For some time I have been toying with getting my period 48-50 vintage radio to work for my truck. I weighed out the cost to have it repaired/modified to get it working and for now have opted out to getting a cheap AM/FM/USB model that I am going to mount behind the speaker grilll under the dash. I modified the speaker cover by adding a hinge and mounting it to the original holes in the dash. I won't be doing much tuning once I have the radio set up to my local favorites but it will give me access if I want to change stations, or use the USB etc.




I am leaving the original radio faceplate and will mock up the pushbuttons and ***** for vintage look.



I also wired in a 12 VDC plug and USB under the ash tray.

 

I dont know much about the radio but I notice your heater is installed the opposite of mine. On mine the narrower door is on the bottom.....any idea which is correct?
Ed
near Philadelphia

 

I thought about the same idea... How are you planning on holding up the speaker grill when driving? I was thinking about magnets on the top part of the speaker grill.

 

i always thought that the narrow door went on the bottom.

 

Moe, I will be installing magnets tomorrow, on the top inside edge of the speaker grill. Using the existing mount holes there shouldn't be any visible marking of the dash, in theory.

 

I looked at my pictures of the original heater install and lo and behold, another thing I will be fixing on my truck. Thank you for your keen observations.

 

I bolted the radio bracket in the dash today, so I'll wire the radio and speakers tomorrow. Epoxy to hold magnets to top of grill cover, and it holds nicely to keep the cover in place.




I am on the hunt for a decent hidden antenna to install somewhere out of sight in the cab.

Also changed the heater cover so that it is as it should be; small door to bottom.

 

Nice idea. I like it.

 

That's a cool idea! You might hot glue some speaker grill fabric on the back side of the grill to stealth the new unit.

 

When we rewired to 12v we left the new radio electrical wiring behind the dash but I've been trying to figure out how to install a radio without removing the original Mercury name on that grill. This is a brilliant solution. Thanks for sharing.

 

And most of the new radios with USB have a small remote control that would most likely work through the speaker grill. Great idea, and nicely done!

 

I thought the same, just need to find a source for cloth.

 

Thanks for the nice comments, the radio is working, well kinda.

I bought a cheap ($20) antenna that is rubber coated and meant for mounting on the outside fender. I can pickup FM stations, no AM with antenna lying under the seat but sometimes fades reception. May look for other antenna solutions but I want to avoid DC powered ones if possible

 

The window mounted antenna arrived today so I mounted it on the top of the inside of the windshield. Also ran the voice activated microphone to the driver sunvisor. (too much high tech ?)

I have AM/FM in town, don't know how good it will be on the road trips.

I finished mockup of the vintage radio *****, to fill the voids.

Time will tell how road noise versus radio turns out.

 

Nice Job! Very stealthy.