RE: PH blog: crazy radios
Discussion
mph1977 said:
Leins said:
Which car was marketed with a 4-speaker set-up, but in reality the radio fed the front two, and the separate cassette deck the rear two? Datsun/Nissan Bluebird?
possibly the Datsun Stanza where the radio and the cassette player were entirely seperate items ?Of course once I inherited it proper from my Grandad I ripped out all the wiring, put a brand new tape unit in (back when a CD player was still north of £300) and wired up all the speakers into one plug, then a bass cannon (for it was named so) in the boot. Loved that car.
sjabrown said:
Peugeot 205. Down low in the centre console near the gearstick. It gets an extra mention as it's surrounded by heater vents and near to a bad spot for exhaust heat that slowly cooks the electrics
Not to mention if you get a leaky heater matrix it drips coolant directly into it. I went through 4 different stereos before I worked out what was happening... 
I must admit I am loving this thread! No arguing, no morons talking rubbish just the most obscure interiors and ideas from the ages. When you look back at these pics you realise how staid the world has become and we did what we thought was 'cool' rather than actually having a conference to discuss its ergonomic properties and financial benefits!
And 'wow' the Espada interior, Porsche 928 and 'DREAM CARS' book revival, and Citroen for defying the laws of human physics!
And 'wow' the Espada interior, Porsche 928 and 'DREAM CARS' book revival, and Citroen for defying the laws of human physics!
KimZ said:
When God was a child, I had a 'poor man's Uracco' .. it's radio position wasn't one of its strong points..
Actually with rose-tinteds on, it wasn't a bad drive.. underpowered but due to its propensity to oxidation, probably a good thing as much more torque would have had the engine in the front seats...
Wasn't a bad looking thing the Bagheera.. just *very* badly screwed together..
(This one isn't mine - random pics off t'net for those too young to remember these innovative vehicles)
Surprised you could hear the stereo over the interior. :-)Actually with rose-tinteds on, it wasn't a bad drive.. underpowered but due to its propensity to oxidation, probably a good thing as much more torque would have had the engine in the front seats...
Wasn't a bad looking thing the Bagheera.. just *very* badly screwed together..
(This one isn't mine - random pics off t'net for those too young to remember these innovative vehicles)
gethyped said:
My first car was a Fiat 127.Radio Cassette Player was located under passenger side glovebox.Not an ideal location for a 17 year old driver who needed 1005 concentration on driving !
My Volvo PV544 has that, but that's my fault. The original Boman stereo is børked but both nice-looking and tiny, so replacing it with a modern head-unit would require hacking a big hole in the dash and spoil the look of the interior. So I put a modern JVC head unit in the passenger-side glove box, and the interior still looks original- bar the modern speakers on the parcel shelf, as the original Strombergs got nicked. Changing stations while driving is "interesting", though...You know how sometimes someone mentions a car and a warm glow of memory wafts through you. I remember the 1220 radio well. And the weird handbrake in the dash and all the other kooky Citroen stuff. Had one in the late seventies out in Johannesburg and went everywhere in it. Most of the time I had a great passenger too, but that's another story. Best memories were miles and miles of dust road up in the northern Transvaal, hunting waterfalls and places to enjoy before everyone else found them, revving the b
ks out of that great little motor. But back to the radio. It was fun having it there. It was different for different's sake. So I didn't really care that it rattled loose, lost reception and got filthy in the cassette crevasse. The pleasure of different just trumped sensible working position every time. Every time I step into the interior of a modern car I despair - people spend so much time worrying about headlamps and wheels but the cockpit is where you spend all your time - you don't ride on the bonnet. The interior of the 1220 was a great place to be, a great place to play. Especially on a Friday night at the Topstar Drive-In. There I go ...off topic again.
ks out of that great little motor. But back to the radio. It was fun having it there. It was different for different's sake. So I didn't really care that it rattled loose, lost reception and got filthy in the cassette crevasse. The pleasure of different just trumped sensible working position every time. Every time I step into the interior of a modern car I despair - people spend so much time worrying about headlamps and wheels but the cockpit is where you spend all your time - you don't ride on the bonnet. The interior of the 1220 was a great place to be, a great place to play. Especially on a Friday night at the Topstar Drive-In. There I go ...off topic again.edwheels said:
bigtrev200 said:
It's the mid-80s and bodykit manufacturer BB decides that the Mk2 Polo's standard dashboard is a little on the staid side. It does however have a very well positioned head-unit (it's just difficult to work out what the hell everything else does...).
HaHa - brilliant! That steering wheel looks dangerous... It also looks like an HP Reverse Polish Notation Calculator - takes some mastering that's for sure! - not recommended to use whilst driving!I've got an old Blaupunkt catalogue at home with this unit in but for the life of me I can't remember its model number and google's no help.
K50 DEL said:
Believe it or not it's actually the display and most of the controls for the Blaupunkt stereo unit that's in the dash.
I've got an old Blaupunkt catalogue at home with this unit in but for the life of me I can't remember its model number and google's no help.
It was the Blaupunkt Denver SQM108. My parents used to have one. It had a dedicated DIN-sized tape deck where the radio would normally be, the amplifier unit was mounted under one of the front seats and everything was controlled with a remote control on a "swan neck". It was Blaupunkt's solution to the topic of this thread: crazy radio locations. It also made the radio difficult to steal because, if you left the tape deck at home, the unit itself was hidden and you just slipped the remote in your pocket before leaving the car.I've got an old Blaupunkt catalogue at home with this unit in but for the life of me I can't remember its model number and google's no help.
I've only been able to find the ad below, which is in French.
It looks silly now, but in ten years' time we'll probably say the same thing about the location of current satnavs...
Edited by Arj on Wednesday 17th October 12:18
Arj said:
It was the Blaupunk Denver SQM108.
Sadly not... check the photos, the Denver is completely different, Blaupunkt actually did 3 or 4 of these style of units, including one that had a complete analogue tuner on the gooseneck.As you say, an ingeneous if somewhat visually challenged idea!
ziggy1024 said:
This is the book I had (Have? Must be somewhere!) - it contained plenty of very 80s awesomeness much like the above!
http://www.stellabooks.com/shop/see_stock_photo.ph...
Must have been on plenty of PHers bookshelves?
Yeah, I had that! I've mentioned it elsewhere on PH but it had crazy stuff like Sbarro's rear engined Golf GTI Mk1 that had a hinged floorpan so the engine could be revealed on the move, a lot of Willy Koenig's modified stuff, The Vector W8 and the pre-production version of the Porsche 959. The 8 year old car nut's bible!http://www.stellabooks.com/shop/see_stock_photo.ph...
Must have been on plenty of PHers bookshelves?
And to keep slightly on topic, the Peugeot 104 had the radio vertically on the drivers side A-pillar in the footwell area, I guess the Citroen LNA did too?
Edited by JBT on Wednesday 17th October 13:02
K50 DEL said:
Sadly not... check the photos, the Denver is completely different, Blaupunkt actually did 3 or 4 of these style of units, including one that had a complete analogue tuner on the gooseneck.
You're right. I'm not sure what exactly I was looking at as they are indeed completely different. I have not been able to find that particular unit, but here are some other swan/goose necks:
I love the VU meters on that equaliser!
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