Radios in Cars

[Durant Mike]

Ok here's a technical question. When did radios start showing up in cars? 1920's or 30's. I know that many radios for homes started in the early 1920's so any idea of when they started to manufacture them in cars?

[Mark Huston]

Check out this web site:

http://www.motorola.com/content.jsp?globalObjectId=8432-10811

[keiser31]

I believe that Philco had radios in some late 1920's cars.

[Guest Paterson Chris]

There were a tiny handful around 1929 and the larger makes such as Crosley, Atwater Kent, the upstart company Motorola, and others were advertising them in the industry trade publications by 1930. The problem was that these early models were expensive and the standard six volt car battery wasn't enough to power them alone. They required another set of higher voltage auxiliary batteries to supply current to the other parts of the radio's circuitry. So this also neccessitated cutting another hole underneath your front seat in order to fit another battery box. By the early 30s technological advances (in the form of an internal power supply vibrator) meant these radios could now be run off of the car battery solely, costs came down, and then that's when sales really took off. Also, radios were almost exclusively an aftermarket item until the mid-30s. You bought the kit of parts (radio, control head, loudspeaker, auxiliary battery assembly, and antenna assembly -- which was a series of wires mounted underneath your runningboards) and installed it yourself or paid the local radio shop to do it. By the mid-30s they also became a more user-friendly item to install.

If you're thinking of installing a radio set for a car built prior to '30, bear in mind that to purists it'll make as much sense as installing one in a Model T.

Chris

[Rick Hoover]

General Motors claims that "The 1924 Chevrolet offered the first radio option".

[Guest Paterson Chris]

Oh great, another sucker buying into, and passing on, corporate revisionist history.

[Guest Paterson Chris]

Okay, after some thought that was not a nice thing to call anyone -- sorry! -- but I do have an issue with people parroting corporate lines. Corporations and their PR departments are notoriously biased towards a self-serving slant that's only meant to make themselves and their products look good. And they are anything but above twisting history around in, of course, their favor. That said, I can't imagine what kind of radio could possibly have been offered for a car as early as that. The single tuning dial was still two years away (standard tuned radio frequency sets had three), the tubes alone cost $5 each (in 1920s dollars), those same tubes had incredibly fragile filaments, the radios of that time were the size of a bread box, antennas needed to be 50' in length minimum as the stations were of such low power, and finally the speaker as we know it had yet to be invented as everyone was still using large horn-shaped speakers.

[Steve Braverman]

I may be wrong, but wouldn't a radio in 1924 cost about as much, if not more, than a Chevrolet?

[Durant Mike]

Thanks guys for your input on this. I was curious as I have an earlier radio I bought that I was going to gut and refigure to play the I-pod when driving. Before you get upset Chris, I am a purist and I am doing as authentic as I can restoration on my Durant, but I like my tunes and want to have them when I drive. So I want to come up with something to play these tunes on. I figure a modern internal with a 12 to 6 volt converter should do the trick. The question just got my curiosity as I've seen radios in early 30's cars in the shows.

[Rick Hoover]

Steve,

According to another information sheet that I have, (non-GM) the radio cost $200.00. That's one quarter of the cost of the new '24 Chevrolet and it had a supposed range of 100 miles. Personally, I'd have to see one to believe it, but there is information out there on this Chevrolet item and yes Chevrolet has boasted this for many years.

Paterson Chris,

You are right. Calling me a name wasn't very nice.

[keiser31]

A friend called last night and told me of his 1931 Dodge Brothers sedan that had been bought new by his grandfather. He ordered a Philco radio put in it at the dealership before delivery. That was in 1931. He still has the car, but the radio was recently stolen from the car.

[Dave_B]

Mike, Could you use a portable radio/CD player?

Dave

[A by the sea]

In 1931 Griggsby Grunow made a universal radio that just happened to be sized to fit the A. The Model 110 had a control head that attached to the steering column, speaker box, and two water tight boxes that you cut holes in the floors to install. One box held the radio and the other the batteries.

The was a comment from a Ford exec that Ford considered offering a radio for 1931, but never did. For 1932 Ford offered a radio from the factory. It was the Grigsby Grunow model 111. It had a similar arrangement for the boxes, but used a motor generator to make the high voltages. One could be led to believe that the Grigsby Grunow model 110 would have been the factory Model A radio for 1931. In any event, the GG 110 would be a legitimate accessory for any 1931 model year car.

I have two of the GG 110 radios that I stumbled upon by accident. I am likely to use the control head to run some type of modern radio.