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Bluetooth amp placed in a older car radio

Discussion in 'Off Topic Hot Rods & Customs' started by Okie Pete, Feb 5, 2026.

  1. Okie Pete
    Joined: Oct 29, 2008
    Posts: 6,233

    Okie Pete
    Member

    I’m no expert a hack at best but I have watched a couple YouTube videos about installing a BT amp in an older car . I took it a step further. IMG_3962.jpeg IMG_3952.jpeg IMG_3964.jpeg IMG_3956.jpeg This is the radio out of my 57 Fairlane. I removed everything I could. I ground a hole in the bottom of two of the vacuum tubes and glued a yellow led bulb into them . I replaced the 12v bulb above the dial with a led bulb . I cut the back off the stock volume switch and ground a flat on the shaft . This slid into the slot on the BT amp off/on/ volume switch.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2026
    SS327, chevy57dude, RMcCulley and 3 others like this.
  2. Okie Pete
    Joined: Oct 29, 2008
    Posts: 6,233

    Okie Pete
    Member

    There are other BT amps that have dual speaker outlets available.
    The radio will only play Bluetooth off my phone . I had looked into sending my radio to one of am/fm Bluetooth conversion sites but felt this fit my needs and pocket book
    The next victim is the radio for my 47 Merc . It is in bad shape . Bare wires and damaged components. Cosmetically it fits the crusty Merc
     
  3. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 60,234

    squirrel
    Member

    neat!

    I did a 1/8" phone jack amp in my 62 Corvette...got a free Corvair radio, and did some surgery on it.

    I didn't end up with any good pictures of the inside of the finished installation, though. I used the original switch and volume control, and it's mono, since there's only one speaker location in the car. I plug it into an old mp3 player, and having the volume control in the original radio, as you know, makes it really useful, compared to having just an amplifier with no volume control.

    You can also buy a 1/8" inline volume control, and use normal car stereo amp, I have that setup on another off topic car.


    PXL_20230731_142013761.jpg PXL_20230731_033648103.jpg PXL_20230731_033641685.jpg PXL_20230729_205607032.jpg
     
  4. Okie Pete
    Joined: Oct 29, 2008
    Posts: 6,233

    Okie Pete
    Member

    Looks good squirrel . Let’s keep sharing ideas . As we all know there’s more than one way to skin a cat .
     
    down-the-road likes this.
  5. BJR
    Joined: Mar 11, 2005
    Posts: 11,523

    BJR
    Member

  6. chevy57dude
    Joined: Dec 10, 2007
    Posts: 9,846

    chevy57dude
    Member

    Neat way to handle it! If the Chevy wasn't so loud, I might do the same thing.
     
    Okie Pete likes this.

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