The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay The Radio Bench 55-59 speaker help...

The work on the 1955-1959 radio work is mostly done, however I have a question about the speaker. Hopefully somebody has one and can help here. As I recall, the 1955 (second series) through the 1959 speaker was a common 5" by 7" model. Image attached. This speaker was interesting in that the screw/nut pattern was actually a square having roughly 4 3/8 inches between each point (even though the optical illusion of the oval made it appear like it wasn't). Could anybody help by confirming this?

For whatever reason I had trouble posting this...let me try again.

If anyone with a Task Force truck which has no speaker in it could just reach in and press a piece of common copy paper over the screws and measure the distance between them, it would be helpful. Thanks! (The speaker is the only thing holding up the work on this project.)

My '57 GMC is long gone so I can't measure, but 5x7 may be too big for the speaker enclosure on 55.2-59 Chevy/GMC truck. The speaker mounted inside a box that mounted to the cab above the windshield between the sun visors.

Here is Classic Parts chrome version of the speaker box. They say that the part is 8.25x7.25x5.25, but I don't remember it being that big and the picture of the cover doesn't look like a 8.25 by 7.25 ratio of width vs. height.

I "measured" the PICTURE of the cover. Assuming the 8.25" horizontal measurement is correct AND that the picture is true in its horizontal to vertical ratio dimensions then the vertical dimension would be around 5 1/2", not the 7 1/4" advertised. So maybe it would fit.

Thanks Bill. With other radio projects I'm working on I had my mind in a different spot and was not thinking of the roof box. All of them had the hole for the speaker but may or may not have the cover, yes?

Correct.

Can anyone with a late 1955 through 1959 Chevy truck measure the dimensions of the speaker box (center to center of the screw holes as for width and length)? Also, I need to know the depth of the speaker box. Thanks.

None of my 58-59`s have a speaker box or I would be glad to.

Thank you very much for responding. Let's see if anyone has this box. If not, I will just sell the radio by itself and let people use aftermarket speakers in kick panels or behind the seat.

My '57 has no speaker or box and no holes in the inner roof panel.

Thanks very much. It is looking like there will be no speaker offered for these models and the owners will have to mount one of their own choosing. So far the responses have all been that the trucks had no boxes installed. Thanks again!

I have a 95% stock '55 2nd Series; no radio. Where is this mysterious speaker box located? Under the dash, or behind the seat? If you give me a clue where to look, I'll take another look, haven't seen anything so far.

Middle of the cab, just over where the rear view mirror mounts.

As Bill says. Up there between the visors.

Nope, nothing there.

Jon G----Maybe this bit of info will help. My 57, 3100, 265v8 had no radio from factory. I acquired a stock speaker box and have a couple stock radios on hand. Still in process of finishing the interior of cab---new wiring harness, fuel tank, deluxe heater and radio (some day), etc..... Most TF trucks came stock with no radio, and many in southern climes had no heater at all from factory. I believe that most radios and a lot of heaters were dealer installed accessories. I have found good luck getting install info from dealer 'accessory installalation' manual. My stock speaker box is in place but no speaker in it, but did run wire for it when doing body work on interior, prior to intr paint. I can remove the speaker box and get measurements if needed. I do recall that speaker box installed by (4) long screws and that speaker actually mounts to (4) small, (separate) bolts which are part of the speaker box. I remember drilling holes for the speaker body itself and it took awhile as the holes required are quite large! Please advise by PM if you could use some info from me.
Delky dave in snowy WYO.

Thanks Geoff and Dave,
The only image I've been able to find (which is for a GMC) is shown below. At this point I've received enough responses (via this post, via email and in a PM) that I believe (a) either some Chevy trucks did not have this speaker location while others did (b) GMC was different from Chevrolet and (c) coming up with anything that works for everyone probably isn't possible. I'm waiting for a response from a long time friend whose dad owned a 1956 Chevy. It did have a radio and he'll remember but he does work in various ministries so it may be a while before he answers. Thanks again very much for all the help.

Jon G - I don't have one to measure, but do have some other supporting documentation with diagrams that may prove helpful for your project and fellow Bolters interested in the 1955.2-59 truck radio accessory kit. I have an original 1957 Chevy Car and Truck Accessory Installation Resource Manual which provides "almost" everything needed for the accessory radio kit installation. The only thing not included in the manual is the "template" for marking the speaker installation location for mounting holes and original speaker cut out. Apparently that was only included in the radio accessory kit itself.

Anyhow, below are pictures of all the related installation instructions and drawings involved with the radio in the 1955.2-59 Chevy trucks. The page immediately following the cover picture are for the inside rearview mirror accessory install which ties into the ceiling mounted speaker. The remaining pages are the full installation instructions for the entire radio kit. Hope this might provide a little more light on the subject.

Thanks very much, Dan. It looks like 1...you need the template with the center hole locations and 2...you need to have the 3.5 inch metal hole saw to cut the "oval" shape by making two side by side holes. 3...if you don't like what has been done, you'll have some serious work to recover from it. I believe that's why the people who have replied have no cutout up there. Their truck didn't come with a radio, no dealership ever installed one and so there isn't anything for them to see.

Now for another comment: two 3.5 inch circles will at best make a "sort of" oval about 5 inches wide unless those two circles are so close together that they make an oval of 4". Even then it will not be a true oval as you can see if you make two 3.5" circles with a compass. And cutting this opening isn't a gentle process at all. The template evidently is gone now. I did some searching for it and I found this: 1956 Chevy Truck Speaker Installation Part 1

The friend I mentioned replied and said the speaker in their 56 had been put underneath the dash...downward from the radio somehow. My guess is his dad did it not wanting to mess up the cab's interior.

Maybe I'm wrong but I think hiding speakers under the dash might be the best option so I'm just going to offer the radio by itself. Thanks again!

Understood Jon! For anyone interested, here's 1956 Chevy Truck Speaker Installation Part 2.

Jon G - Just a note here that you might want to reach out to fellow Bolter "8man". He just recently posted a picture of his '55 Cameo cab ceiling in his DITY Gallery thread and it shows the cutout and mounting screw holes for the ceiling mounted speaker you've been hunting for. Bet he would measure it and provide you the details you need.