I have noticed in my Sam's books that other companies such as Motorola, made radios to fit in GM cars. They seemed to be similar but not identical in appearance. I am curious as to how these radios were marketed and whether Chevy dealers actually sold them

They were often installed by "out side" sources as well as Chevrolet dealers.The dealer that I worked for installed many Motorolas in the 1960-64 years.They looked like and fit like a Chevrolet radio,gave no problems and COST LESS.In the pre-war years they were seen in about 10% of the radio equipped Chevrolets -as I remember.My 1941 had one
as does my present 1963 Corvair.
Chevrolet was never happy with the dealers that installed the moto's...They lost a lot of radio sales due to it.Later when they placed the antenna in the windshiels it put a stop to it.To get the W/S antenna the car had to be ordered with a radio from the factory.
There were several other brands available but the Moto was most common in these parts.

Gene,
that is very interesting. I was also interested in the GM reaction to the installation of non GM radios. Around our parts, even the major oil companies did some arm twisting if you didn't sell their brand of everything.

Fred

Those Motorola radios looked VERY similar to a Chev radio and worked just fine. When I purchased my '54 back in 1977 (basically from the original owner), it was very original. It had a dealer installed Motorola push button radio. Looked very similar to the Chev radio, but no bow tie. I didn't change it until I took it to my first natl meet in Santa Rosa in 1986. With Ray Holland's help with a Chev radio and a few other 'small-ish' items (like correct hoses and clamps and so on) the car scored a lot of points.

I just came across this 61-62 MOTOROLA radio on e bay. I have one in the shop and as I remember the chassis is much smaller than the Delco
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=95154&item=6533477066&rd=1
John

The chassis as well as the box they came in was smaller Also used a different ohm speaker.Seemed to work as good as a Delco...I have one in my '63 Corvair that was installed when car was new -by Braeger Chevrolet in Milwaukee.We ordered truck load shippments of them and brought the price down well below the Chevrolet cost.Our dealership was connected with Braeger at that time.
Also if we had a bad one it could just be exchnaged for a new one.The Delco had to be sent out for repair.