My Car Finally Has a Radio!

[P72Ford]

So after a year and a half of driving with no radio, I finally broke down and installed one.

The major hang up was the huge mess someone made of the factory harness. Lets just say it was ruined. Between yesterday and today, a friend and I worked it all out.

The only thing I had to deal with was some speaker wires (the ones in the door were very well hidden; the rear wires were totally intact), and a mess of a harness up front. Using a multimeter I managed to work out what wires were for what speakers, and got my speaker harness together (this was faster and less painstaking than running new wires). From there it was just a few power wires, and I was set. I got some (pardon my car audio illiteracy) radio from Sony and a matching set of speakers. My friend bought them for me because I am entirely useless on the subject of car audio.

I did not move my gauge cluster in the radio housing, so I had to mount the radio in the glovebox, which is a fabulous location for it. It is very slick and well hidden, which is important seeing as I have inoperable door locks on the front doors. I have yet to make the final mounting bracket for the glovebox. Maybe some pics when that happens.

Overall, a fun project that was really easy. The longest part was mounting the speakers so that they looked almost factory. Mission accomplished.

[nitroracer]

A year and a half?! :jawdrop:


I drove my first box for about three days before I had to replace the radio in it, mostly produced static and occasionally had music. Drove me insane trying to keep it tuned in to something! I drove my zephyr for maybe a month with no radio at all, much less stressful but still a month too long.


Go enjoy some tunes!

[1987cp]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Can't wait to see pictures!

[boXman]

good lord I couldnt go a day without tuneage...over a year?!

[1987cp]

I'm actually doing okay without tunes in the car, even on drives longer than a half-hour.

[gadget73]

I re-installed my factory radio in the Lincoln when I got it since it was in the trunk. That was a Thursday. Saturday found me at Best Buy purchasing a radio that cost more than the car ($140 for the radio, car cost me $100). Could not stand the horrible sound and terrible reception from the stock POS.

[87_crown_vic]

i never use stock speaker wiring in these cars since they use a common ground. get better sound quality by running new speaker wires thru the car. only harness i use is the power wiring and speaker wires get ran thru the car. biggest pain for me was fishing the wires into the doors. my car didnt originally have door speakers, but it looks like they were made there. people at SF saw the setup i had, i ran extra wiring since they were the illuminites that light up with blue led's connected to switches on the dash. i have pictures listed on here some where. i would put a stock radio in and do a stereo mounted in the glove box, but it would be a pain in the ass to change cd's, or change the radio station.

[86VickyLX]

i never use stock speaker wiring in these cars since they use a common ground. get better sound quality by running new speaker wires thru the car. only harness i use is the power wiring and speaker wires get ran thru the car. biggest pain for me was fishing the wires into the doors. my car didnt originally have door speakers, but it looks like they were made there. people at SF saw the setup i had, i ran extra wiring since they were the illuminites that light up with blue led's connected to switches on the dash. i have pictures listed on here some where. i would put a stock radio in and do a stereo mounted in the glove box, but it would be a pain in the ass to change cd's, or change the radio station.

I remember that. You did a really nice job. It sucks that the dash pad cracked though. Speaking of Baby, did you get that header panel fixed yet?

[yucatec]

Dear Panthers,
I'm a cranky old dude and all the new radios looked like Wurlitzers. Since I wanted a radio with some dignity, I bought an old blauplunkt w/ preamp (mounted where the ashtray used to be) off ebay. The kids who installed my sony speakers had a hell of a time with that common ground but the old cassette player feeds my Ibook/itunes stored in the contractor's console between the front seats. My oil, temp and backup gauges are out of the way on the A pillar. I've got five days of music stored for long trips but rarely play it for more than three or four hours at a stretch. The radio? Rarely play it.
Donald McCaig

[Nathan in MI]

Can you post some pictures of your Blaupunkt set, Donald? I hate the look of most of the new aftermarket radios, too. They look so out of place in a box.

