6 Volt radios?

[Guest daveagain909]

I have a 38 oldsmobile that was built with no radio, also no heater, southern car. The question is how can I put some kind of sound system in a 6 volt car? is there something that can work? Probably a dumb question.

[Joseph P. Indusi]

Well you can locate a 6 volt radio for your car on eBay as they come up for auction sometimes. Or find one at a swap meet. You can take a modern 12 volt car radio and power it from a 6 to 12 volt inverter. If you don't need a lot of audio power, a small inverter will suffice. Google "inverter" to find some suppliers.

Joe, BCA 33493

[Rusty_OToole]

You could find a 1938 Olds radio, at a swap meet or on Ebay. They turn up from time to time. Or a 6 volt accessory tube radio.

If you want to be a bit of a smart ass Walmart sells portable radios for $29.95. They are made to run on 9 volts of batteries but work fine on 6. Some of them are retro style and would look at home in your car, mounted under the dash. Make your friends wonder where you got a 38 Olds AM/FM radio, CD player.

[Guest Special_49]

There are several ads in Hemmings Motor News placed by guys who repair old 6 volt tube radios. Many of them have extra radios for sale. Pick up a copy of Hemmings and check them out or go to www.hemmings.com. Good luck....

[Rusty_OToole]

If you get a radio have the original tube chassis restored. Avoid the birds that slam a Chinese $29.95 transistor radio in your case for $600.

[ply33]

Yesterday I saw a 1937 Chrysler Airflow with a wicker picnic basket on the rear floor. In that basket was a battery operated iPod speaker system and an iPod playing vintage music.

Not actually a permanent solution, but you might get your music that way until you find the appropriate radio for your car.

[Guest]

If you wanted a 6V transistor type and AM-FM you could use a Bendix/Motorolla that was a option on Porsche-Volkswagen. There is no reference to the car make printed on it, just Bendix or motorolla and the model type such as sappire 1-4 for AM only or 5 (1V) for AM-FM. ---Plenty of those out there.

Don

[ply33]

If you wanted a 6V transistor type and AM-FM you could use a Bendix/Motorolla that was a option on Porsche-Volkswagen. There is no reference to the car make printed on it, just Bendix or motorolla and the model type such as sappire 1-4 for AM only or 5 (1V) for AM-FM. ---Plenty of those out there.

Don

Was the 38 Olds positive or negative ground? The VWs were negative ground and I suspect installing a solid state radio designed for negative ground systems would need total chassis isolation if installed in a positive ground car.

[DAVE A]

The Crosley Corporation introduced the first car radio, the Roamio, in 1930. It was sold as an aftermarket accessory and was a 6 volt system. Examples are found on e-bay every day and quite a few of them are either working or can be relatively simply repaired. The problem is they are big, so they require a lot of space in your car, and heavy so they are expensive to ship.

[Jim Bollman]

Here is what I did. I didn't really want to listen to AM radio, even if I could find an original. To cheap to pay for one of the conversions. Most of my music is already in MP3 format on the computer ready to load on an iPod or other MP3 player.

I looked for and found an MP3 amplified speaker system that runs off 4 AAA batteries (6 volts). Cost me around $25 shipped online.

I cut a board to fit where the original speaker mounted and fitted the speakers with a simple strap across the case to the board, foam was just to keep them from sliding around.

Painted the board semi black so the speakers don't stand out when the grill is on.

I cut the wall wart off the wire and connected it to the ignition switch (be sure to use the right polarity), tucked the small amp up beside of the glove box and wedged it in (I can actually reach the on/off switch through the ash tray but I just leave it on). Ran the phone jack into the ash tray, where I can plug in my iPod and just let it ride in the tray.

Works good, an old pickup isn't the right acoustics for HiFi but it is as good or better to the original radio for sound and I get to pick my cruising music.

[Guest daveagain909]

The 38 olds is negative ground......

[Guest daveagain909]

Jim Bollman I like your idea, I will see if I can work something out on my car, The 38 Buick is kind of strange that the radio controls are in a very odd spot.

[Guest daveagain909]

jim, i like yor idea

[Guest Oldie & Goodie]

I did something along the lines of the picnic basket.

Have a 12 volt tractor battery in the truck connected to an FM receiver. Also connected to the battery is an XM portable radio. Speakers built into a couple of pillows for the back seat. Everything is removable, male/female connectors. We get the luxury of 200+ channels and if we show the car everything unplugs and stores out of site.

[Guest broker-bob]

Here is what I did-----took a 12 v negative radio that I think was in a VW Bus I used to have fit in the glove box of my 36 plymouth some where along the line found a old volt reducer tied it to the top out side of the glove box ran a wire under the floor and put a little speaker on landing behind the rear seat the plymouth has one of those hard top that is not metel all the way across had a wire soldered to the chicken wire works well as an ariel the old radios are big and clonkey mine gets FM or you could get a old portable radio with a 6 v plug and run off car currant---------------BR

[1936 D2]

Hey "broker-bob",

I have always been wondering...

Is the period key ( . ) broken on your keyboard? Maybe something is stuck under it? Your posts are really hard to read. :confused:

Hmmmm...