sent from the high mountain top on Mt. Wilson beyond Pasadena. That gave the best location for most of So Cal, even as far away as the OC beaches. But, the problem stemmed from the car’s antenna situation.

The fender antenna was nice and tall that stuck up above the top of the moving car. The more modern 50s-60s cars had powerful AM radios and the tall antennas worked. Some designers like the 58 Impala had dual rear antennas and it should have had better reception… but it did not. Plus, those twin antennas looked out of place. My brother had those removed and had a disappearing front fender antenna installed for better reception and less vandalism. Closer to the radio was also a factor, too.

Jnaki

So, as time move on, the stock factory designers knew of the same problem in all cars about reception. When the technology improved with the more powerful AM/FM radios, they decided an “in the window” antenna would make the streamlining or coefficient of drag much better. It did, but now we were all back in the 50s with the sound, sometimes even the FM cut out in tunnels and deep canyons. So, back to the fender and roof top antennas.

Now, the technology has improved in antenna reception that the smallest "shark fins" on our rooftops are all that is needed for top quality reception in radio signal transfers. (No cut off signals in tunnels and deep valleys...) But, who listens to radio anymore, with the advent of MP3 digital music? YRMV

 

I'm fortunate... I have a tin ear, so anything sounds OK to me! I've saved a lot of $$$ over the years because I'm not an audiophile!