‘40 radio

S

sid carey

Member
‘40 radio

I’ve only had my for 40 convertible for about six months, so I’m still sorting it out. It has an original appearing radio, and until a couple weeks ago I couldn’t make it work. It kept blowing fuses. I realized early on that the 6 volt battery was in backwards. Whoever replaced the battery last time made it negative ground. So I turned it around making the car positive ground, and I realized a couple days later that that’s probably why the radio was blowing fuses. I put a new fuse in the radio and I now have static, and that’s all. I thought possibly the antenna wasn’t connected so I crawled under the dashboard again and I didn’t find an antenna lead. That cars antenna sticks up from the center of the windshield, so somehow the antenna lead needs to come down through the windshield? But I didn’t see a conventional looking antenna. I also didn’t see a shielded cable, which I thought might be a possibility. So, what would the antenna lead look like, and where would it run from and two. The radio in this car has something different on the bottom of it which may mean it’s a remake or reproduction of an original 40 radio. Visible just below the dash on maybe an inch of radio that protrudes below the dash, is the word Drake. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Sid
 
Re: ‘40 radio

The antenna is the piece of round chrome trim that is centered on the windshield, right behind the wiper switch (see pic). It has a mounting nut that turns to tighten to the top of the radio, see pic 2. Picture 2 is a broken top of a radio that shows where the radio mounts to the antenna nut. Carpenter and others sell all the parts to connect and mount the radio, (hooks etc). I would suggest you look at what they sell and it becomes apparent what parts you will need. You may need the whole assembly.
 

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Re: ‘40 radio

It works! Well sort of. After I waited for the radio to warm up, I wiggled on the antenna conduit just behind the the windshield, and I got a stronger signal. What I had was a Spanish-speaking station that seemed to be all over the dial. My high school Spanish is a little rusty after 55 years, so I don’t think this one station I can is gonna be very helpful. However, the radio sort of works. Maybe after convertible season is over, I’ll take the radio out and send it for repairs. Thanks for the help. Sid
 
Re: ‘40 radio

Unfortunately, after you get it fixed, the only thing you'll get is crop reports, in a multitude of languages. AM radio is gone for guys like us. If you're gonna spend any money on it, get it modified to receive FM, or even better, "Bluetooth".

Don't take my advice, since I'm always "behind the curve".
 
Re: ‘40 radio

Mine is at Joe's Classic Radio, right now, getting AM-FM and Bluetooth. I sent it in March and I am on the schedule for July completion. Not cheap, but if you want something to work . . .
 
Re: ‘40 radio

The antenna rod to the radio should not wobble. You have a loose connection maybe at the top of the radio, where there is a special connector.
 
Re: ‘40 radio

Some folks get them modified to work as an amplifier for MP3 player connection. They will be monaural since there is only one speaker but they will play the mixed stereo just fine. The modification is basically just putting a plug jack in to mix the MP3 in to the audio circuit. They still have that tube & ******** sound. A blue tooth receiver module could also be installed but would cost a bit more I'm sure. It would eliminate the need for an MP3 player though.

Get some big band audio files and play the old music from yesteryear on there.

If you want modern AM/FM, they generally take all the old guts out and put in a board from a modern radio and connect it up for switching and volume/tuning control. A person can get the dual speaker sets that fit the one speaker location so as to have some stereo effect or have it set up for multiple speakers in various locations.
 
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