Original RAdios in our Rides...restore...upgrade? Pictures

you have all the radio you need under the hood...

 

How come every time there's a stereo thread someone posts a comment like this? Yes, we all know we all have cool motors with nice pipes. But a radio once in a while is cool too. It's not like he's gonna read that and say, gee I guess I don't need a radio after all

 

cause its the truth. wanna listen to the radio, go get in your honda.

 

blah blah blah yeah yeah if you got a HOT ROD and have a FAST,LOUD motor,yeah,you can sit and listen to that..OR if you're like me and have a DECENT engine in your KUSTOM, and you actually take it out in TRAFFIC and have to sit at red lights you might not wanna just hear your rpms go up then down then up then down all boring like...just my opinion
creepy

 

Don't know about you, but I don't have a fucking honda.

 

sorry stud, i meant it as a joke. no need to get all huffy.

 

I am fortunate that there are excellent AM radio stations here in NY's Hudson Valley. The music produced for AM radio was sonically tailored to fit AM's limitations to a good degree. The older AM's had less bandwidth limiting and good music is - just that... I wouldn't trade my 50' Chevy's warm - true tube sound - for a consumer toy you rent music on. The '63, has a really good warm AM radio. A few owner - operated AM radio outfits still exist and College radio often has AM. If you're in NY and can see the Hudson, tune in to WHVW AM 950. I'm not afilliated ... The last time my radio quit in the '50, the vibrator points welded together when I was idling and the battery voltge dropped low enough to stall the multivibrator. To fix my radio I use a points file after opening the vibrator can. SO when I am asked if the radio was rebuiilt I say I filed it's points so it should be good for another 56 years.... Try an IPOD in 56 years...

 

Yea... and try your ol' skool AM in 56 years when everything goes to digital HD FM and AM is faded out.... ipod would still play your music!

 

Why not google the idea and find out???!!!

Spoons

 

I travel and get a little tired of listening to that after 100 miles. A little tunes along the way makes it a little more enjoyable. Honda made a Hot Rod??

 

Personally, I like the looks of my radio delete plate. Matches up well with my clock delete and bare bones nature of my car.. But eventually, I'm going Sirius or XM. After driving some new Fords with satellite radio...and instanly finding a ton of stations that I like, for a few $$ a month, it's the ONLY way to go..

Jan

 

correct me if I'm wrong... the Satellite radios hook to an existing stereo? So with that you'll have to still install a stereo???

I don't know what the satellite stations are like, but if they are like the ones on my DirectTV they'll suck... At least the ones on tv do!

 

If you want a pushbutton vintage AM-FM that will run on 6v, 12v, + ground or neg ground I recommend a 60's Blaupunkt. I have pulled them out of 4 door Mercedes in junkyards. The most common model is the Frankfurt and they have a voltage and ground selector on the back. They use miniature vacuum tubes on some models so they have the "sound" If you have any device that will plug into one of those FM transmitters (you can play a CD player, your old walkman casette player etc) you will be makin' music.

 

while it's somewhat true...some of the traditonal spanish stations and there are alot in southern california.. ain't that bad. I lived above a guy who had it on late into the night many a sunday and i realized the bass rythems sounds really close to rocknroll or western music. mabey i got used to it or mabey i just liked the looks i got drivin around with it up loud.

 

Here you go:

http://www.Hobbytron.com offers the R-AM1 Transmitter kit. According to the product description:
Ramsey AM radio transmitters operate in the standard AM broadcast band and are easily set to any clear channel in your area. These units are designed very similar to actual commercial radio transmitters, so you’ll learn how the “big boys” operate and use their transmitters. The entry-level R-AM-1 uses a tunable transmit oscillator and runs the maximum 100 milliwatts of power. No FCC license is required, expected range is up to 1/4 mile (the whole damned car show can listen to you) depending upon antenna and conditions. Transmitters accept standard line-level inputs (RCA Jacks) from tape decks, CD players or mike mixers, and run on 12 volts DC. RCA-to-headphone jack (male) cables are commonly available - FYI. Here's a link: http://www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?src=FG&item=2811 I'd probably pick one up at Radio Shack.


