1951 plymouth radio or not to radio...

[mackster]

man, i feel like I need a radio. i have the plymouth radio delete cover and people tell me that is nice, but since everything is original in this car as far as looks, and wiring as it is 6v positive...i would like to get me an original radio and see if I can get it to work. what do you think? do you guys use your original radio?

or do you have an aftermarket?

would it be worth the extra money to get an original radio in your opinion and in your experience?

points of view are welcome regardsless how off topic they might be...

[1950 Special Deluxe]

My 1950 Dodge Special Deluxe has a factory radio. I was able to get it repaired by a member of our car club. It just seems right that it works. I have a spare radio if you are interested. No idea on the condition of it.

[mackster]

My 1950 Dodge Special Deluxe has a factory radio. I was able to get it repaired by a member of our car club. It just seems right that it works. I have a spare radio if you are interested. No idea on the condition of it.

thanks special deluxe! I dont know if it will fit. mine is a lowly 51 plymouth cambridge. i think the radio was the same but the mounting faceplate is different...i do want one though!

[fedoragent]

Mack,

Remember, I know the radio repair guy in Monrovia and he's amazing and economical. We should go and visit him once you get a radio.

FG.

[mackster]

Mack,

Remember, I know the radio repair guy in Monrovia and he's amazing and economical. We should go and visit him once you get a radio.

FG.

yeah, im thinking i should get one..then we should go meet him!

[JerseyHarold]

There were two styles of factory radio for 1951, 5-buttton and 7-button. I've had both kinds and they add a nice touch to the car. if you find a radio, I'd say go for it.

There were also aftermarket radios available that came with the whole face plate for the middle of the dashboard. I don't think they look as nice as the originals.

Another thing to consider is that you'd have to drill a hole for the antenna. The proper location is above the nameplate on the left front fender. There may be an official template that you can use to locate it exactly. I've seen lots of cars that don't look right because of the antenna being drilled into the cowl or some other awkward location.

[Young Ed]

Mackster remind me to look at home. I think I've got a p23 radio sitting in a box.

[TJM70's_48]

When you have your radio fixed be sure to have the repairman add an input jack for an MP3 player or similar audio device.

One of the main drawbacks to using an original radio is that, in most cases, there is little to listen to on the AM band and often it is plagued by reception problems. By adding the jack, you can stash a very small player, mine is the size of a pack of chewing gum, in the glove box and listen to whatever you wish.

The jack addition is completely reversable and will be a breeze for anyone, especially anyone who can repair radios, to add.

I rarely use my radio to listen to over the air signals, but we enjoy period radio shows, news broadcasts and music all the time. Here's a link to some instructions I posted a while back.

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=16566&highlight=radio

Edited October 20, 2010 by TJM70's_48

[oldmopar]

I do not listen to a radio even in a modern car so I removed the radio from my 52 and have a delete plate to install. I think it gives the dash a less cluttered look then with the radio. I installed the original radio in another 52 I sold.

[Dennis_MN]

For what its worth, I added a 12 volt inverter and put a modern radio in the glove compartment. With no air conditioning and with the windows down and the vents all open, its pretty darn hard to listen to anything out of the single speaker in the dash. I'm in a 49 Dodge pickup by the way and to avoid adding holes in the cab, I added the antenna to a wooden rack on the box.

[48P15Annie]

My P15 has the original radio. When my grandpa got the car, it did not work. But he sent it away to a company to get it repaired. I would have to look in the paper work for the name. They completly rebuilt the inside. New tubes etc etc. And they sent back all the parts they replaced in a little bag, thought that was a nice gesture. He got a new speaker as well, but I am not sure from where.

[BobT-47P15]

I have 3 or 4 original style 7 button radios, which the son in law has now

taken to Kansas City with him and is supposed to have a fellow he knows

work on them. Mainly they need new capacitors and new vibrators to

return to working, Maybe some tubes, but not always. I don''t find much

on A.M. radio to listen to, but guess it would be ok to have one workng.

Planning on putting an F.M. cd player in the glove box one of these days,

with a couple speakers under the seat or somewhere.

