Old car radio

[dartman]

Well it should still be fairly common, just not as much as the pickup. I'm sure being a gm there should be tons of info and gm forums that can tell you what parts will interchange between the vans and pickups of similar vintage and body styles. I know for a Dart valiants, dusters, Darts from 67 to 76 will pretty much interchange most of the mechanical parts and some of the body stuff too depending on whether you want all the body lines and parts to match up. Think I saw a 74 Duster with a 68 Dart nose on it. It mostly matched up except he used the Duster bumper that screwed up the look of the nose as bumper didn't match the lower body lines.

 

[philr]

I never had a car old enough to have a tube radio. I have an AM wonderbar that I saved from a 1965 Electra 225 parts car that I got years ago. I wish there was an AM-FM version of the Buick Wonderbar because there's not much remaining to listen on the AM band anymore. I also have a non-signal seeking Delco AM-FM in my '65 Wildcat and an AM-FM multiplex in my '67 Riviera.

 

[rp2813]

The 1680 Bulbs Are In!

And there's a significant increase in brightness.  I replaced all four turn signal lamps and the brake lamps.  The turn signals light up better under daylight conditions than they did with the 1129 bulbs.  Likewise for the brake lamps.   I've attached a picture of the brake lamps that I took late this afternoon.  The lamp on the left still has the 1129.  The lamp on the right has a 1680, and it's a lot brighter.

 

Stan, I can see how the 1680s would give you much brighter rear signals than you have now, if you decide to install the larger sockets they require.  Up front you have the option to do the same thing, or install a dual-filament socket in place of the parking lamp socket and use 1154 or 1158.  The brighter filament in those should be fine for front signals.

 

 

 

 

 

[stan]

Ralph

Glad it worked out for you!
Hard to tell from the pic that there's much diffence ( between left and right) but sure looks brighter than your pic in reply #65
How much larger in diameter are the sockets than what you had before?

 

[rp2813]

Stan, in that picture further up, only the tail lamp bulbs are lit (the 81 on the left and 63 on the right).  The Stop Ray assemblies take separate bulbs for stop and tail, so I didn't need to change anything but the bulbs.  The 1680 base is the same size as the 1129, so it was a matter of removing the 1129 and replacing it with a 1680.  Now both tail assemblies are running a 1680 for stop/brake, and an 81 for tail lamp.  I think they're at least as bright as a 12-volt system would provide.  I'll remove a lens and take a picture so you can see what I've been working with.

 

I agree that the difference in the picture of the brake lamps isn't huge, but if you examine it, you'll see that the lamp on the right is so bright it looks pink, whereas the one on the left looks red and has dark areas surrounding the brighter center.  What appears to be a white area in the center of each lens is actually a very bright red, like a miniature "pull over" red spot light on a cop car.  Even that is brighter on the right side compared to the left.

 

This is likely the best it's going to get.  The only improvement I could make would be to add those silver cupcake things to the tail lamp assemblies, but the way they're put together, that would be easier said than done.  You'll see why once I've posted a picture here.

 

As for the size, I think you'll have to look up the 1129 or 1680 on line for the specs on the lamp base diameter.   It's a standard "S-8" size, which might be another term to use in your search.  I have a GE bulb list bookmarked, but that only provides the overall bulb width including the glass.

 

[twintubdexter]

PhilR...

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">I thought that dash in pic #1 looked familiar. 65' La Wildcat, French Canadian style.</span>

 

[philr]

Yes but unfortunately, mine isn’t a hardtop coupe like yours!

 

[rp2813]

Stan, here's a picture of how my GMC's tail lamp assemblies are configured.  The upper bulb is the 1680 stop lamp; the lower is the 81 tail lamp (the turn signals run on separate added-on assemblies with their own wiring system).

 

As you can see, trying to rig up a reflective surface behind that mess will require some strategy.

[this post was last edited: 11/30/2017-17:41]

 

[sudsmaster]

Stan,

 

Just saw  your question about the two mirrors on the driver's door.

 

Well, since I use hand signals, I've found my signaling arm blocks the standard fender mounted mirror. So I added the upper mirror so I could still see behind me when signalling. It actually helps a lot, IMHO.

 

I was rummaging around in the shop today and found a 10 pack of 1158's that I must have acquired back in the 90's. I guess I'll never run out of those. Since I don't have turn signals, they are fine for my purposes. I'll have to take a photo of the rear lights with the blue dot faintly glowing.

