I know there are dealers who will sell retro radios for any given (Chevy) truck year. But I really don't want to spend the big bucks just to play some local AM stations on my tinny speaker(s). Besides, I like keeping this hobby as hands-on as possible.
My '55 First Series is 6 volt and I've decided to convert to 12 volts -- most of the replacement gear is now in-hand so one of the last items to fix is the radio. Yes, the 6 volt tuber is completely toasted so I might as well look to a 12 volt unit instead.
What I propose to do is to either yank the guts out of the tuber and replace them with a 60's radio innards, or a distant second choice would be to try and directly mount a later model radio into the dash.
Because of the uniqueness of the front end on the tuber (dial and knobs), as it fits the curved dash, methinks the former idea may be my best choice.
Seems to me that if I can find a more "modern" basic dial-only radio (ie, '64 Chevelle?) with adjustable front-end stems, I might be able to
adapt it to the old chassis. The stems need to be 7" OC apart in order to fit the dash cutouts.
What I would like is some input from folks who have done just what I propose, or at least some idea of what donor radios might be promising for my project.
