Projects Hot Rod Radios

Just finished perusing the thread on garage clocks.

Some interesting stuff over there and maybe I better start looking closer at the local thrift stores and the like.

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to see what some are running in their hot rods for tunes and talk.

I had the word out for a while that I was looking for a radio for my 32 or 31 - depending on what I found.

Nothing wrong with one of the modern day wonders pushing many watts.
The goal was to have something from the early 70's which is not too long after the transistor revolution came in.

And an AM only radio would have been sufficient, but we have some good FM stations here and FM would have been a nice bonus.

So here's what a pal gave me out of the blue.


AM/FM and stereo.
Looks to be in good shape and the wiring & plugs are in good shape.
Not sure what Ford it came out of, pickup I'm guessing and if you know, let me know.

The radio played well before it was removed from the vehicle a while back.
I know, they all say that and I have a couple radios, one from Ebay and one from a garage sale.

I believe what the previous owner says and if it doesn't it doesn't.
The price was right for sure.

I'd like to find another one.
If I can't, this one goes in the 31 roadster and I'll do something else.

Main use will be for listening to the talk shows when I'm waiting for Sweetie.
And on the longer trips as well.

Most times just listening to the sweet sounds from the good running Big Ol Buick engine and the soft flow of air through the car along with a little top flapping does it.

Having access to a talk show or some tunes would be nice on some of the longer runs.
There's about 90 miles of straight running on Hwy 93 between here and the dam and the two moderate and subtle S curves don't count.

The radio and a couple of good quality 6x9 speakers would do the trick.
Along with some capacitors for the alternator, coil and regulator and a choke coil for the hot lead.
And for the 32 a metal box to set it in cuz the MSD ignition amplifier is about 6" away from where the radio will go.

No probs with a Mega Watt receiver and a sound system that breaks eardrums at 20 paces, but a simpler system, speaker type and brand, antenna setup and the like would be most interesting....

So, what are you running?

or

 

i once spent a week installing a newer chevy stereo into the front case half of a 62 impalla radio it worked great but took a lot of doing

 

my Biscayne is a radio delete car with a new stereo mounted beneath the seat and remote control. Love it.

 

8Track

 

LTD had the same head unit as the f-series and e-series fords for a while. those things put out some decent sound believe it or not. someplace i have a diagram of the wire plugs, but bestbuy or the like sells a hookup kit that might be usefull to you as well.

 

I like to hide em and use remotes ,just becouse it doesnt tempt theives as much and I dont have to worry about how it looks

 

I bet I have at least 10 of those, some with factory 8 track players in them.

Not to hijack, but I'd like to know what people are doing with 6V positive ground systems. Wisconsin AM stations suck balls.

 

I have done a couple of minijack inputs into early valve / transistor radios.You can use an MP3 player with your am radio.you just have to break into the volume pod,with resistors & a inline switch.I`ll try and draw up a diagram & post it.

 

Have a NIB Tucker radio that was a present a few years back.

 

That's cool!

 

And that works? Kick ass! Does the original radio have to be fully functional to pull that off? And I suppose it doesn't matter what voltage or polarity the radio has since the MP3 player isn't powered by it.

If I sent you my radio with a cord, could I pay you to hook it up for me? Don't know if I'm confident enough to do it myself, but that sounds like a totally kick ass solution to my stereo problem.

 

I can't take credit for this, it was in the car when I got it. I'm going to swap the head unit out for one with a remote though......I'm tired of popping off the speaker grill everytime I need to change the volume or CD...

 

hinge it! thats what I did for one of my customers.

 

fuck hiding it. put it in plain sight. 65 covette am-fm radio thatyou can get redone with modern stuff and mp3 inputs.

 

This was, and still is, my favorite. Pioneer Super Tuner

 

hot rod radio is a oxymoron.

 

Let me guess, you bought that when it was new and thought that eight tracks and hockey hair will come back in style.

 

Hot rod radio = clutch pedal and loud exhaust.

Shawn

 

here's a couple from out in my shop .The Blaupunkt is NOS(am/fm,8 track) never been mounted(its going in the Pie Wagon) the other indash is a craig unit....and of course ya gotta have boxs of 8-tracks,I can record off CD onto 8-track or I might have a Ipod hookup.....I still think that early pioneer supertuner is the best fm the market ever sawANYBODY HAVE AN OLD CRAIG FLOOR MOUNT UNIT???

 

I think some folks would be very surprised at how much these bring on eBay...

 

I was assured by the radio vendor that any factory radio can be converted to a stereo FM receiver along with an optional CD remote player. He claimed that he can convert this universal Motorola from the 30s. The piece on top clips onto the flange of most any old car dash. The box mounts on the firewall like an aftermarket heater. Flexible drive cables connect the 2 pieces for the on/off and tuning functions.

You can get stereos that fit the dash of most popular makes from the 50s/60s but they are fugly! Nothing looks worse than a classic 55 Chevy dash with one of those ugly things stuck in the middle.

 

Not a problem.

Lots of us oxygen breathing maroons around....

 

Not when sitting in the parking lot for an hour.

Wanna see some taillights?

 

Completely appropriate Mr. Used to Live in Ventura Guy.

Listen to it in the staging lanes?

 

Do you have the rest of the unit? I'll guess that is just the controle head that plugs into the rest of the unit.

 

I agree; had one, and as far as I'm concerned...best sound ever from a car unit.

 

It's a 55 Dodge, and yes, 6V positive ground. I would gladly pay to have it done, but if you had a picture that'd be good and I'd try it myself.

I'm not sure if the radio is fully functional though. I think it turns on but I can't pick anything up but light static. Would that matter? A headphone plug on a wire as an input jack would be fantastic, and I really don't want to cut the dash up for a different radio and then have to deal with the voltage.

 

Complete unit w/ control head,main box and even a antenna..all in those Tucker boxs. I will dig up a pic.

 

Well ,I'm sure that I tortured the dials of the radio in that old carryall.
Mostly used as a entertainment prop for a active 4 year old.
The real Tucker was busy terrorizing the competition.

 

(please don't crucify me for the self-promotion, but...)

I run the factory AM radios in my Pontiacs and listen to Sirius-XM, or my MP3 player thru them whenever I want to...I use the RediRad radio adapter.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298299

we have them for 6V, 12V positive ground or negative ground... no adapters, no chinese DIN-mount buzz-kill, no disappointments.

check it out ... www.rediscoveradio.com