Fitting a Period(ish) Radio

[karlsgazelle]

I have this 70's Japanese Intel radio I got from a friend in Austria years ago, I'd like to fit in the Gazelle.

How were radios fitted to these cars? Where do(es) the speaker(s) go? Is there some kind of console I'd need to find? Where were the aerials located on these?

Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks
Karl

[OneCarefulOwner]

In order:
1 - under the dash or under/over the dashrail, on top of the transmission tunnel or in the glovebox (stealth install) in a pod - they're about a fiver;
2 - possibly in the top of the dash if the designers thought to accommodate it, otherwise wherever there's space - small self-contained speakerpods would go well either end of the dashrail;
3 - aftermarket generic consoles come onto FleaBay very infrequently - like I've seen 3 in the last 2 years since I started looking - and most wouldn't fit your car due to the position of the gearshift & trans. tunnel, the bench seat, etc. You might do better trying to build your own, adapted from the plentiful plans available to build them for Minis.
4 - aerials would go wherever the installer thought would be easiest to reach; front wings is an obvious call, roof also, but you can still get self-contained stick-on ones to go on the window behind the mirror if you don't want to go cutting up your panels & uprooting the headlining.

[TriumphDriver]

I'm definitely a fan of stick-on aeriels, they work well these days and hide behind the rear-view mirror so no drilling the bodywork.

[karlsgazelle]

Thanks for the replies on this.

I now have a working (of sorts, as it only seems to pick up Classic FM, suits me though) radio.

It's a bit of a bodge, like my usual standard of workmanship. But at least I can now listen to music and news on my commute.

P1030025.JPG (193.89 KiB) Viewed 2030 times

I did fit a stick on aerial, thanks for the suggestion.

P1030029.JPG (175.7 KiB) Viewed 2030 times

The unit itself is held on to brackets with cable ties though and the speaker didn't quite fit on the shelf so it resides under the front passenger seat.

P1030026.JPG (236.1 KiB) Viewed 2030 times

Cheers
Karl

[OneCarefulOwner]

It may be a non-standard location, but that speaker looks really nice in the box there. Is that part of an old stereo from a charity shop/garage sale/the back of the attic?

[karlsgazelle]

Thanks. The speaker came from an old Ford enthusiast just down the road from me and cost me £8.50 .

Karl

[JPB]

Looks to me very much like an extension speaker/stereo adaptor amp thingy for a record player, like one of the enormous Clarke & Smith ones that seemed to be standard issue to every primary school in the land, back in the 60s.
Love it!

RE the poor sensitivity: With one of those window jobbies, you'll need to trim the aerial quite a bit to get decent reception, especially if the set had previously been used with an external aerial. There should be a small screw under one of the knobs for doing this.
Also, for FM, it should work better vertically orientated which wouldn't affect its AM performance but might improve FM reception no end, as would attaching the earth cable as close to the aerial itself as is practical, rather than trailing the braid all the way down the screen to connect to earth.