Radio on 1963 Starfire

[Guest 1963starfire]

I have a factory AM radio that came on the car with the dual

speakers, (one in the front and one in the rear). It has the

speaker knob which controls the music from the front speak to the

rear speaker. I'm thinking about buying a 1963 Oldsmobile

AM/FM radio to put in my car, but the radio does not have the

control for the rear speaker. Do the AM/FM radios have the

control built into them? Would I have to have an AM/FM radio with

the rear speaker control built into it for the rear speaker control

to work on my car?

Thanks

[rocketraider]

Every 63-66 AM-FM I've seen had the rear speaker provision, but I suppose it was available without. Look behind the tuning knob and see if there are three holes in a vertical line behind it, with blue, green and white wires going around the side of the radio. If they are there it is a rear speaker radio and your existing speaker fader control knob will operate it.

Used to could buy rear speaker fader kits at Radio Shack, Lafayette Radio, places like that, but I don't know if you'd find one now or not. My green Starfire has an Archer reverb unit which controls the reverb amp and fader, but it seems to cancel out the original speaker fader control. I'd as soon be shet of it. Maybe soon I'll have time to work on that car some.

[Guest 1963starfire]

Thanks for the info. I haven't bought the radio yet.

I'm going to ask the guy to look behind the knob like

you said and see if it has the three vertical holes

behind it. I would think the higher end radios would

automatically come with the fader option. You never

know.

[Guest 1963starfire]

Hey Glenn, Thought I would update you on

the radio. I couldn't get the guy to pull

the knob off the radio, so I sent him another

e-mail and asked him if it had a rear

speaker in the back dash. He checked and

the car has rear speaker mounted in the

center of the back seat. His car is a

1963 Ninety Eight two door. My car is a

1963 Starfire. The rear speaker in my

car is mounted on the right side under

the rear dash. Mine doesn't have a speaker

mounted in the center of the seat. Do

you think his car has the rear fader

option since it has the rear speaker?

Thanks

[Guest 1963starfire]

Well, I'll try again. I'm trying to post a picture

of the radio I'm trying to buy.

[rocketraider]

Pic won't come thru, but he shouldn't have to pull the knob if the radio is already out of the car. He can look behind the RH knob and see the wires and three pins going into the radio chassis from the fader switch.

The rear speaker could be in either location depending on carline. All convertibles had the rear speaker in the grille in the seat; Ninety Eights often had it in that location. Most others had it under the right side of the package shelf. If the fader knob is on the radio, it should say "FRONT-SPEAKERS-REAR" if it's a rear speaker radio. Radios without it had a plain knob.

If he hasn't pulled the unit out of the car yet, he's got to pull the knobs to get it out, so what's his balk? Remind him the knobs are held on with a setscrew so he won't tear them up taking it out.

[Guest 1963starfire]

His radio is still in his car. Plans on

taking it out this coming week. Now that you

mentioned it, the set screws are probably why

he couldn't pull the knobs off. Its a wonder

he hasn't already broken them off. I'll be sure

and remind him or else he'll mess it up sure

enough. My right radio knob that says FRONT-

SPEAKER-REAR. His right radio knob says nothing.

Other than that our radios are the same except

mine is an AM and his is AM/FM. I hate to buy

the radio and it not work properly. I'll keep

you posted. Thanks for the help.