If you assemble it yourself, it’s only $27.95. If you want it assembled for you, it will run you $42.95.
http://www.hobbytron.net/R-AM-1.html

~Jason

 

I've been looking around for a 12v, am/fm, with hookups for an iPod, and was ready to pull my hair out, until....

Found this last night:

http://www.antiqueautomobileradio.com/

probably not the cheapest way to get it done, but definitely looks like the least amount of hassle.

 

Well, me being the super genius that I am, I clicked something and lost my reply to this. So here it is again...

Found this last night. Probably not the cheapest route, bit looks like the least amount of hassle.

http://www.antiqueautomobileradio.com/

 

turbodan,

thanks alot. I sent an email to them requesting my needs.

Looks like they can do it all.

 

Think I mentioned them in the middle of the second page and ref. them on the first page. Seem to be a cool way to go. Radios look 100% stock and are actually high tech rigs. Let us know what kind of price this guy charges.

 

Hey Norm, If you decide on yanking out your radio from the Victim, I would be willing to buy her from you...... I am missing mine.

 

my stock 39' 6V "superhetrodyne", Sonotone works great! And once in a while on a clear nite with good skip, a faint 'Howl' can be heard.

 

well in my 53 chevy and my model a sedan ive got an ipod hooked to a 800 watt pioneer amp hooked to two pioneer 5 way 6x9's and the sound quality is awesome. even in the broad spectrum of music i listen to
rap one day, oldies another, rock another and johnny cash another. and the nice thing about the ipod is it is little and all i have to do is unhook it & slide it into my pocket and i get the personnal satisfaction that i dont have to worry about some one stealing my radio, plus i dont have to carry my some 5oo cd collection around everywhere i go

i highly recommend this route

if anyone wants details i can very easily sketch out the wiring and post just pm me

 

Might have been said already, but those little FM transmitter things are terrible. I paid $35 for an "ipod-ready" Belkin one to use with my Sirius and the sound quality was terrible, I had to adjust it constantly to frequencies that didn't have anything else on them, and it used 2 AAA batteries every other day.

I wound up using a 1/8" plug with the wires cut off and jammed into the correct pinholes in the CD changer plug in the back of my head unit. With an old radio, you could just buy an external amp, stick it somewhere, and wire it into the speaker(s).

 

Yeah, a lot of my buddies went the satellite route and have all gotten rid of it. They said it was great at first but now, just like the satellite tv radio stations, they play the same shit over and over and over.

I run the stock radio in the dash (lights work) for looks and have a small amp hidden under the dash. I put an ipod dock in the center console and hid 5 speakers in the car. 3 in the stock locations and 2 in the kick panels.

I put all my cds on the ipod an have about 4000 songs to choose from. I can listen to whatever I want, whenever I want. You can set it up to random shuffle or make a playlist as long as you want. Some of mine are about 30-35 songs long. Just hit one button and you have hours of continuous music that you like, because you bought it.

For your other cars you can burn CDs, right from your computer, with any songs you like.

Fuck going to the store and paying $15 for a CD with 2 good songs on it. Just go to the apple site and buy the exact songs you want for $0.99 each. It took me a while to warm up to this ipod thing, but I'll never look back now.

 

I pulled my stock radio yesterday. I have a friend who is a HAMM/CB radio hobbyist. HAMM and CB radios still use many of the same components as the old tube AM radios so he is quite familiar with the "guts". He says he can fix mine no problem. If you want the original radio to work, find yourself a HAMM/CB radio guy and most likely he'll be able to fix it. Good luck and I'll let you know how it worked out once I get mine back.

 

Did a search. Thought I would bring back this old thread. What are 'yall running for radios/sound system in a traditional rod?

 

Has anyone used one of these RediRad units? www.rediscoveradio.com

 

LOL Ipod you're thinking about that guy in North Beach, he used to make sandals.

CD changer in trunk, radio/stereo un the seat or behind the old radio face. All options it is just a matter of how creative one is.

I would not waste my time trying to make an old radio work then using an FM converter. the converter will be solid state or digital and trying to interface with an old tube radio/amplifier. What you will end up with is crap sound for a lot of cash outlay.

 

Here you go. CHEAP too
http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182556

 

Gutted non working 8 track with a modern stereo in it,learned that trick from someone on here.