Period Radio

[CJG]

I am considering possibly fitting a period radio to my 1962 TR4 (positive earth, original dynamo). Is this a good idea, or will it just drain the battery in record time?

Most of the positive earth radios I have seen have been AM only - are there any suitable FM radios?

If there are, what do I need to do to fit it. There is a blanking plate for the head unit, but I have no idea where to fit the speaker(s) and have no intention of making any holes where there wouldn't have been in 1962!

 

Thank you.

[RogerH]

1962 radios were pretty basic Long Wave and Medium wave. FM would be very rare on a car radio of this period.

 

When you say speakers you don;t mean stereo as this was not avaiable either.

One speaker would be ample but the whole thing wouldn't be very loud.

 

However you can get updated gubbin's for a period Motorola/Radiomobile - FM/AM MP3 with more powerful internal amp.

Have a look around the shows or the adverts in the monthly mags - no not those mags, the car mags.

 

Roger

[Smokey]

I have fitted an original Triumph-Bendix AM radio in my TR4 for nostalgic reasons - that's what I had in the 1965 TR4 that I drove for 50,000 miles in the late 1960s. It has a switch on the back for polarity, so I was able to use positive ground, and the car had a period speaker box on the transmission tunnel with an original Smiths speaker. If I recall correctly, my original '65 had the speaker mounted horizontally under the dash/facia. I guess the dealers each had their own way of mounting them. I use a period Hirschmann red-tip retracting antenna to ease the use of a car cover and to drop the antenna when I park. It all works just as I remember it forty years ago - the stations fading in and out on a long highway trip. I would listen to three innings of a baseball game somewhere, and never find out who won. There's no issue with battery drain - it's a transistor radio. You can find original TR4 speaker boxes on ebay fairly regularly, but a Triump radio in good shape is pricey. I'm very happy with mine.

[TR 2100]

I am considering possibly fitting a period radio to my 1962 TR4 (positive earth, original dynamo).

If there are, what do I need to do to fit it.

 

 

Make sure you get the radio face plate - you will need this for fixing.

Many of the radios I have seen on eBay do not come with a face plate.

There were two or three different designs of face plate - it doesn't

matter which one you have - they are interchangeable.

 

An alternative, not very cheap though, is to have a modern unit built

into the original casing. There are specialists who do this, but I don't

know what the options are (or what you would want).

 

AlanR

[marty1972uk]

Hi Guys,

 

I used Retrosound's model one in my 4a, with a faceplate from a broken radiomobile - it looks fine for mine in a period/modern sort of way, and so i didnt have to hack any holes for speakers I made a new rear seat cushion with mdf and sunk my speakers into it and covered it in red vinyl..... not everyones taste, but great for if i want to sell the car on in the future!

 

Martin

[MikeF]

How period do you want to be? Or rather what period?

 

My car came with a period radio; it is authentically old looking with push buttons working string-operated tuner, 2 FM buttons, L and 2 M and a cassette player. Clearly this not "correct" early 60's radio, but according to PO receipt a "retro" radio was fitted in 1987. So I consider it representative of a top technology radio as would be fitted by a 2^nd or 3^rd owner in I think late 60's early 70's .

It works OK up to about 50 top off and 70 top on. Above those speeds it's too noisy to hear - its power is pretty puny.

 

FWIW: Casual observers think its authentic old kit, for some reason they nearly always remark on it, usually after they have said what a lot of gauges these old MGs had. J

 

I inherited 2 speakers in boxes on the floor back of car. They are notionally screwed to car but actually the screws just tangle in carpet. As I have MX5 seats I will one day put speakers in the head rests, meanwhile they are invisible and work well as can be expected.

 

It is a Smiths I think, which back then was licenced from Motorola and autoamtically detected polarity change when I put in alternator, which is just as well as working over several breaks I forgot to check this myself.

 

Mike

Edited April 17, 2010 by MikeF

[Vila]

CJG

 

As you know, triumph did not supply radios from the factory in 1962, but several radios were available from dealers some of which even have the TRIUMPH logo on the face.

 

The attached link ( http://www.nicolamarras.it/tr4/radio/radio.html ) shows the Bendix R2BT4, one of the radios originally supplied for 1962 Triumphs. This is the radio I have for my 62 TR4. The 2 in R2BT4 identifies this is a 1962 radio, where the numbers 3, 4, 5, etc identify the years 1963, 1964, and 1965, etc.

 

As far as the radio bracket, this radio does not use a face plate other than what you see in the picture, which if required for the radio to function. The radio bracket on the 1962 TR4s was originally mounted backward from what you see in later TR4s, it curved inwards towards the firewall rather than outward. This allowed for the radio faceplate to fit in the space in the bracket, and if not mounted in this manner you can not intall the radio. It would not fit. The the bracket only has 3 small holes. Two holes are for the control shafts and the other is for the back lighting bulb to go through. The face of the radio is removed, the control shafts and bulb then go thru the bracket and the face of the radio is mounted on the front side.

 

Several times a year I see a Bendix R2BT4 listed on ebay, and they normally go for around $75 to $95. It then cost me another $40 to have the face plate chrome plated.

 

The original style speaker and enclosure also show up on ebay quite frequently and they go for around $25 to $35. The speaker is mounted up under the dash near the glove box.

 

I have an engineering drawing of the bracket, showing the exact location and size of the 3 small hole and it also shows the front identifed as I discussed above. If you would like a copy of the drawing, contact me thru my website email link at: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze114b79/

 

Vila

1933 Chevrolet

1962 Triumph TR4

1984 BMW 633 CSi

[4Mal]

My TR4 is now negative earth and I have a period Blaupunkt radio from Koenigs - klassic.

 

Just for info, they also do a polarity changer so that neg earth radios can be fitted in pos earth cars

 

http://www.koenigs-klassik.de/_additional_equipment_/_additional_equipment_.html