Radio adapters for a car radio in a truck. Anybody know where to get an adapter to put a car radio in the dash of a truck. I think I might end up taking the radio to a place that works in sheet metal and getting something cut.

 

They pop up on Ebay all the time. THe most popular one is to put the 49-50 car radio in the truck. The other one I see is the 46-48 car radio into the truck.

Barry

50 F-1

 

Not sure what your asking? Do you want to put a stock radio in? or did you cut out the dash and put a CD type player head unit in and you want a face plate to cover the the hole, etc. I made a face place on my CD player out of black plastic. It's easy to cut etc and the blends in with the radio. Some stereo installation places will help you out there too.

 

The adapters poping up an Ebay that I have seen are to mount the car unit under the dash I want to put the unit in the factory hole. I bought a car radio and want to put it in my truck. Even the truck radios I have seen do not include the plate that goes over the face of the radio only the radio itself.

 

The truck radios do not have a "faceplate". They stick in the opening as you see it. It bolts in to the 2 vertical side braces you see behind the speaker opening. You can use a radio from a 49 Merc car and the only differences are the face opf the car radio is chrome and the truck is painted beige. The car radio doesn't have the correct brackets to bolt the radio in. You can fabricate those easily. I'm am doing that with a merc radio by painting the face beige and making brackets. You can buy a truck radio for $300 and up if you find one or use the Merc radio that usually go for $75 or so.I was lucky, I got one for $60 off E B A Y and it works! Many guys just mount the radio with the chrome face. I've seen a bracket once that took a 46-48 car radio and put it in the correct spot. It was in a truck, but I've never seen another like that.

Barry

50 F-1

 

A face plate usually comes with the radio when you purchase it. I have a Pioneer CD player, It comes with a bracket which slides in the opening on your dash. The radio slides into that and snaps in. Then a plastic face plate snaps onto the stereo.

 

Well it looks like I will be cutting a custom piece of sheet metal for a face plate.

 

Christopher2,

I think you are looking for a plate like this:



I don't have this radio but email me off the forum if you want the guy's email address who has it. He's located in Western Wisconsin, I think.

 

That's the one I was talking about. I looks like you're going with a aftermarket radio, not a factory one, right? I get the feeling there's 2 lines of thought on this going on here.

Barry

50 F-1

 

Get ahold of some .060 aluminum plate and figure out what you need to cover and where you want to mount the new radio, cut your holes where needed and as a friend of mine says, beat to fit and paint to match. I wound up having to do something similar with my 86 F-150 because I couldn't find an adapter in the territory for my JVC. Looks good and is more solid than what the adapters could have done. Good Luck.

Gear Up

 

That is the factory radio for the car. So I guess it depends on what you call aftermarket. I am getting a radio like the one in the picture.

 

They offered that car radio in the trucks as a dealer installed option. It uses the bracket as you see in the pic Bob put up. It fits the hole, but you have to drill holes to mount it on your dash. It's kind of crude by today's standards, but it was an acceptable option back then.

Barry

50 F-1