[busycoupe]

I have a new Sony radio/cd player in the glove box. It runs off of a 6 to 12 v inverter and I replaced the dash speaker with a dual cone stereo speaker. I left the old radio faceplate in place, just for looks. The new radio has a small, 1 x 3 inch antenna that is attached to the inside top edge of the windshield. It works great, but I ran into a small problem. I originally had it wired to the headlight switch to keep power to it for the station memory. The radio and powered antenna draw a small amount of current even when the radio is turned off, about 0.14 amps. This is not a problem if the car is run every day, but if the car sits for a week or more at a time that amount will drain the battery. I now have it connected to the ignition switch, like the original mopar radio. This is OK, but now every time I turn it on I have to reset the tuning.

Dave

[Jim Yergin]

I have a new Sony radio/cd player in the glove box. It runs off of a 6 to 12 v inverter and I replaced the dash speaker with a dual cone stereo speaker. Dave

Dave,

What dual cone stereo speaker did you install and where did you get it? Thanks.

Jim Yergin

[busycoupe]

I got the speaker on the top left of this page:

http://www.soundmove.com/speakers_and_amps.htm

I was not sure of how much room there was, so I bought the 5 x7 inch model and held it in place with a couple of strips of metal, one across the top, one across the bottom. The original speaker was 7 inches in dia. and as I was mounting the 5 x 7 it seemed like there was a lot of extra room. Perhaps a 6 x 9 would fit, I'm not sure. I have a D24, a P15 may be slightly different.

Dave

[Jim Yergin]

Dave,

Thank you very much. I have been using a 12 volt converter to play my satellite radio through a small stereo amplifier but can use only one of the stereo channels to connect to my monaural speaker.

Jim Yergin

[TJM70's_48]

Jim,

You can merge the stereo signal into mono with two small resistors (2k, 3,k, 10k etc) on the back side of the jack - one on each channel and then tie the resistors together to feed the combined signal to a mono speaker.

I explained it better in an earlier post about modifying my radio...

http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=16566&highlight=radio

Tom

[Jim Yergin]

Thanks Tom.

Jim Yergin

[norrism1]

I have a Mopar model 830 I pulled out of a car in the junk yard. Can't remember now if it was the 49 or 51. Anybody needs it can have it for shipping. Powered it up and was getting a buzz in the speaker.

[mackster]

thank you guys for the offers, im planning on piecing one together with several pieces...i just want that radio working!

[jakenoklahoma]

Had it on EvilBay, no bites. Out of a Cranbrook, not sure what year.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140501388301&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEUSX%3AIT

email me at twoidiotsavants@gmail.com if anyone is interested.

[Rodney Bullock]

Mackster, one of the best things I ever did was to get my radio rebuilt by a company in Florida, They put a solid state board in my radio and the inverter. I can get stations from far far way. They are very clear. I love driving my car to shows in other states just so I can hear the different signals I will pick up. The company uses the face and the selector from your stock radio and that's all. I think having a radio connects you and on long trips it's that person to keep you company:)

[53_Suburban]

Like busycoupe I put a radio/tape player in my Suburbans glovebox. Since I'm still running 6 volt I rigged up one of those rechargeable camping power sources for power. It will run the tape player for 4 or 5 hours and the radio at least twice that long. Since I don't do long trips it works just fine. I spliced one of those cigarette lighter adapters into the power wires so it just unplugs and goes into the house to recharge.

I put a pair of 5" speakers in the rear trim panels.

I recently scored a working stock AM radio off ebay. Haven't installed it yet but it bench tested just fine (for an AM radio anyway). Someday I'll get around to installing it, but when I do I think I'll keep the one in the glovebox to play all my 50's and 60's music tapes and FM radio.

[Young Ed]

When that rechargeable pack dies get one of the 6-12v invertors. Then you can have an unlimited power supply. They run about 100 bucks from the couple places that have them.

[mackster]

Mackster, one of the best things I ever did was to get my radio rebuilt by a company in Florida, They put a solid state board in my radio and the inverter. I can get stations from far far way. They are very clear. I love driving my car to shows in other states just so I can hear the different signals I will pick up. The company uses the face and the selector from your stock radio and that's all. I think having a radio connects you and on long trips it's that person to keep you company:)

I like what you did Rodney! i think its the best way to go! i will do that on my other car...for the plymouth i want to stay all stock...