Old car radio

[stan]

Needed to do some work on the wiper motor (vacuum) on the 50 Plymouth, as some very need rain is coming, hopefully to put out these fires around here. To access and service the old vacuum motor..the radio need to come out.
Thought you boys would get a kick out of seeing the 10 lb thing. We've come a long way in auto sound systems since 1950

 

[dermacie]

wow that's amazing Stan.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Unlike the car stereos in new cars, I'll bet AM actually sounds good on that one. Of course it would need an overhaul if it hasn't been serviced yet.

 

[johnrk]

Radio content

Being born in 1955, I missed the days when people could tune in to network radio shows. I enjoy listening to some old radio shows now, and it seems that NPR is about the only station I ever listen to. All the rest is either alt-right crap or bad music.

My first car was a 1951 Lincoln with a superheterodyne radio that sounded so beautiful. Those old radios have a 'roundness' that modern electronics can't duplicate.

 

[ea56]

Thanks for sharing this Stan. I’d forgotten how huge these old car radios were. Yours seems unique in that the speaker looks like its incorporated in to the radio. These old tube, car radios had a very rich, resonate sound. I loved the way they had to warmup and how the sound gradually became louder as they were doing so. I believe that this may have been what they were talking about in the lyrics of the song, “Coming To You From Out Of Nowhere”, because thats just what it seemed like with these old radios.
Eddie

 

[rp2813]

I'll add the radio that belongs in my '50 GMC to this thread -- it has a sort of cartoon-ish (or would that be cartune-ish?) look when not installed.  The post for the detached knob needs to be replaced.  JB Weld to the rescue?

 

John, what model was your Lincoln?  We had a '51 Cosmopolitan until late 1960/early 1961.  My mom said it steered like a truck.  I do remember the radio in that car, along with the '57 Premier that replaced it, would buzz while driving parallel to fat power lines, or past certain neon signs, and of course it would lose the AM signal completely in an underpass or tunnel.

[this post was last edited: 10/19/2017-14:02]

 

[cfz2882]

I have quite a few old car radios in my collection-oldest is ~1935 chevy.Most American radios switched to low voltage tubes/transistor audio output in 1957,but a 1959 Blaupunkt in collection is still vibrator type. Not sure,but I think 1961 chevy could be had with standard partly tube radio or deluxe "all transistor"radio option

 

[ken]

Those two radios are compact compared to my 37 Chevy. The control head is in the dash with two cables running from that to the actual radio which is a large box mounted on the firewall. One half of the case is removable for access. It has a latch like those found on old lunch boxes. Below that also mounted on the firewall is a large speaker. Just think; in the 50s the all in one units shown above would have been considered quite an advance compared to the units from the 30s.

 

[supersuds]

Hope you get some rain, Stan!

I'm curious if there's any indication of a manufacturer on the inside of your radio. I've read that Philco had most of the OEM market,for many years.

My 1964 Lincoln had an AM/FM all-transistor made by Bendix, surprisingly.

I've heard that Imperial in the late Fifties had the first all transistor radio, probably AM only.

 

[lordkenmore]

Fun seeing these old car radios!

 

Those old radios have a 'roundness' that modern electronics can't duplicate.

 

Probably the tube sound. Some high end home solid state amplifiers have (to some degree) a tube sound. But at the low end, you don't have that sound.


 

My 1964 Lincoln had an AM/FM all-transistor made by Bendix, surprisingly.

 

I have a partly restored Bendix radio in storage. (Home radio, from the 1940s.) So the name was used on radios. I'm not sure if it's the same company that made appliances, though.

 

[rp2813]

IIRC, I got an AM/FM radio for our '64 Continental but it didn't work and I never got it fixed.  We let it go along with the car when we sold it.  I'm not sure of the manufacturer, but I don't see why it would be anything other than a Bendix.

 

The really elaborate radio was the AM/FM version for the '65 Continental.  On that one, the selector buttons were all labeled for either band.  To program, you pulled out the button and gave it a twist so the desired band was facing up.  You could have all buttons set (twisted) for FM or all for AM.  There was no band switch.  When pushed inward, the buttons automatically changed the band according to whether AM or FM was facing up, and the band indicator on the dial would also change.   I got one of those sets for my dad's '65, and it was impressive.  I'm pretty sure it was a Bendix too. 

