Period Radios..

[morgy]

Hi..

Does anyone have any info on what radio would have been fitted to the late UK market or even US market cars assuming Shelby didn't fit them themselves circa 65/66/67..

Where would the radio have been fitted and where would the speakers have been installed, arial location..

Thanks
Mark

[LMH]

The optional radio was mounted on a plate that was attached to the cowl support tubes. Speaker was in the radio. On US spec cars, usually the antenna was on the right side behind the fuel tank. Not sure about UK cars. The bottom of the antenna protrudes into the boot. I have photos I can post later when I get to my computer.
Larry

[morgy]

That would be great!!
Looks like RH or drivers side as well for the antenna on UK cars looking at rinsey mills book..

[LMH]

Here's a couple photos showing a radio detail and mount. This would be typical for a CSX Cobra but I don't know if it would apply to a COX or COB car or not. Just so you know.
Most common radio chassis (though there were a couple others) would be a Motorola 324TC.





On the antenna, look for a "PM-300". I have some photos somewhere showing an antenna but can't find them at the moment. I'll post when I run across them. That's what happens when you have too many photos!

Larry

[Karl Bebout]

Larry, love the pictures. PATINA, ha.
That horse was rode hard and put to bed wet.

[ront49]

Never could find my radio, I know there is one cause I listen to the beautiful sound coming from the two pipes running down each side of the car. Sorry, I couldn't help myself on that one but I never had a radio on any of my Harley's either. Not knocking radio's, just love the sound of the machine.

[LMH]

I ran across a couple antenna photo's and thought I'd add them.

Antenna on CSX2310:


This is the boot side of the antenna. CSX2384:


Larry

[xb-60]

2310? Mr. Case's car?

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by xb-60

2310? Mr. Case's car?

"Mr. Case", just Dan will do. Yes, that antenna surrounded by black paint is in CSX2310.

Like most Cobra subjects radios and antenna in Cobras is a complicated subject.

Very early installations did not include COBRA lettering in the face glass I am told. I am not surprised by that as even sun visors and wind wings didn’t have COBRA lettering either most of the way through the first 100 cars if such parts were ordered.

Buyer beware; a Cobra owner had some unknown quantity of “COBRA” lettered replacement glasses made decades ago and distributed them. Some of the “COBRA” lettered units you see today MIGHT have been created by glass swaps.


Stock radios in a Cobra are not such a neat option in my opinion. The only speaker is a small one inside the radio chassis case and it points straight down to the transmission tunnel. In CSX2310 to hear it well enough to bother with the engine has to be off. That assumes I am close enough to an AM radio station that can stand to listen to.


The radio chassis is located in a terrible place for its own good as it lies directly under the heater unit. Any leakage of coolant from the heater drops directly on the top of the radio. The radio case is not a design intended to be in a wet location. Most cars that originally had radios lost them over time. I suspect leaking coolant probably claimed some of them. When we bought CSX2310 in 1983 it was plain to see that a small amount of coolant had reached the radio but not enough to get inside at some time in the past. Since 1983 I have used a piece of black plastic sheet to cover the top of the radio as a little protection just in case.


427 Cobras and radios? Different subject I have not studied in depth.

[rsk289]

Mark, I doubt radios were fitted by SA on cars coming back to Europe. My experience of Mustangs etc. (where radios make a little more sense - but not much), is that US broadcast frequencies differed from UK ones so a US-installed period radio will not work in the UK. Obviously one could still be fitted for appearance's sake, but it's unlikely AC dealerships here in the UK would sell cars fitted with unusable radios. My guess is COB radios were all dealer-fitted, so anything of the right period would be 'correct'. I'd be looking at Radiomobile, Motorola, HMV - anything that was fitted in (for example) a Jag would be right, I'd think. We'd moved away from bulky separate valve amps by '66, thank heavens.