[Tiggie]

I likey me stock radios. But then again, the factory radio in teh '82 is actually an Audiovox SPS and not Ford.

[87_crown_vic]

in response to 86vickylx.......

i am trying to get a 1987 MGM now to drive so i can tear down the front of Baby and get new pieces. i would then want to take the car in for a 2 tone paint job. no rush on Baby since i need a new windshield in the MGM i am getting, and also wanna get Deuce running. Baby will be a backup or hand me down to Donnas son, the Mgm will be a driver, Deuce will be a toy and i was wanting the Edsel or the 59 Galaxie have have in a different post as a hobby/show car.

[86VickyLX]

in response to 86vickylx.......

i am trying to get a 1987 MGM now to drive so i can tear down the front of Baby and get new pieces. i would then want to take the car in for a 2 tone paint job. no rush on Baby since i need a new windshield in the MGM i am getting, and also wanna get Deuce running. Baby will be a backup or hand me down to Donnas son, the Mgm will be a driver, Deuce will be a toy and i was wanting the Edsel or the 59 Galaxie have have in a different post as a hobby/show car.
Oh I understand. Besides this broken windshield, how does that Merc look?

[87_crown_vic]

i dont wanna thread jack so i will PM ya

[P72Ford]

i never use stock speaker wiring in these cars since they use a common ground. get better sound quality by running new speaker wires thru the car.

Good info, but I wasn't trying to get that in depth. We'll start with the small stuff.

As for comments about modern radios looking too advanced for a box; I AGREE 100%. Thats partially why mine is in the glovebox.

[gadget73]

Honestly if the stock Ford radios didn't suck I'd probably run one too. Don't really like my Kenwood all that much, but it was cheap.

[boXman]

My cars that have had premium sound rawked. My Colony Park, didn't even need to turn that up half way and it was loud. My '88 sound great with a cd walkman hooked up.

[gabegt90]

mang I can't drive without the tunes

[yucatec]

Dear Panthers,
Nathan asked for pics of my stodgy radio.
Donald McCaig

[Nathan in MI]

Heeeeey, now there's a radio that looks like it belongs in there! :drool:

Does it have audio inputs for say, a CD player or an iPod? Wonder how hard it'd be to scrounge one of those units up....

Thanks for the pictures, Donald!

[P72Ford]

My cars that have had premium sound rawked. My Colony Park, didn't even need to turn that up half way and it was loud. My '88 sound great with a cd walkman hooked up.

I actually have a premium sound radio, in addition to a stash of other ford radios. Not sure if it works though.

[yucatec]

Dear Panthers,
Nathan asked:" Does it have audio inputs for say, a CD player or an iPod? Wonder how hard it'd be to scrounge one of those units up...."

No audio inputs. I have been using a sony cassette/to computer adapter to play itunes but that just broke so I think I'll get one of those ipod radio transmitters which should do the same trick wirelessly. The BP is fine sound but (I live in the mountains) isn't real good at picking up faint radio signals. I almost bought a BP Mexico which picks up shortwave too. I imagine both are common on ebay. Donald McCaig

[Nathan in MI]

Got a model number for it, by chance?

[yucatec]

Dear Panthers,
Mine is a "Dusseldorf". As I said, the shortwave version is the "Mexico". Both are older radios - mine is removable. I'm in Illinois and my radio manual (and perhaps part#) are back in Virginia. I'll post Nathan privately when I get home Tuesday.

Donald McCaig

[Nathan in MI]

Thanks, mang! :2up:

[Archangel]

Actually my radio seems real nice, sound is loud and clean and reception is good too - maybe I just got lucky?

[gadget73]

Actually my radio seems real nice, sound is loud and clean and reception is good too - maybe I just got lucky?

88+ premium sound radios, especially Lincoln ones, are decent. The older ones are crap, lousy tuners, mechanical volume control thats all scratchy, and poor illumination. The purely mechanical ones were better, those early digital radios sucked.