Ya gotta have road tunes! did this in my '51 F1 PU found an old chrome Wards 8-track for a couple bucks at a garage sale gutted it out and installed a CD amp, sub and speakers behind the seat (gas tank moved under bed) also has 2 speakers under the dash firing down
Nope. I've got just enough hearing left to hear the exhaust and I don't want to spoil that music. Frank
Just curious, but when did the factories start incorporating a radio as a factory option? I know my 48 has a factory speaker grill, but my 35 does not.
I just put a 3 channel Sony FM/CD/MP3 in the '48 along with an amp and 2-10 inch subs. The radio is hidden in the glove box. I just upgraded the AM Radio in the '74 Chevy I daily drive,,,I upgraded to an Fm Converter ! Remember those?
I like to listen to tunes, but don't want the glove box packed full of radio either, this was my solution.
I can't drive without music. I refuse to sacrifice something I enjoy just so my car can perfectly fit the "traditional" mold. Modern radios would look better in a space ship than a hot rod but there are creative ways to hide them. To each their own.
2 8's behind the seat and 2 4 1/2s in the kick panels.....can't hear em over the smithy's, but you can damn sure feel em.
Very early '30s, but the speaker was an under-dash unit, so no grill in the dash. Speaker-grills didn't get used until...I'm gonna have to guesstimate...about '37. BTW...Anybody that thinks that having a radio in a hot rod is "non-traditional" is mistaken.
this is fucken cool. i have mine in the glove box. i also have my blackberry hooked up to it, pandora all the time and its free! i couldnt leave home with out it. music is life!!!! with out it, i dont know what i would do???
----------------------------- I'm not sure when they were first available as factory option, but about 15 years ago, a guy I worked with had a 34 Ford sedan with a factory original radio. Mart3406 ================================
I didn't want to be "non-traditional", so I yank everything related to a radio/stereo out, on any car I own..the wife gets a bit testy though, like when I yanked the optional hi zute am/fm/cd/etc/etc out of the new Buick Rainier. She got over that eventually, but later I took it a little farther, and killed the power to the house, and boarded up the bathroom, and installed an outhouse. Ridiculous?..of course, just like this thread.
Win. I wouldn't put a radio in a barky hot rod, but probably would in a cool custom to cruise around in. I'm not addicted to music. Not being able to survive without having it all the time is messed up too.
Some of you guys mustn't drive your cars very far, just to visit my folks its a three day drive to get there. Even close events can take up to 6 hours to get too, gets awful boring with no tunes sitting there for that long, cant replace it with lots of exhaust sound as we are a big enough police target as is. Have a loud ca here is an invite for trouble. Doc PS, some of you guys have great taste in music, Elmore James is a god.
lol ..... lets all do what we want .. and call it a day ,... i dont wear underware, cuz im traditional
I got an original AM radio and gutted it to this: I bought a sweet little amp from ebay. Built this control board. These small switches will line up behind the push buttons on the radio. The circuitry is just a voltage regulator so i can step 12v down to 1.5v for the MP3 player. Took an old MP3 player and ran leads out of it that connect through to the switches on the player. Those leads than connect to the switches on the control board. You can see the headphone jack connects through to the amp. After i took the picture i also connected a usb cable to the player and have the end hanging out of the radio so i can bring a laptop in the car for music updates. Here is the control board actually mounted to the back face of the radio. You can see rubber grommets between the board and the housing just for a little protection to the switches. You can see one on the radio push buttons is all the way in and how its activating the control board switch. Put the cover on (amp is mounted to bottom side of cover) and put the radio is in the dash and looks 100% stock from the front. I even left the dial indicator in it. The power for the amp and mp3 player run through the stock switch. Turn the volume knob to power on and use the push buttons to control the music. A fun little project. Amp cost me $20. All the rest of the parts i had hanging around. The amp is not great by any means but its enough just to have some music.
NOW, that's what I'm talking about. Mine isn't a "traditional" hot rod, (whatever that is), but I do have AM/FM/CD/SIRIUS radio. Mostly I listen to Sirius so I can listen to classic country, The RoadHouse. Jack
Would make sense ( scary concept I know ) if radio was available for the car,,then thats that,, The "choice" to no have one in not "traditional" ,,it is just a choice / preference Nothing more
I can't tell you how much I appreciate guys like no6 telling us how it was in the 50's. Spent more than a few Saturday mornings with a box of car radio tubes at the tester at Tandy's (fore runner of Radio Shack).
x2. all my cars have the original in dash, and a modern reciever with ipod jack in the glove box and some hidden modern speakers under the dash or behind the seat. you gotta have some tunes!
I can appreciate having tunes in your hot rod but for me, I let just the duals from my flattie mill sing to me while cruising and I save the tunes for my everyday driver.
chop olds had a 54 chevy with the delete plate on a hings and a new radio in it look good .me i have a modern radio,s in all my cars cause i like tunes and i like haveing a glove box my chevy was frist did in 59 and it always had a radio
Seems pretty damn simple: If you what tunes , do it. If you don't , don't. If we get too many rules , next thing is we'll be doing restorations.
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