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Vintage American Car Radios


Steve Tochi

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If you have friends looking for an original radio for their classic American car, let me know.  I will sell them cheap to FFAQ (Friends of FAQ). 

I don't know how this happened but in my search locally for a period correct blaupunkt, I ended up with an estimated 500 radios from the 50's, 60's and early 70's.  Most are from American cars from that era, when it was common to replace the original with a "HiFi" AM/FM stereo or 8-track.  Many are in pristine shape, with some NOS, NIB, and aftermarket kits.  There are radios for Mopar, Pontiac, AMC, Ford, Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, Mercs, and more. Not a lot of European radios, a few VW and Opel radios is all.  

They are from a car audio shop of 40 years, and apparently when the shop owner would install a new radio, he would carefully label and box the old one. His son told me he ensured they were working before putting away, but no guarantee they'll be working.   

Here's a bunch of pics of some of the inventory, I think its cool to look at but perhaps not to own.

Steve

steventochi@outlook.com

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Edited by Steve Tochi
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Steve, in my opinion, that might be GOLD, IF you find a way to sell them targeting the vintage American 60-70s restoration crowd.  OE radios for muscle cars are NOT cheap, and the folks hitting the auction/sales circuit will pay to get “full OE”. (Radios were one thing many guys changed back then, but no one wants that afternarket stuff that the P.O.biz installed instead of these in their restos). Cool they saved the OE stuff, labeled and all.

 

I’m not thinking eBay ( tho it might be worth testing a few there).  More like an enthusiasts forum or two much like this one.

 

Hell, if that’s not up your alley I might be willing to grab a couple and see myself... if you’d part with a few, let me know and I’ll PM you.

 

Tom

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Where we goin’? … I’ll drive…
There are some who call me... Tom too         v i s i o n a u t i k s.com   

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Thanks Tom,

I'm still trying to figure how to inventory and sell it off, could take years.  I was thinking the same, just go to each car's forum and see what happens.  Also included are about 300 hundred vacuum tubes, NOS antennas, NIB speakers, faceplates, 8 tracks, and even a few CB radios. Seems like there is quite a market for NOS vacuum tubes.

My buddy restored his C1 vette, said he paid $300 for a used non working Wonderbar so I'll be looking for those. Some of the boxes I pulled included a NOS 74 Scout AM radio, new 68' Volkswagen one year only Sapphire-V AM radio, and another VW Sapphire 4 track player (saw one on Ebay for $500!).  Found 3 Opel radios too.

I'd be happy to send you some of your choosing, but noticed you're in Denver...sorry but I don't have any Subaru radios. 

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Steve, I'm with Tom- I think they might be worth dealing with. 

 

And Subaru- that's funny.  (Although we just got our first, a '14 STI.  It's pretty bad ass to be honest.)

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Dave.

'76, totally stock. Completely.

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Dave, I think I told you my family is from the area, back then small farming towns like Longmont, Brighton and Greeley. I'll get up there one of these days and visit. My 84 year old mom lives in Denver and she drives a Suby, (I'm pretty sure she's straight), and I have a 03 Forester for a DD I paid $500. I wouldn't mind getting a WRX as a mid life crisis vehicle.

I'm off this morning to a VW Transporter meet, I'm hooking up with this bus fanatic and trading two VW radios for two Blaupunkts.  We both think we're getting the better of the deal, so must be a good trade.

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Ha - Subies R Us here, right?  Folks from out of town freak a bit when they see it’s like the most popular make around here.

 

I’ve got one too, a ‘92 SVX I’ve had since new that I bought when in NOLA... #115, which might now be the 4tth oldest .

 

Going way back, I’m an old Mopar guy - and would be most interested in a few of those bits. And the wheel centers for them I see boxed there  too. ? 

Where we goin’? … I’ll drive…
There are some who call me... Tom too         v i s i o n a u t i k s.com   

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Well I just got back from the VW Transporter meet, came home with the 2 Frankfurts. Interesting group, lots of peculiar aromas in the air, I thought Spicoli might be there. I did see quite a few blaupunkts for sale, a NIB red tip Hirschmann antenna, and I picked up a very clean late kidney grill.  There were so many white gas lanterns for sale I thought I was at a vintage coleman meet.   

