I chopped and dropped my '49 Merc back in '54. It's got 214,000 miles on it (family owned it since new) and I'm getting a little tired of AM/FM and my CD collection. Used to be an 8 track collection, but..... I do have a few choices to make... like where to hide the antenna and still get a good satellite signal. Has anyone put it under the rear package shelf or dash (good hiding places), or does it really need to be exposed, or go outside the car? Note to the trad gestapo - XM not trad enough for you? Tough! I paddled lead on this car while you were still in grade school and at my age don't need the belly-aching.
I believe the antenna needs line of sight for reception. That means outside in the open or exposed on the dash or package tray. Maybe you could camouflage it? Put in inside a bobbing head dog with the back opened to expose the antenna? Make it look like a hood ornament? Or incorporate it into a hood ornament? Another option is use a suction cup to mount to the windshield and remove it when parked or not in use.
unless things have changed, it needs a clear shot to the sky. in my old OT car, mine used to cut out when i went under large overpasses. also, if you chopped and dropped it in '54, i think you were paddling lead when my dad was still in grade school. i can guarantee you that whenever it is that mine gets finished, it'll have satellite radio, too.
Ah hell if they were hard core they would have and am radio with a rear seat speaker an a fader switch to make it high zoot. I'd say that as long as the head unit wasn't the centerpiece of the whole dash no one is going to have much of an issue with it and having ridden in a friends vehicle with XM in it I can understand why you want it. I'd talk to someone in one of the better sound system shops in the area and see what they can come up with rather than trying to use something that "might" work. The package tray sounds like a good spot though. There is always the frenched electric antenna like I had on my Merc and have on my 48 too. That's traditional.
It does not need to be outside the car but needs a line of sight to the outside. I have mine on the dash of my DD At the bottom of the windshield and it works fine. I also have an antenna in my shop on the inside of the window pointing out and it works fine. On a chopped Merc I am assuming the rear window if laid pretty flat so you should have no problems with the antenna in the corner of the rear package tray.
I want to see your car..post pics,please First chopped Merc I ever saw in person was in Gatlinburg in 73,or 74,I think. It stayed parked at a hotel all weekend,and drew a hell of a crowd. Blue with flames,and a North Carolina plate.. That your car?
You could get one of those newer headunits you can plug an iPod into. Then you can use the remote to control the iPod. I use a Nano I bought off Craigslist for $40. It's a 8 gig and holds over 1000 songs. Good enough for long road trips. Plus, the headunit keeps it charged.
I built an OT fiberglass replica and the guy at the car audio shop told me I could use a piece of lamp cord. He soldered it to an antenna plug for me, one wire to the center plug and one to the metal shell. I put it inside the trunk of the car and it worked perfectly. This should work under your covering on your package tray.
You can add xm app to your phone and not have to use the tuner or ant. But you do have to have cell service for it to work. Personally I can't stand any of the stations on xm, so I use the crap out of pandora. Xm don't have any stations that play a good selection of Wayne Hancock, hank III, Merle, jones, and so on
Not exactly the same situation, but I added an XM radio to my '69 Chevy pickup. Like you, I didn't want to have anything sticking out that didn't look right. But I tried the antenna on the dash and had no luck at all... Can't comment if it will work by the back window or not, it might. The antennas now are pretty discreet though, about 1"x1". I was able to drill a small hole in the roof of my truck, put the antenna behind a cab light and then route it down through the hole, around the windsheild etc. Obviously that method can't work on your Merc, but perhaps you can find somewhere's else to hide it similar.. As for mounting the actual XM/Sirius radio, I made a little bracket and mounted it under the dash. It's still accessible from the drivers seat, but it's completely hidden if someone was to look in. To make it easier though, I bought a remote control for the radio. For the particular Sirius unit I have, the remote gives you all kinds of different functions, but I pretty much only use it to go from one saved channel to the next. As for the radio itself, while you already have an AM/FM radio, this tip might help someone else trying to add Sirius/XM. My truck had the original AM radio, and I had no want to change it for some aftermarket radio, first thing I look at on other cars/trucks and it always bugs me. But of course the satellite radio needs FM... So I bought and old FM converter from the 70's. That way everything looks original with the radio, the FM converter is period correct, but I have the luxury of satellite radio, and no one is the wiser, and even after I tell them they don't beleive me at first. Also want to add that if you do get a Sirius/XM unit for it, buy the FM converter (or whatever it's called) for like $15. That takes out all the static you might get from the FM station your tuned to, and your radio will basically never cut out. Have one in both my vehicles with Sirius and it makes a world of difference.
Fiftys on Five has got to be close, but traditional or otherwise I'm hooked on satellite radio. Depending on how horizontal your back window is an antenna may work on the inside top. One of my OT drivers has an antenna at the top inside of the windshield and it works fine.
If your car has an external cowl vent, convert the vent cover to plastic or fiberglass and put the antenna behind it. That's where your gps antenna goes too. If you don't have an external cowl vent you can still do the above with a likely-looking cover that has no vent purpose.
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