[morgy]

Originally Posted by rsk289

Mark, I doubt radios were fitted by SA on cars coming back to Europe. My experience of Mustangs etc. (where radios make a little more sense - but not much), is that US broadcast frequencies differed from UK ones so a US-installed period radio will not work in the UK. Obviously one could still be fitted for appearance's sake, but it's unlikely AC dealerships here in the UK would sell cars fitted with unusable radios. My guess is COB radios were all dealer-fitted, so anything of the right period would be 'correct'. I'd be looking at Radiomobile, Motorola, HMV - anything that was fitted in (for example) a Jag would be right, I'd think. We'd moved away from bulky separate valve amps by '66, thank heavens.

Thanks for the replies...

Agreed SA probably wouldn't have fitted as an option but dealer fitted.. I am more interested in what was actually fitted to COB/COX cars Thames ditton cars Photos/model numbers etc to give me an idea.. It may not have been a "Good" Option to have in a "cobra" but when your car WAS fitted with one it should really have one, Shouldn't it? Whether it was dealer retro fitted or Factory fitted is another discussion i guess.. As my car was Supplied by HW motors it could safe to assume an Aston martin Radio could be a good bet.. Who knows???
The Original Owner can not remember much about the car at all as he only had it for around 6-8 months.. but the original bill of sale shows a radio

[rsk289]

I've not had access to a UK/European market car that had a radio fitted from new, so can't advise I'm afraid.

I think best advice is to look at what was being fitted to UK Jags and so on in period. The choice isn't wide, probably just Motorola, HMV or Radiomobile, regardless of what car they were installed in. Some of the UK vintage radio specialists should be able to help. For some cars the radio was branded - there are Motorolas out there with 'Jaguar' on the tuning strip - but I doubt this was the case for UK Cobras as the market was tiny. I don't know!

[morgy]

Originally Posted by rsk289

I've not had access to a UK/European market car that had a radio fitted from new, so can't advise I'm afraid.

I think best advice is to look at what was being fitted to UK Jags and so on in period. The choice isn't wide, probably just Motorola, HMV or Radiomobile, regardless of what car they were installed in. Some of the UK vintage radio specialists should be able to help. For some cars the radio was branded - there are Motorolas out there with 'Jaguar' on the tuning strip - but I doubt this was the case for UK Cobras as the market was tiny. I don't know!

Cheers Roger,
Only issue i can see with Jag or Aston radios, didn't they have external speakers on the trans tunnel. Sorry my knowledge on those marques are not that great,

[rsk289]

I'm not a radio expert, as I usually rely on the soundtrack coming over the rear deck...
I've not seen a UK radio that had a speaker actually built in to the standard size radio casing. The US ones must have been different - every period UK radio I've ever played with (including in the sixties) had a separate speaker. Certainly my XK does, and my mate's DB6 does too.

[morgy]

Yes agreed... The Only COB/COX61 car i know of that had a radio was 6101 but no images of the radio..

[Ivygreen65]

This is the radio I restored and it shows the speaker location on the bottom of the unit. As others have stated, with its location 1” above the tunnel, the speaker is basically worthless.

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by Ivygreen65

This is the radio I restored and it shows the speaker location on the bottom of the unit. As others have stated, with its location 1” above the tunnel, the speaker is basically worthless.

Not totally, got you to expend resources

[Ivygreen65]

Originally Posted by Dan Case

Not totally, got you to expend resources

I said the speaker is worthless, not the radio 😉. I think the radio is one of the coolest looking accessories that you could add to these cars. I’ll have my phone and ear buds when I want music, but I have the radio just because it I love the look if it in the car.

[johno42]

Thanks Stacy, you made an old man happy.

John O

[Shuskan3]

I stripped most of the internals out of mine and wired in a Bluetooth amp/speaker off of Amazon that is powered with the power knob on the radio. It was small enough to fit inside the stock radio housing and not visible in the car. It works really well up to about 55mph, then wind noise takes over. All controllable from my phone.

But, as others have said, the really cool thing about these is mainly the looks. The 289 hi-po is good enough sound for me most days.