Hot Rods Do you have a radio in your Hot Rod or Custom?

8 track in my 63 Pontiac and my 57 t-bird, listen to what I want , when I want. Son even has an 8 track in his ot 68 Camaro, has a huge sound system but people always comment on the 8 track player's. Even have the factory 8 track in our ot 84 Caprice Drag Week ride, hard to find a radio station out in the middle of nowhere.

 

My 55 Buick has the original tube radio that still works. On a clear night I can pickup stations six states away. I am saving up for a 8 track player, I scored a bunch of tapes at a yard sale the other day

 

After putting radios in my ‘29 closed cab PU and my ‘51 club coupe, I didn’t put one in my ‘29 cabriolet, my most recent build. Noise levels at highway speed in most older cars prevents enjoyment of music. I put extensive noise suppression materials in the 51, and it is the quietest car inside and loudest from the outside. It is fine with the radio at downtown cruising speed. But in general high quality radios are a waste of money.

 

No radio in the 30 pickup, couldn't hear it if there was one anyway. But the 47 coupe does have a nice radio in it, but it's really only good when cruising around locally. Out on the highway there's just too much noise to really hear it very well, it needs a little more power and some better speakers that hold together at higher volume levels. It's on the "to do" list.

 

Excellent, That should have been one of the options for the pole! HRP

 

Mine is a radio delete car and I am to lazy and cheap to put a nice one in. Besides, if I had one, I couldn't hear my wife tell me where to turn and such.

 

No radios in my older rods, just the 56 and the 48 have original radios in them but neither one works as far as I know because I never wired them up.
Doesn't a radio qualify a car as a street rod??

 

I have the original radio but it’s not working in my 46 coupe. Would rather hear the Flathead music through the dual straight pipes.

 

I have the face plate section of the original radio in my car, the radio was nothing but rusted metal otherwise. It keeps the dash stock looking without any holes. I bought a new 80's vintage AM/FM cassette off of eBay I plan on hiding behind a panel in the console I have designed in my head. It will probably very seldom be turned on, maybe during bad weather if I happen to get caught out in it. I don't even use the radio in our late model drivers, but in the semi I have XM, helps on the long days.

 

The lake pipes Matt built for my flathead serve as my radio. I love the sound of the old flathead when I'm cruising down the road, doesn't get any better!!

 

There's people who like music, some who can take it of leave it, and some who could care less, so that's a big factor in any decision. It also depends on how good your hearing is, as some get older it can be difficult to distinguish sounds so music can be a distraction. I'm blessed with still-good hearing (amazingly so given my history of 35+ years in construction plus my home system with 1.4KW of amp power and my tendency to play it at near-hearing-damaging volume!), and enjoy music so a top-shelf audio system is a must-have for me. I don't care for MP3 (or any other 'compressed' format) as I can hear the difference in sound quality; yes, even in my cars. I love CDs, as audiophile-quality sound can be approached in a car these days. The downside is you can't find any players anymore that 'fit' the style of older cars. Remote CD changers are now a thing of the past, and even single players are starting to fade away. The ones that are out there look like jukeboxes, with flashing, multi-color displays. Yes, you can conceal them, but poor access makes them less user-friendly. Very few of them seem to be built to last anymore. As has been pointed out, there's almost zero music found on AM these days.

Here's a heads-up to the guys that do 'conversions' on OEM factory radios; in addition to all the 'latest' features, I wish someone would add a easily-hid outboard single-CD player capability to their units. I know it's possible, as Custom Autosound offers that option, but their reputation is so bad I can't seriously see buying from them.

 

I've had stereos in all my rods except the 27 roadster , but all mine except that one were daily drivers and vacation road cars. My 32 avatar truck had an amp with my I-pod and phone jacked into it. My Model A build will have an NOS under dash Spark-o-matic FM stereo that was available in about '70.
I normally use I-pod, Sirius or Pandora in any of my rides now days...(O/T, work semi)

 

I bought an old IH once with a 8 track installed. Problem was the only 8 track tape I had was the one that came with it.