 

The most ridiculous thing about radio R&R on the '64 and '65 Continentals (I think '61-'63 may have had a different configuration) was that you had to start the process by removing the sun visors -- I am not kidding -- and then work your way down to the dash.  You had to dedicate a good chunk of time to complete the whole operation.

 

[moparwash]

The 1956 Chryslers and Imperials had the first transistor radios, made by Philco (before they were bought by Ford)

http://https//www.allpar.com/stereo/Philco/index.html

 

[wayupnorth]

My sisters '58 Impala had that Town & Country button with another big bar that clunked to one of 3 local stations with the first automatic seek the next station I ever saw. Now I got 9 zillion stations on seek all playing FM garbage. My '63 Rambler, first car, had an instant on transistor radio on AM but got great reception after dark for popular stations on the East Coast. Those were the days.

 

[cfz2882]

one year only transistor radios

the article linked in reply #11 was very interesting-Chrysler dropped their 1956 all transistor radio and GM also dropped their 1957 Cadillac all transistor after just one year partly because low voltage signal tubes had been introduced and eliminated the noisy(just a quiet hum actually) vibrator.I have one mechanical signal-seeking GM "wonder bar"radio in the collection:~1967 oldsmobile AM/FM mono-a big solenoid tensions the needle and a clockwork mechanism controls the speed, a small solenoid actuated pawl stops a gear when station sensed.A 1975 Chrysler seeker radio I saw once was motorized-tuning knob spun until station found.

 

[supersuds]

Bendix

I knew that Bendix made home radios and maybe some early TVs, but thought they'd dropped out of the marketplace by the Sixties. My impression was that the Aviation Corporation (Avco) had sold its Bendix and Crosley divisions to Philco around 1956. But the Bendix Corporation was still doing other things and they must have kept their auto radio business.

Yeah, taking the Lincoln radios out was a job. The stainless trim pieces between the front doors and the windshield had to be unscrewed, too, IIRC. On the plus side, nobody ever stole your radio!

 

[johnrk]

'Kennedy' Continentals

I always wanted one of those sixties Lincolns but never got one. I had the same girlfriend growing up for a bunch of years; her father owned 4 appliance stores. When I was in elementary school he had a '63 Continental, the shorter wheelbase with the curved side glass. Even to a kid like me, it seemed really small. I think it was the inward slope of the glass. When I went into junior high her father traded that one for a '65, gold with black vinyl roof. It seemed enormous inside, again because it had straight side glass and the roof was nearly a foot wider. That '65 had the AM/FM radio you speak of with the flippable buttons. Her mother got a beige '66 Cadillac Calais 4-door hardtop and it had the signal seeking radio. I wasn't old enough to drive yet, but as a passenger they were pure heaven. We had a lady down in the town where I grew up who drove nothing but purple Continentals for about 20 years; her husband was the president of one of the banks.

 

[stan]

John

I never thought to look for a manufacture name. Since my repair on the wiper motor didn't work out, I'll be removing the radio again so I'll look and take pics of the guts.
The radio dose work and it dose take a few seconds to warm up, but I hardly ever use it.
The idea of having to remove the wiper motor again and re install... Well it's hell for me to work under a dash anymore.. but I can't ask a mechanic to work on a vacuum wiper motor! So I'll have my head in it at least once more.. Damn it!

 

[kenwashesmonday]

I believe a 1950 Plymouth would have a Mopar 807 also known as a Philco D-5007, but I think some of them might have been Motorola sets.

http://https//www.radiomuseum.org/r/philco_d_5007.html

 

[rp2813]

Stan, let me/us know what you find out about your wiper motor.  The one on the GMC is sluggish at best, and the vacuum checks out OK.  I've had it apart a couple of times over the years and have lubed the paddle, but yeah, even with good clearance under the truck's spartan dash panel, it's still a PITA to work under there.  Even worse is accessing the linkage, which is where I think the current trouble lies in the Jimmy.  The motor works fine when disconnected from the linkage, but once it has work to do, it slows down or stops altogether mid-swipe.  I think that more than anything, the sluggishness results from lack of use.