• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A TRIUMPH Radio?

Share this page

J

jfcdo

Senior Member
Country flag
Offline
As I was going through boxes of old parts for my 1955 Triumph TR2, I came across a radio.
As the front of the radio dial has TRIUMPH printed on it, I expect that it may be the original radio for this car.
Does anyone have information about what kind of radio came with the Triumph in 1955?
Thanks for any information that others can provide.
JC
 

Attachments

  • 20220710_170838.jpg
    20220710_170838.jpg
    296.4 KB · Views: 153
  • 20220710_170742.jpg
    20220710_170742.jpg
    227.9 KB · Views: 144
  • 20220710_170554.jpg
    20220710_170554.jpg
    343.5 KB · Views: 139
Radios were a dealer-installed option, so none really came with the car. That said, the radios they installed were invaribly Triumph branded, as yours is. The use of vacuum tubes is consistent with a 1955 car. Beyond that, it's hard for me to say. You might look around inside for a date code on a part or on the radio itself. That 'installed date" stamp is intriguing, but probably the date was on a label, which is long gone.
 
JC, It looks like the 2-tube Bendix radio that was fitted to some early (mine at least) TR4s ~62-63. Does the chrome faceplate with the dial & pointer come completely off? Jeff
 
Thanks for the replies. Yes, it appears that there was a label where the date installed stamp is. The label, as you said, is long gone but there are traces of adhesive, likely from an old label.
The chrome plate on the front comes off completely.
I have wanted to connect this to a battery to see if it works, but I'm not sure where to connect the leads. It has one wire and I expect that the case goes to ground. I am always a bit cautious as the cars' normal electrical system is positive ground. The one wire attaches to the inside of the metal case and not to the circuit board. I want to make sure before I start connecting a power source.
Any suggestions?
Thanks again, Jack
 
There should be a small 'button' on one side, which is a plug to select + or - ground. You have to pull it out and line up a notch with the desired polarity. I'm going of distant memory though. Should be some wires for a single speaker too.
 
I haven't seen a TR2 with a radio. The only original ones that I've seen in a TR3 are Radiomobile and PYE.
 
Thanks for your reply. I will take a look for that plug and I will post some other photos.
I believe that I see where the speaker connects. Update this later today.
Thanks again
 
In the second image that appears to be a power transistor mounted to the chassis. Is that possible for a 1955 radio?!? I believe that radio came from a later time.
 
If you look at TeriAnn's Triumph TR2-3B web page she has some good info on the early radio instalations.

Graham
 
DrEntropy said:
In the second image that appears to be a power transistor mounted to the chassis. Is that possible for a 1955 radio?!? I believe that radio came from a later time.
Click to expand...

Yep - closer to 1962.

"R2BT4 was documented in the June 1963 issue of SAMS Auto Radio". (from TR3Driver Randall, RIP)
 
Graham H said:
If you look at TeriAnn's Triumph TR2-3B web page she has some good info on the early radio instalations.

Graham
Click to expand...
The photos of the radio installation on TeriAnn's website are from my car. They were taken at the Portland All British Meet in 1987 or 1988.
 
Thanks for the information and comments.
I located a copy of June 1963 issue of SAMS Auto Radio, so after I have a chance to read through that, I expect to know more about this radio.
I still don't know whether or not it works, but at least I found a source for replacement tube.
I will update again as I learn more.
Thanks again to all.
 
On a related topic, there should already be a speaker cutout on the pax side wheel well, with a rain gutter above it to protect the speakerā€˜s paper cone. I also discovered an antenna mounting hole just forward of the windscreen. Jim
 
Back
Top