Factory AM Radio or CD Player?

[dobie]

So what are you guys using for tunes? I have a nice original AM radio which is in the car right now. I'd have to send it out though to get it working. On the other hand, a CD player/radio might not be a bad option for me, provided I do no permanent damage to the dash. Right now the factory radio isn't hooked up, and I have no speakers in the car. This is just something for down the road.

Any opinions or ideas?

 

[mcmopar]

I've got a Jensen AM/FM w/cassette player and CD jack in mine. I had to cut up my faceplate but it was cracked anyway so it wasn't that big a deal - plus I have a spare. I didn't need to hack anything in the dash - on the contrary - the new Jensen is a lot smaller than the original radio so I had to make some brackets up to get it mounted. Its a nice, clean installation.
If you want to keep the stock look you can always send your radio out and have new guts put in it and even have a cassette player put in it. Its not cheap but it doesn't take away from the original look.

 

[mac]

i sorta have both. had the am radio converted to digital and have cd changer in the trunk. it also has been converted to a 4 way speaker system. sounds great!!! done by this guy Retro Radio Restorations. http://www.retroradio.biz

 

[george68hemirr]

So what are you guys using for tunes? I have a nice original AM radio which is in the car right now. I'd have to send it out though to get it working. On the other hand, a CD player/radio might not be a bad option for me, provided I do no permanent damage to the dash. Right now the factory radio isn't hooked up, and I have no speakers in the car. This is just something for down the road.

Any opinions or ideas?

forget AM....its all stactic......i stuck my am/fm/cd player in the glovebox....i have all my kill switches where the am radio was.....the best music is the sound of a mopar V/8

 

[dobie]

Thanks for the ideas. At this point I'm kinda leaning towards a CD player/radio. While I agree the best sound is Ma Mopar, sometimes I kinda wish I had some music!

:cheers:

 

[Big John]

i sorta have both. had the am radio converted to digital and have cd changer in the trunk. it also has been converted to a 4 way speaker system. sounds great!!! done by this guy Retro Radio Restorations. http://www.retroradio.biz

I'm going to have my factory AM-FM done by these guys too. I talked to them at Carlisle and its an impressive deal. Another company that does the same conversion-- http://turnswitch.com/radio1.htm Mine will have a jack for my XM radio.

My car had an AM-8 track originally, so I have the front dash speakers that will get some Alpine speakers. In the rear, I'm going to install 2 6 x9 speakers using the stock location on the right and cutting and welding a section from another rear deck to the left.

I'm also thinking about putting a powered subwoofer like the Infinity Basslink in the trunk.

BTW... I don't remember... somebody from the .org site gave me the speaker piece. Who was that???

 

[Plymouthfan]

I installed a clean non working AM thumb wheel, but hooked the bulb up so it turns on when my lights are on.

I then installed a small power amp under the seat and run a wire up from behind the split in my bench and use an iPod for all my music. I also installed a toggle in the glovebox to kill the power to the amp if needed. It was really simple to do and the amp was only like $60. I currently have over 3000 songs at my fingertip.

When I had a cassette player, I tended to listen to the same tapes over and over and over again. :crazy:

 

[69hemibeep]

Thanks for the info guys I just e-mailed them about my radio. Speaking of tapes I like to listen to metal from time to time and there is a song out that has the sound of a squeaky tape through the entire song, good drums though. Plymouthfan might know it

 

[Basketcase]

I had factory am radios that weren't hooked up in my last two cars. This one had a am 8 track in it when I got it. I hooked it up, ad I couldn't believe how much am radio has changed. all talk news and stuff. the player didn't work very well. I had a deal goig with Tony D to trade for a set of seat belts at last years Nats. When he looked at the radio, he thought something didn't look quite right. He had a factory am 8 track for a '69 B Body. He figured out mine was a C Body radio someone had stuck a B Body face on. I ended up selling mine to another guy.
I've been debating what to put in mine. I'm kinda leaning to just putting a modern radio with a CD player, although I'd be just happy sticking a non workig AM and listen to "Ma's" stereo" Since Paul Harvey passed, there's nothing left on AM.

 

[Roadcuda]

I have an AM radio out of a Dodge, a good clue that the original radio was changed! I am pretty sure it should be an am/8track because the car has 3 speakers in the dash, and the only way to have 3 speakers was with the am/8track. I also have an Automatic Radio fm/8track player. For it's speakers I just put in 6x9s in the package tray cut outs for speakers. I actually have two of these, one I bought in the early 70s, and the other I found about 3 years ago, still in the original box. I would like to put something better in but I want to keep the original look, so it would have to be a hidden unit.

 

[Confederate1969]

I made the decision a long time ago to put the factory AM radio on the shelf. I'm installing a sound system with a FM radio and CD player. I don't give a crud about pleasing some nitpicker at a car show about a perfect factory interior look. I'll be the one driving it and I want to be booming something a bit cooler than NPR. :cool:

 

[bigcountry]

I like what the guy in the book "Project Charger" did. He put the face of the stock AM in the panel so it looked like the original radio, but just used the face so it was flat on the back, kind of like pulling the radio off with the panel and cutting it off flush with the panel on the back. Then he mounted a new stereo in the hole, recessed a little, then put the stock "faceplate" and surrounding trim as one piece, on the dash with velcro. So, he puts the panel on for shows and security and can pull it off and put it in the console when he's driving and have a modern stereo. I liked this idea, especially since my AM is junk and needs rebuilt. I just wonder if it can be done without destroying the AM so it could be restored if needed. I know he had to cut the thumb wheels off.

 

[Big John]

Well, even non working AM radios are worth $$ these days.

IMHO, I think rather then cutting one up for the face and then buying a decent head unit, it wouldn't cost much more to have the conversion done to change your AM to the digital AM-FM that Retro Radio or Turn-Switch does.

 

[RdChicken]

I have an AM Radio that's not working in mine to give me the original look. I also have a CD player behind the glove box which I can access from under the dash for CD's and a remote to change the stations, so I still have the use of the glove box. My CD player is also has the Ipod or MP3 Player port which I wired the cable into my glove box, so I just hook up the Ipod and put it in the glove box and cruise!

 

[John69RR]

I installed the Kenwood KRC2006 back in 1993. It's an am/fm/casette player without the auto reverse like the one in the picture. Today it's almost impossible to find a shaft radio. I use a casette adapter to plug into my I-Pod for tunes. I have 2 6x9 rear speakers.

 

[moparstuart]

wards will put and convert an I-pod adpter plug in your old factory radio's


http://www.wardsclassiccarradiorepair.com/

 

[ACME A12]

Bambi has a nice, blue block off plate in the area where one might expect to see a radio...I've got road noise, wind noise, engine sounds, tranny whine, and exhaust notes as the available options for my listening pleasure...

:jester:

 

[Hoosier Bird]

Bambi has a nice, blue block off plate in the area where one might expect to see a radio...I've got road noise, wind noise, engine sounds, tranny whine, and exhaust notes as the available options for my listening pleasure...

:jester:

And don't forget the sounds of poop filling your pants when the throttle sticks....

 

[ACME A12]

[quote="ACME A12":trlqe1ee]Bambi has a nice, blue block off plate in the area where one might expect to see a radio...I've got road noise, wind noise, engine sounds, tranny whine, and exhaust notes as the available options for my listening pleasure...

:jester:

And don't forget the sounds of poop filling your pants when the throttle sticks.... [/quote:trlqe1ee]


That's more of an "smell issue" than a "sound issue"... :lmao:

But thanks for chiming in with THAT...

 

[Hoosier Bird]

No problem, I try to help out all I can.............