Reproduction Parts for 1916-1964 Chevrolet Passenger Cars & 1918-1987 Chevrolet & GMC Trucks
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When I bought my 41, it came with a bunch of parts…some still in their Delco boxes and others used but excellent shape and some pretty worn. In the junk (good junk) i found three radios and all looked about the same vintage, but I know nothing about them. Of the three, the best one had the back cover off of it and I really expected parts to be missing but on closer examination I found it appearing complete, no evidence of tinkering or removing parts. I got brave and took it to my bench and hooked it up to 6 volts DC and to my surprise the radio lit up. The front dial bulb came on and looking into the back side, the vacuum tubes were aglow. Raising the volume to max, it made a humming through the speakers and when I moved the dial across it’s range the tone never changed. I didn’t have an easy way to connect an antennae so who knows. This radio looks to be worth investing in a rebuild or repair by a qualified person. Of course, I have no clue if the forum knows of someone doing that sort of thing. Does anyone know someone who does this kind of work?
My dash looks really bare without a radio in the empty holes. I thought I would put one of the three radios in the dash for appearances. I can get music in the car if I hide a JBL portable speaker blue toothed to my phone.
Ray Holland (Antique Mechanic) on the old forum was the go to man for radios but havent seen him on this forum if he is still in circulation. He is an elderly gentleman so he may have called it retirement time.
Tony
@anthony-williamson Tony, Ray passed a few months ago. I'm not aware of anyone doing that work in the club but there are shops that advertise that service in Hemmings Motor News.
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Hi Jerry. I have a 41 SD as well. My car had the radio delete panel in it but I wanted some music while I was driving. I bought an original (non working radio) from a member here and sent it to someone in PA to be converted with new electronics (I know that's not popular, but I didn't want to be confined to AM radio).
Happy to discuss approx costs, experiences, and contact if you want to discuss further.
Scott
Saddened to hear of Ray's passing he always had good information for anyone who asked. I hadnt heard of Ray for sometime. There are a lot of the regulars on the old forum that havent switched over.
Tony
@scott-crawford I thought about that. The radio that appears complete in my collection of three may not need much to get it working. I can always hide a bluetooth speaker for tunes if it comes to that. But, please message me with the Pennsylvania person just in case. Thanks Scott.
This is who did my radio. https://retroradio.biz/
His site lists that he does restorations too. He had to do some fabrication on mine (one of the pop-out preset buttons was missing and he was able to turn one and make them work). The one part he wasn't able to really address (and he really worked on it).....the aftermarket pushbuttons were created poorly and don't really lock in place. He ordered a second set and tried to improve on them.
For my use, I don't really use the presets (or even FM) anyway...I listen to bluetooth and just twist the tuning knob to go to the next song. The instructions for the kit that was installed reference a tube-warmup feature to emulate the original radio.
@scott-crawford That’s certainly an option. I’m going to contact them.
I used Gary Tayman from Sarasota Fl. Gary did a supurb job for me on my 50 radio wiring it for 6 volt, and 4 channel stereo. He provided a pair of 2 channel speakers of which one mounted in the dash and the second in the rear package deck. Other options which I did not choose were the delayed start, audio input jack, blue tooth compatability and more. He responds to after market questions and is tops in my book. The radio cannot be discerned from the original and the sound is fantastic. his e-mail is garytayman.com
@bob-remm Thanks, Bob for your reply. I’m going to send him a message and ask him about my radio and any options he may have. I’m sure that’s a fairly expensive fix for the radio, but I want my radio to look original and sound decent. Only thing you mentioned that you put one speaker in the dash grill and another in the rear deck. I’m guessing the sound is not stereo since it takes two speakers front and rear to get stereo.
The speakers Gary provided are twin channel speakers. Each speaker is comprised of two seperate speakers built into one frame. Each speaker has four wiring connections. All together, I have four channels; two in front and two in the rear. The radio output has 8 wires; right front; right rear; left front; left rear. Gary suggested crossing the backseat wiring (right rear wires to the left rear speaker channel) to give a better stereo effect. It works!! Color me happy.
@bob-remm Cool, Bob. I have a couple things to do before I start working on the radio. Thanks for the advice.
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