[Boatanchors] Car Radios

[Randy and Sherry Guttery]

On 1/21/2012 1:46 PM, D C *Mac* Macdonald wrote:
> Dad's 1950 Olds 98 4-door sedan had a "Signal Seeker" radio.
> Great sound (for the day) but the seek function never worked
> after I added a Morrow 5BR-1 converter to it. Took the test
> for my driver license in that car in the middle of winter
> 54/55 on glare ice with no snow tires!
>
> I suspect the Caddies of the day also had the seek function
> in their radios.
>
>
Yes - all of the "better" option GM radios had it.  Most had 
the "dual chassis" radios - (tuning / control head in the 
dash, power supply audio power and speaker either under the 
dash (or like in the '53 olds - behind the clock on the 
right end of the dash).  Of course - my '53 olds - being 
nowhere near '"stock" had almost nothing "olds" left (hmmm 
back seat, tail lights, -oh and the skirts on the rear 
wheels). From the front:  1956 cad headlights (eyebrows); 57 
Eldorado engine complete with (factory) dual quads; 55 
hydro-matic (water cooled, and virtually no slip); 60 cad 
dash; 58 cad deep-dish steering wheel; 58 cad front seat 
(6-way power); stock hydraulic power windows replaced with 
58 cad electric motor windows; nosed, deck, lowered a bunch. 
Oh yeah - one more item stock olds - rear-end.  geared for a 
hundred plus horsepower - (i.e. geared low); only now with 
roughly 400hp.  No idea how many (back) u-joints, axels, 
etc. we broke.  It was originally built as a tow-car for 
boats (hence all the horsepower/torque);  turned out to be a 
fair performer on the drag strip - mid to low 12s in the 
quarter.

What's all this to do with boatanchors (even of the car 
radio variety)?  back to that cadillac dash...  It had a 
signal-seeker AM radio - that used 12V plate tubes. As I 
type this - the "spare" is on the bench being overhauled 
(slightly easier than going through a 390/1/A!).  I ran 
across it in storage last week - and decided to dump it on 
ebay - so I thought I'd go through it (and the matching 
power antenna) - and see what it'd bring.  Then along comes 
this discussion - including 12V plate tubes...   just a 
rather curious coincidence.

It's rather odd working on tube circuits that have low 
impedance -- comparatively speaking to the "typical" tube 
boatanchor!

Well - enough breaktime...  back to the project!

-- 
randy guttery

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