The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay The Radio Bench 39 Radio? What's it look like?

Just curious. Does anyone have a picture of the correct radio for the late 30's chevys? I know mine had one. The holes in the dash and the three mounting holes on the rear of the passenger side that have been bondoed over attest to that. I'm really not looking for a radio at this time, just curious to see what it is supposed to look like in case I run across one.

My dad inherited my Granddad's radio and tube collection and sadly the radio out of my Granddad's 41 1 ton box truck was not part of the collection.

Thanks!

In trying to find an answer for you, I found this site which claims the first "in dash" option for a radio was the first Advance Design model in 1947. (look about half way down the page.)

http://antiquechevytrucks.com/Content/Orginal%20Restoration/advancedesign_main.htm

This thread from 1/17 in this radio forum talks about radios being available as an "under the dash" option in the 41-early47 trucks.

http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=42;t=000114

Your holes may have been drilled by a previous owner wanting some tunes or chatter as he went about his day.

If someone else doesn't chime in soon, you could contact this vendor. I bet they could answer your question. If you do contact them, post the answer, I'm interested in what they say.

http://www.redwoodradio.com/car_radio_repair.htm

Actually the first radios for cars and trucks were built in the late 20's by a comapny called Galven.... their line of radios were called "Motor-ola's" or? as we know today the Motorola company...lol Those radios in the 1920's through the mid 30's were basicly after-market dealer add-ons, rather than factory installed.
Other companies selling these add-on radios were "auto-matic radio", Crosley,Zenith, etc. Even Firestone and Goodyear got into the act selling radios under their name(built for them by other company's).
In the mid 30's, various car/truck builders, seeing the growing popularity in the radio market began dictating the specifications for those dealer installed radios, as well as contracting to the radio mfg's to produce the radios to a specified type and style.

In the 1930's most all radios (including those installed in Chevrolet products) were mounted on the firewall of the vehicle and remote controled from a control set mounted to the bottom of the dashboard. The radios used by Chevrolet were built by "United Service Co." a division of Delco Electric. and were of the remote mount type with the control head mounted seperately under the dash. chevrolet did this until the early 1940's.
The most common style control head used by Chevrolet in the '36-'39 years was a small (approx 2in) round dial face, with the tuning/volume controls mounted to each side on the horizontal centerline. these controls were mounted to the bottom edge of the dash using a nickle plated bracket, kind of like you'd mount an underdash guage-set today.

If anyone is interested I have a control set from a '38 chev that I can photograph to show exactly how it would look.
michael
President emeritus
Puget Sound Antique Radio Assn.

Graflexmaster,
I would really appreciate seeing the photos that you offered to display. The history of these radios is fascinating and I personally would like to know more.

Would you care to say a few words about the early power supplies, as they were made before the mechanical vibrator?

regards,
Fred

Please post the photos! If nothing else, I'd have an idea of what to look for. You never know when you'll run across something like that!

Please post the photos! If nothing else, I'd have an idea of what to look for. You never know when you'll run across something like that!

I'm working on the photo's...lol the control head should be out in my storage bus...lol but we still have over a foot of snow on the ground.. and that's not good for someone that walks with a cane...lol I'll post as soon as poss
Michael

Foot of snow? I'd bet Northesteners would love to only have a foot.So much for Al Goors global warmin.

The only foot of snow I've seen in recent memory is when I head north to higher elevations and fill my shoe with it!

Anyway, it would be great to see the photos when you get some snow cleared.

Try this website.It gives a lot of info on Chevrolet accessories.

http ://chevy.tocmp.com/index.htm