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#1447740 04/11/2022 6:23 PM
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 760
M
'Bolter
'Bolter
M Offline
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 760
I need to buy a radio or a delete plate for my 53 half ton truck. Since the delete plate cost is fairly high in my opinion, I'm leaning toward a radio. I see online, a company called Classic Car Stereos has one that they claim fits and looks good in the 53 dash. I'm curious if any of you have tried their basic model UA230 in one of your trucks. I'm not a real critical listener. I"m mostly curious about fit and appearance, but am interested in any info you can provide.


Mike Burns
1940 Chev 1/2 ton
1953 Chev 1/2 ton
1950 Studebaker Starlight Coupe
1947 Indian Chief
1943 Indian 741
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 226
K
'Bolter
'Bolter
K Offline
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 226
Looking at the one you say, appears to me it would fit the contour of the dash correctly.

I went with the Laguna radio from LMC when I did mine a couple years ago. It didn't fit exactly like I had hoped, but I made it work. I think this Classic one you show would fit better. Faceplate looks like it has that contour to match the dash. If I was doing it again, I would go with this Classic one.

Consider this though.....the quality of sound won't be as good as you would hope in one of these old trucks, especially with just the grill speaker. We had a speaker discussion a while back about adding speakers in the cab corners, which is what I did. That helps tremendously for volume and quality. 'jrhackett' did a sound bar horizontally right above the gas tank on his, looked real good.


Mike

1951 3100 5 window
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,660
B
Curmudgeon
Curmudgeon
B Offline
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,660
Mike if your truck is 6 volts you will also need a 6 to 12 converter.


"Adding CFM to a truck will only help at engine speeds you don't want to use."
"I found there was nothing to gain beyond 400 CFM."
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 261
N
'Bolter
'Bolter
N Offline
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 261
Retrosound (also Custom Autosound - seem to be the same company) fit nicely with no modification to the dash. At least I didn't need to modify mine. Below is the Custom Autosound 740.

NOTE the first radio I got for this was a Retrosound 230 (I believe) and it had the same fitment as this 740, same bezel and knobs even. So same thing, it fit great.

That's a 49 but "should" be the same dash.

I bought that one from Classic Car Stereos in California. Good service, even to remote northern BC!
Attachments
49 Custom Autosound 740.jpg (31.96 KB, 82 downloads)


1949 Chevrolet 3/4 Ton - Still Solid. Regular Driver
OT Vehicles:
1925 Hudson Brougham Super Six
1950 Chevrolet Styline (Parts)
1952 Canuck Pontiac Sedan Delivery (Well Underway)
1973 F250 4x4 Highboy
1977 F250 4x4 Lowboy

Moderated by  ndkid275, Phak1 

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