Radio Install - Part 1 - 09/10/2015

I like music. Especially in my car. Every old car I've ever had has not come with a working radio (except my '72 Lemans in 1999). I decided to remedy that in this car while I was upgrading EVERYTHING else. No one makes an aftermarket shaft radio that will fit and I don't cut my dashes. I began inspecting a very dead and water-logged factory AM radio I had laying around and realized that the brackets that the radio mount to can probably be used to install an aftermarket one, like the RetroSound classic, Model 1, or Model 2...



The factory radio from a '74 Catalina.



The plug that powers it. Could be used to tap into the factory harness without cutting or splicing.



Old radio is separated from the dash bracket by 4 screws and a nut on the shaft.



The bracket sans radio.



Not easy to tell, but the faceplate is held in place by little clips and looks like it should come out...



And the cover DOES pop off. I presume they did this so that depending on your radio choice (AM\AM-FM\8 track\etc) they could change the front plate without having to re-design the bracket.



RetroSound InfiniMount system gets 2 holes drilled in the sides...



And it mounts right up using 2 of the 4 screws and a nut on the shaft. Almost looks like it belongs there. The space around the radio can't be taken up with anything I have, but it doesn't bother me. SOME people may be bothered, but they probably also are the kind that think it has to have a $650 AM\FM modern guts conversion of the old 20lb brick. I'm not that picky.

Now I just need to run the new speakers (that I've had since February) and wire up the deck. A simple afternoon job really...

Return to 1973 Grand Safari

Last updated September 10th, 2015