Car radio queston

[Radioflyer]

I collect old radio shows and have for 25 yrs +. I load them into my mp3 player and play them through my truck radio...which lead me to thinking...
when were car radios considered pretty much commonplace? Mid '30's? Before that? I'm sure there were radios (in dash) available in the mid-late '20s. I'm in no way an old car expert but just wanted to ask. Thanks in advance!

rf

 

[J. M. Stovall]

More than you wanted to know...


Car Radio History

It was inevitable that the two communication techniques of car and radio would come together. During the 1920?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s there were many enthusiasts who at certain occasions combined car and radio. As so often when it comes to technique it started in USA.

1925 On January 1st Radiotj?ɬ§nst started their official transmissions on behalf of Telestyrelsen. There were only three senders owned by the state: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmoe. There were more transmitters starting during the year. Through cooperation between the Telegrafstyrelsen and radio amateurs in a number of small towns another 30 % of the license payees can hear the broadcast.

1926 In the USA radio began to be seriously introduced in cars. In principle the radios were portable and battery driven - so called travel radios.

Motor interference, weak loudspeakers besides the difficulties in adjusting the transmitters lead to the development of special radios intended to be installed in cars. More was required of radios that were to be installed in cars regarding vibration, temperatures etc. W.M. Heina applied for and received patent for the installation of radios in cars through his firm Heinaphone which also manufactured car radios.

Car radios were designed as separate units. The receiver was a unit which was placed on the fire wall or behind the dashboard where one had to make holes for the knobs. If the radio was placed on the firewall maneuvering was accomplished with two wires from a remote control placed on the steering column or under the dash board. "A" and "B" batteries were placed in their own boxes under the seat or sunk in the floor. The aerial was often placed as a mesh on the roof (the roof was made of wood) or as a thread under one of the running boards.

Some manufacturers used one or two insulating plates under the car in the back as aerial.

In principle the loud speakers were headphones which meant one got insufficient volume. It still was not possible to listen while driving. It was necessary to stop the car and shut off the motor. The receivers were only supplied with middle wave band.

1927 A break through for car radio was the invention of damp resistance. It became possible to listen to the radio when the motor was running, at least near a transmitter.

1929 Several manufacturers now made special models intended for installation in cars. Many automobile manufacturers install wireaerials in the roof to ease the possible installation of car radios.

1930 Superheterodyne was now generally introduced. Even the loudspeakers became better. Some manufacturers connect the grids in series with resistance so that power can be supplied from the car battery and one avoids the "A" battery.

1931 The loudspeakers were improved. Radio tubes with 6.3 voltage grids are now available. With the new tubes one could develop techniques with automatic volume control.

1932 Two inventions were introduced of which one stayed until the transistor took over. This regarded the possibility to convert the car battery's voltage to high voltage for the radio tube plates. The first type is the so called dynomotor and motor generator transformer. In principle this is a generator driven by an electric motor powered by the car battery.

The P.R. Mallory Company and their Elkon division present another solution - the vibrator power supply. The advantages with this device are several; smaller size, less interference, better efficiency factor and the possibility to place the unit inside the radio case. Its "singing" noise will for a long time be connected with car radios.

Both of these types were manufactured as accessories to be able to replace the "B" battery on the earlier models.

1933 Car radios were now beyond the experimental stage. In the USA Ford installed the markets first specially built car radio for a certain car model tailor made for the dashboard. New radio tubes were introduced. These are types 6A7, 6B7 and 6F7.

BOSCH launches the Blaupunkt Company. Blaupunkt would become the market leader in Europe for many years after.

1934 The European manufacturers designed at this time only universal models.

1937 Ford in the USA are the first to use a steel rod as aerial.

1938 The telescope type aerial is presented.

1941 American Ford advertises a radio which can be preset for 5 stations and be operated to the desired station by a foot operated switch.

1948 Led by W. Shockley researchers at the Bell laboratories succeeded in inventing the first transistor. The three scientists were given the Nobel physics prize in 1956.

1957 In Germany they further developed an American radio tube that only needs 6/12 V for the plates suitable for car radio sets. In 1958 a similar tube for UKW is presented.

1958 Car radio sets came on the market where the vibrator was replaced by a transistor converter.

 

[Sachet]

More than you wanted to know...

No actually, I loved reading this and learning more about the history. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge, J.M. Stovall.

 

[Wild Root]

Auto Radios..

Ah, indeed a valuable piece of info!

For me and my own experiences, I have seen only some late 20's cars with radios. They were mostly sold as an extra or an accessory that one could by at a radio store. Radios started to become an option in the early 30's and into the 40's. Chrysler autos (Plymouth Dodge DeSoto) came with no radios in the Deluxe models. Special Deluxe came with radios. Other manufactures were much the same. In the 50's radios were more common in low priced autos as the options increased.

My '46 has it's original radio and I had it restored to working order. There really isn't much to listen to any longer on AM since 690AM went ?¢‚Ǩ?ìSouth of the Boarder?¢‚Ǩ?. I may have my disk man wired up to the radio and play my stuff over the original speaker soon, that would be cool so I could play my old music wile I drive.

=WR=

 

[Mr. 'H']

I may have my disk man wired up to the radio and play my stuff over the original speaker soon, that would be cool so I could play my old music wile I drive.

=WR=

I wonder, how easy is it to do this...?

I have also thought about the possibility of trying to hook up nice tunes on an iPod to an AM transmitter to play on an old AM radio.

 

[SleepyDutch]

At some point I'll be restoring an old farm truck. I was looking at a '47 Ford last week, but haven't decided yet. Anyway, I was planning on replacing the original radio (doesn't work) with another of the same model. But like you said ... AM radio has really gone downhill in the past couple of decades. And I can't live without my NPR. So I may have to resort to installing the earliest AM/FM receiver I can find. On top of that, I am going to hook up a Sirius or XM to get the Swing Street / Big Band stations.

 

[Twitch]

Back in the day radios were a pricey option relative to the times. Like paying extra for a GPS system today. My 1950 Packard has a factory radio but many cars of that era didn't. From memory it wasn't till the mid to late 1950s that AMs were in most cars.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Here is a site I once ran across that sells rebuilt vintage car radios that still look the same but with all the modern features (am/fm, stereo, XM, digital input).

http://www.antiqueautomobileradio.com/

 

[Wild Root]

Most Special Deluxe models of Plymouths I find have radios. The Chrysler corp. was quite good at offering radios in low-priced cars in the late 30's to the 50's that most other low priced cars didn't offer in their models.

I know that if some one was going to splurge and get the Special Deluxe model, they might as well pitch in a few extra bucks to have the radio with it.

The Deluxe model of Plymouth was as bare bones as you could get! It didn't have a heater or radio and even came with only one sun visor!

In the 1920's-1930's, buying a radio for your car can be compared to installing a DVD player in a car today.

=WR=

 

[Wild Root]

Here is a site I once ran across that sells rebuilt vintage car radios that still look the same but with all the modern features (am/fm, stereo, XM, digital input).

http://www.antiqueautomobileradio.com/

Oooooh, nice! I just saved that link in my favorites! I'll keep them in mind when I have the cash to go that route.

Very cool link to say the leaste!!!:cheers1:

=WR=

 

[Sefton]

My grandfather had a Studebaker in the fifties and my grandmother wouldn't let him get a radio for it because it was a distraction while driving...now you can drive while checking GPS, playing DVD or computer games, surfing the net,talking on a cell phone....just about any distraction you want! Amazing...

Thanks for the history. Interesting stuff.