The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay The Radio Bench radio question

Is an orginal radio from a 1953 GMC the same as a Chevy? I under stood the GMC to be positive ground and the Chevy negative however the part number for the radio is the same 986443. I found a straight back radio which I believe to be a 986443 radio but the desplay says GMC.Thank you for any help.

It's all in the hookup of the radio, as long as the ground has a
negative return and a positive feed it doesn't matter how the
system in the truck is wired.

dg

Thanks Denny, I wanted to be sure as these radios are GOLD. I will give it a try and report back.

I am stealing this thread, no apologies. (I grow weary of all the insincere apologies for stealing threads.)
What was the reason for positive ground in the first place? You may now have your thread back. Thank you.

I hope you are prepared for a lot of BS opinions and "facts"?

I'm not even gonna get involved with that one.
I think the only way to know that for sure is
to find one of the decision makers at GMC and
get an explanation from him. Of course, he would
have to be a hundred years old now.

But if anyone here should know, that would
be Charlie.

DG

ok, i will venture in. gmc considered their trucks better than chevrolets and therefore felt the gmc had to start more reliably. gmc engineers knew that a dc battery circuit natural flow is from neg. to positive and thought that going with the natural flow instead of against; positive ground would give that greater starting capablity.

And that my friends is why the entire industry uses negative ground systems now days.
Dang, I swore I wasn't gonna get into this one.
DG

hey, i thought "bs" opinions meant "better starting:

Here is a little bit of history on the original radio question. I believe the AD radios for GMC and Chev were made on the same line. The GMV radio has a different number on the metal tag and the sticker inside was different. I worked on one that had both stickers inside!

My GMC Radio does not have any tags out side or inside however a decal fell out of it when I removed the back. The decal says Radios and wheel covers, 2718 Koper Dr., Sterling Hts, Michigan 48077. Phone 313-977-7979, When I called the number it was disconnected and an internet search got zero results. Just to be safe I found a local radio club and the president gave me a member to contact to have it checked out. More to follow. I know I am being super cautious. One of my many sicknesses.

That is a very decent looking chassis. They don't always look that nice when I first open them!