Ironically, I was thinking a few years back I'd like to get a SVX, they're pretty cheap and perhaps they'll be comers.

I'll inventory the Mopar stuff and get you a list. 

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On 2/18/2019 at 9:38 AM, Steve Tochi said:

Officially sold my first radio yesterday via local craigslist.  A 1974 International Scout AM radio, guy drove an hour and handed me a Benjamin for it.  Did I price it too low?  I'm thinking I priced it just right.  499 to go.

 

A bunch of people immediately wanting it = priced too low.  One dude called and drove an hour, probably just right.

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Dave.

'76, totally stock. Completely.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here are the 2 blaupunkts I ended up with in trade with the VW guy. They look nice but are untested. 

So far so good, just picking off the low hanging fruit using local craigslist and forums. I'm selling all 7 of the corvair radio kits to one guy. I found Corvair owners are maniacal about their cars.  Similar to 02s, they're rust buckets, low production numbers, and an early and late model. I had 3 guys who wanted the radios, and they owned anywhere from 10-25 cars each.

Slow morning here in Socal, we are on storm watch...because its sprinkling outside.

IMG_4101.JPG

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  • 3 weeks later...

For those who may have interest, here's a little update on my vintage radio odyssey.  None of my family or friends care to hear about "steve's radio business".  Thus far, I've sold about 20 radios maybe at an average of $100 per, some antennas, and & misc items in the past several weeks. Picking low hanging fruit, I've already got back my initial investment and a handsome return, paypal is pretty excited for the interest free money.

I picked up the last of the items as part of the purchase, I can only estimate that I have a hundred NIB speakers most are aftermarket, maybe 2000 new and used radio knobs, 1500 vacuum tubes, box of vibrators (hey not what you think), and antennas galore. 

I ventured into Ebay for the first time, listed a few items.  Great vehicle to sell but gosh do they nickel and dime you.  I didn't major in quantitative mathematics so I haven't quite figured out their fee schedule.  I have an auction ending tonight on a 65 Rambler am/fm and its at $202. The two bidders sent me messages privately asking me to close the auction while they sat as the high bidder.  Now I know where the term Flea Bay comes from. 

For the old timers, I listed this like new 1975 El Camino AM radio, with the wood grain knobs. Nice right? I know ElCos have been hot and thought it would be an easy sell.  At the same time, from the junk pile, I listed this fair condition at best 1975 Datsun B210 Clarion am/fm with a warped bezel.  The auction ended last night, the El Camino radio had a couple of followers and zero bids.  B210 radio had a bidding war and sold for $75.  Guess this JDM thing is real, there is even a B210 forum, and they use words like "dude", "bitchin", "my lame".

I listed about 7 Corvair radios on our local craigslist.  It ended up as one of those NM/NA posts on the Corvair forum.  My ad just got bashed by the cynics, felt like I was on BAT and I took it personally.  Yesterday, an elderly gent came over who is a walking Corvair encyclopedia (ala Conserv Steve) and bought one of them.  He looked at my Tii, and seemed to know more about the car than I do, he knew the scientific reason why my paint failed, the whole big bumper DOT thing, and why my engine will last longer at high RPMs with my 4 spd.  Anyway, he said their Corvair forum has changed, and all the old timers like him don't participate anymore, because the members have changed.  He told me corvair owners are a bit strange, cheap, and frustrated because they put all this work into the cars and they still don't command any money.  

Lastly, I joined a forum called Antique Automobile Club of America. Just posted a friendly ad in their classified section, "I have radios"!  Lots of old timers, and was able to fill a few orders including a 59 Dodge and 69 Plymouth.  Both guys were ecstatic to get them. Sort of a nice group, guys who just want to get really old cars back on the road to restoration.

I feel really good about getting these radios back on the street, it really hasn't been about the money. Although my CPA says be careful, you don't want to create a tax liability using ebay too much.  Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.

Steve

 

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