In a gadda da vida by iron butterfly.

After listening to that 18 minute solo every drive for 3 years i am pretty sure I could play it by memory. And I don’t even know how to play the drums.

I love the sound of pure old AM radio in an old custom. But I hate the content.




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If the engine is tuned right, you don't need a radio.

 

I've always said, " my music is a finely tuned small block chevy." But honestly, I'm not ashamed for wanting a stereo in my car because I drive it everywhere. So what if I wanna jam to ZZ Top, or the doobie brothers while driving to the Meltdown drags. Sue me! (Actually don't sue me, I'm really poor)

(Also) I took a your typical aftermarket radio and put it under my seat. Out of sight, and no mounting hardware. It wedges between the seat and floor nicely enough that it won't move around but it's not insanely tight. I just have an aux chord that I plug my phone into.

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I play in a band (The Delmonicos out of Concord NC) but I took the radio out of my coupe and made a delete plate for it. As much as I love music I like to hear my stroker motor, glass packs, and carb sucking air when I step on it...…….

 

Combination of a 8 track and modern stereo in my sunliner and in the glove box in the 37

 

Y'know, you can always turn the radio off if you want to hear the motor...

But listening to it for several hours at cruising speed does tend to get boring...

 

I know solid lifters riding on a lumpy camshaft can carry a cool beat at idle......

 

I have a radio in my mild custom El Camino. It would be pointless in the roadster.

 

I’m running a sirus radio in my merc and the olds custom merc hot rod olds

 

I'm one who installed a radio, but never bothered to hook it up. Why? Because my ears are so screwed up music doesn't sound right. (one ear is 90% dead, the other is about 50% but only hears certain pitches) Engines still sound like engines so I like listening to them.

 

one does, two dont

 

it's all about the sound of the engine..........

 

Today I can see why a few say they got no radio,after all,you can only tune in crap of today,but as I was pointing out in my early'er note; We had real great rock n roll to hear in the 50s an 60s, at lest up tell the suckass Bug Brits came over,ya I turn there crap off even then !.
But we now have great chips,disks/CD an even Pandora ect. to set a feel for the good times.
I talked about Transister radios ,how really that was the thing we herd most of our rock n roll out of.
Something you young punks may not know is part of why rock n roll sounded the way it did then ; It was made to sound good from a transister radio that had a crappy tiny speaker{ So high is good,but low base is not even possible to hear/it just raddeled if it was used. So high tones an falseta****,plus A cappella*** all came across nice,but not low base. You want your song to sound good to all the teens of the time=little to no base. Add to that Falseta*** was an is really a ton fun to try an do as a teen sing along. That adds up to the great and fun sounds of the late 50s an early 60s,oh an you could understand most of the words !!!!.

 

Nothing I own runs so no,no radio for me.

 

I do have a radio/CD unit behind the seat and an MP3 player hook up or I can also plug my phone into the head unit. Speakers front and rear are hidden so all that is seen is the remote controller mounted near my cup holders.
I use it mostly when I’m cruising alone.

 

WHAT DID YOU SAY! OH! DO I HAVE A RADIO!!!!!!?????? NO!!!!!!

 

After my senior trip to SE Asia, I wired up the two speakers that came with my Saigon bought Sansui stereo system. One day prior mowing the grass I turned "In a gadda da vida" up inside enough to hear it while mowing. At about minute 15 it began to sound like someone was strangling a cat. The speakers were junk from that point on.

More on point- my '55 Chevy has an am-fm radio with a remote 6 disc CD changer. I have never used the CD changer in 6 years. The '37 coupe will have an MP3 player and a JBL Flip ll speaker.

 

Well Danny since you asked. In the roadster with the flathead barking through some bullet glasspacks. With the wind whistling and all of the hearing loss and tinnitus from too many pistols and un muffled engines. I doubt I could hear Skynyrd doin "Simple Man" even if they were in the car with me. But just wait till I get the Halibrand with the straight cut change gears in it installed. Then I probably couldn't hear "Free Bird" either.