The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1954 Chevy Truck Radio

I have just acquired a 54 Chevy Truck Radio---My ? is I want to have it updated and restored-but I would really like to have it made into an FM radio with the same look of the Old 54 Chevy Truck Radio----Is this a possible thing to be done? Any idea how much this might cost in $$$? Who does this kind of work? Has anyone here had it done where and how much? Thanks for your RHuddle. I will be posting pics of my old 54 Chevy Truck later this week. Thanks

You might get a late 80's model and fabricate some stuff - that might work....Anybody else got any suggestions?

Check this outfit out, R

Antique Car Radio

I have not purchased from this vendor, so I cannot offer recommendations, good or bad, but this website has been here a few years now.

just got a price from elctro tech . [email protected]. 740.00 with a 10 disc cd changer. still looks orginal. ron

RHuddle56,

I had a 1954 truck radio repaired and converted to have an FM tuner. All original parts were repaired and the new FM tuner was added - it is so small that it is placed inside the original box. $400 for repair of the 6v original radio plus addition of 6v FM tuner. Norman's Class Auto Radio, 727-546-1788. It was returned quickly and works fine.

He is listed in Hemmings Motor News

Shop around for price and warranty - they all use the same solid-state FM circuit board. Be sure to be specific about what cosmetic repairs you expect (dial glass, trim plate, cardboard cover, foam front seal, etc).

Tim

Chevs of the 40's offers a service where they install an FM tuner in your AM radio. I don't remember how much they want for it, but it may be worth checking into.

I wouldn't rip up a rare radio to convert it to solid state, but the FM board is a reversible modification that taps into the AM tube circuitry before the audio amplifier. FM reception requires significantly more than the 5 tubes it takes for the AM radio to work, so you can't just convert the AM circuitry to work on FM.

The '54 factory radios are very scarce because they were only made for 1.5 years.

RHuddle-

As the owner of '54 who's been shopping for an eBay special, I agree with 4ontheFloor, they are indeed rare. Several folks in the OldGMCtrucks forum have had radios refurbished with new guts, knobs and pushbuttons. I'm pondering making a mock-up dial to fill the dash (bezels are available from many parts houses) and put the high tech components behind and below for a stock look, but modern sound. Hope I do not grind up any rare parts to do it.

Let us know where your radio came from or post a picture.

There is a guy in Ontario here that makes these radios from scratch. I think the faceplates and dial are brand new and the case is made by him. It houses a modern radio and link to a CD player and it has exactly the same appearance. The vendor is Harold Macqueen and his phone number is 613 475 4257. I talked to him at a swapmeet on Sunday because I was looking for s speaker for an AD radio that I am restoring.

I'm working on building the stock look radio from scratch that will control a modern radio via the remote jack on the back of it, as soon as I get my truck back together I'll hopefully get back on that project, it's for the 47-53 style radio though.

Another option if you've got a good working stock AM tuner is to hit the swap meets and look for an Add on FM tuner, I remember seeing them in various vehicles in the late 70's early 80's and have seen a few at swap meets since, they plugged inline to the AM antenna and transmitted the FM audio on an AM frequency that you could tune in.

MONGO