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MK1 Sprites and Radios

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livinginthepast

livinginthepast

Jedi Trainee
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Hi there,

Question - were radios fitted to MK1 Sprites at the factory? The dashboards were perforated for radio fitting, but who did the work - the factory or the dealership?

Also, was there a specific brand used (ie. BMC, brit leyland, etc)? Are they difficult to find for restos? Was there a standardized location for the aerial/antennae?

Thanks,
BillW
 
Hi Bill,

My feeling is they were dealership items.
Is your car still pos ground? That will be a limiting factor.
 
RickB said:
Hi Bill,

My feeling is they were dealership items.
Is your car still pos ground? That will be a limiting factor.
Click to expand...

Yup, still positive ground. There must be early positive ground originals out there. Right? Maybe? Unobtainium? :smile:
 
Radios were always dealer options...in later years (after Radiomobile), the brand was determined by the best price the distributor could get.
 
My friend has a radio that came out of his '60 Mk1
and it's a vacuum tube deal. Still works.
 
Thanks for the help, everyone.

So, where would the speaker have been mounted? And did the placement of the aerial vary, or was there a location that was most commonly used?

Sorry about all the questions - I'm starting to plot out a restoration map and am considering various options.

Best-

BillW
 
Speaker was built into the bottom of the radio and pointed down into the footwell. I remember only too well.
 
Dealer installed Motorola in Charlotte. Speaker in the radio. Installer (mechanic) determined where the aerial was mounted. I installed a number of them in those days.
 
As I recall, on Midgets, the antenna was always on the passenger side....somewhere in my collection, I have a BL template for placement of the antenna on a rubber bumper Midget.
 
That is indeed the spot.


I had the hole and no radio so..............I put one of those antenas that go all the way down so it is really just a lump there. If I ever get in the radio mood I am in business.
 
Hey there - thanks again.

Jim - this is fascinating to me - Am I correct then in assuming perhaps that Radiomobile were UK units, while in the US the brand installed was determined at the dealer level?

Tony, Don, Jack - it sounds as though there may have been some consistency in placement (although Jim seems to remember otherwise). So would these have been the shorter type, singe-wire aerials with a spring toward the base? or just a straight, wire-whip type aerial (sorry, I don't know the terms --- straight meaning not telescoping up or down)

Thanks again. This is great!
 
Bill
You might have difficulty finding a vintage positive earth radio. There are inverters available (ebay, etc ) that will allow you to stay positive earth and use a negative ground radio. On my B/E I'm going that route, as finding a working poitive ground radio was very difficult and those radios that are positive ground coming from the UK have incorrect frequencies for our AM stations.

Paul
 
As with the radios, dealers used whatever antennae they could acquire locally....so, there's no wrong with anyway you go.
 
Radiomobile radios pop up on e-bay from time to time, good ones go for several hundred dollars, I found a rough one in a bone yard (complete, but rough and not working) and got about $30 or so for it on E-bay.

But I agree, would be a cool period accessory.

If you want to go halfway (to me looks a lot better than an electronically tuned unit in an old car) you can get a pushbutton AM or AM/FM unit from the late 60s early seventies as likely would have been fitted a little later in the cars life on E-bay or in a boneyard for not too much dough, the pushbutton AM BMC radios as fitted to later 60s Sprites, MGBs etc. are pretty (relatively) common and were positive ground in most cases (actually don't think they were polarity sensitive, but can't guarantee it)
 
I seem to recall back in the day that I had a radio, push-button and Motorolla I think, that had a little plug on the top. Plug it in one way and it was Pos. ground and plug it in the other way and it was Neg. ground...anyone else remember those units?
 
Back in the good old days, LOL. We did not have antennas with springs on them except for use on the rear bumper. Hehe.

Really, just a plane jane antenna.
 
I restored an older radio recently for a friend with a 60s-era Mercedes. It could be set up for either positive or negative ground, but it was not a simple thing to do the conversion. I suspect that this was true of many radios made at that time.

Virtually all automobile radios before the mid 60s used vacuum tubes. They were large and heavy, and of course getting replacement tubes these days is a problem, especially since they used some strange types. The Mercedes radio still had its original Telefunken tubes, with European type numbering. I was able to cross-reference most of the types with American equivalents, but one couldn't be matched--there might have been no US equivalent. And this was a relatively common Blaupunkt radio.

From what I've seen on eBay, the nicer, period radios go for about $200 up. If you are willing to settle for AM only, they can be a lot cheaper, and of course if you are patient you might get a deal. On the other hand, there are modern radios made to look like older ones, and I've seen these on eBay too. They make a lot more sense, in my opinion. Also, a lot of 70s- or 80s-era radios are pretty generic looking, and not too expensive, so they would work well, I think. These are all transistor radios, not tube.

Also, if you are planning to install a modern radio, this is the time to convert to negative ground. You might find a positive-ground radio, but then what happens if you want to install one more electronic item, and it's not available in pos-ground? You then have to convert, and replace the radio you've just bought. Better to do the conversion when it first makes sense.
 
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