 

Still haven't pulled the radio. Between fighting off this hell of a cold (finally stopped coughing) and turkey day, been a bit too busy to fool with the car. When I retire...  As for the trim screw, I don't recall ever messing with that. I'll give it a try next time I have the radio out (when I rebuilt it, I had it sitting on the dining room table with a big spare six volt car battery to power it).

 

Although I kept the original tube radio, I also added a bank of six to 12 volt converter modules - each worth about 20 watts - four wired in parallel, for a total of 80 watt capacity - and installed a modern 12 volt radio/tape player under the far left side of the dash (only the driver can access it). It worked pretty well. I put a Sony CD changer in the glove compartment. But a couple of years ago the CD changer quit working, don't know why. I upgraded the radio/cassette player under the dash to a radio/CD player. I think it will take USB also, maybe even bluetooth. The 12 volt conversion works OK, but can't drive these modern radios at full power - the voltage starts to drop and the music clips. But at polite levels it works great. These cars have a good interior shape for sound: rounded. I put two 6x9's under the rear shelf, and two smaller speakers in the side kick panels up front. I also had to put in an on/off switch for the 12 volt converter bank, otherwise it puts a drain on the 6 volt battery and I'd get stranded after parking a while. The only problem there is that many car radios lose their minds when the power is disconnected, so there is that. I often have to reprogram all the stations when I power it up again. I also have a disconnect for the car battery, because it seems to last longer if completely disconnected from the car for longer periods of storage. Did something similar on my '67 Van, although of course that one didn't need any voltage conversion. The '50 Plymouth still has its tube radio operational for the occasional purist .

 

I remember taking the '50 down the main drags in Monterey during one of the Pebble Beach Concours weekends in the 90's, with CD's of big bands like Harry James blasting. People seemed to like it.

 

 

[twintubdexter]

Phil,

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">Convertible, hard top coupe or 4-door...they're all nice cars. Having a car like that in your garage and taking care of it is preserving a little piece of automotive history. </span>

 

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">Only a very few make it back to the road.</span>

 

[stan]

Ralph

So from what you've discovered, sounds like I could use the 1680 for my tail/brake replacing the 1158s and the 81s for my blinkers..still need to address the fact that the sockets for the blinkers are installed wrong
Rich, I'm surprised that with your ability to wire your 12 volt conversion module and the creative way you've added speaker ect.. That you never added turn signals?
The trim screw is something easy enough to try.. If I remember.. It's warming up the radio, tuning the dial to a week station around 1200-1400 and trimming til u get the best sound.
Since it just AM, all I can get news, talk radio or hear a cha cha, or get saved. Those are the choices. LOL

 

[stan]

Phil

Nice styling on that radio

 

[rp2813]

Stan, not exactly.

 

The 1680 has a single filament.  That would be the best option for your rear signal, but it would require a larger socket.  You're pretty much SOL for anything brighter than an 81 for your turn signal unless you replace that socket with a larger one that will accommodate a 1680.   You'll probably have to snip the signal wire and splice it back together as part of the process.

 

The 1158 would remain in place for brake/tail functions.  No need to touch that one.

 

Up front is a different situation.   One way or the other, you'll have to install a larger socket, and you'll have to snip/pull the wire off the existing signal socket and reattach it to the new socket.   You have two options: 

 

Replace the signal socket with the larger size to accommodate a 1680.  Done. 

 

Or, replace the parking socket with a larger size for a dual filament bulb and use an 1158 up there.  The signal wire would connect to the new large socket along with the parking wire.  The 1158 will function as parking and signal (just like the 1158 in back does brake/tail), and the old small add-on signal socket will be dead/disabled/defunct.

 

The first option is easier, the second one is cleaner and only sounds complicated, and is how Plymouth would have done it.

 

[sudsmaster]

Stan,

 

It's my opinion that the car would need a completely new wiring harness in order for turn signals to work properly. I wouldn't want to be shoving new extra wires up against the old cloth covered stuff. Might be a good way to get an electrical short/fire down the road. Anyway, I haven't felt the need for turn signals, really, the hand signals are legal and if people don't get them, well, they need to take their driving test again ;-).

 

Maybe when I retire and have nothing better to do I'll see about turn signals for the '50.

 

But my feeling about the '50 is, it is what it is. I'm not too keen on hacking new sockets etc into something that is so well made to begin with. Just my opinion.