PH blog: crazy radios
Ergonomics be damned, Harris has been musing on the daftest positions ever chosen for car radios
Having already outed my slight obsession with original DIN-sized car entertainment electronics, you will not be surprised to learn that I glean an abnormal level of titillation from the positioning of these units. In the original Renault 5, the unit was effectively dropped vertically into a section of the centre console. It looks like a complete afterthought.
But wireless placement in cars always was a bit of an afterthought, perhaps because cars were so noisy and the radios so shoddy that people didn’t really bother with them? Or maybe conversation was just better before the 1980s?
And so to the point of this randomness; weird radio positions in motor cars.
My opening gambit is hard to beat: the De Tomaso Pantera. Evidently the pen that envisaged this cosy cockpit wasn’t aware of the need for in-car entertainment, so it found a vertical slither of space and mounted the radio on its side. It looks fabulous. With an analogue display, this is just about usable, take something digital and it must be interesting.
Of course I want to open this up to the floor immediately, and make sure that we don’t just celebrate the plain loopy stuff like the Pantera. The Alfa 75 had a radio so well hidden behind the gear lever that finding Radio 4 was like coaxing a tortoise from its shell.
You might be spotting a theme in nationality here – and to confirm that, just wait till you see the Series 1 Lambo Espada – but of course Porsche thought the best place for a radio in a 911 was in front of the passenger’s left knee. So the Italians do not have a monopoly.
Like most of you, I used to sprain my back in my old Mini trying to reach a radio that was of more use for heating my front passenger’s shins than being reached by the driver.
My personal favourite though is the Citroen GS. Subscribing to the same 90-degree rotation as the Pantera and, now we come to mention it, the Daytona, but nestled just under the driver’s armpit for maximum inconvenience.
Now, collective masses of PH, I implore you to find even sillier radio positions in car cabins.
Chris
The rogues gallery of weird radio positions...
Of course we also forget these were the days when the Radio was often an option even on upper level vehicles and so a lot of cars simply didn't have them.
Might explain my fights with my sister!!
The stereo had to be chosen carefully...You needed a unit with the display at the bottom of the unit...If it was at the top you wouldn't be able to see the station or any of the info displayed at all!
I owned the car when it was fairly new...The original unit was a cassette/radio and the cassettes did (just about) come out in any gear. However, when I changed to a cd/radio headunit the CDs were impossible to change if the car was in 1st, 3rd or 5th...which led to me getting a CD changer instead.
Best position I've encountered for a stereo in a car is a Mk2 Golf...Exactly the right height and position for ease of use and safe reading of the display.
http://www.1000sel.com/index.php?option=com_conten...
Oh
This reminds me of a story many years ago when CBs were at there height. He put the CB on the dash of the Mini and someone broke in a stole it. HA! He thought and then put a metal plate underneath and spot welded the nuts in place. So they broke in again and just cut round the radio mounts leaving a gaping hole on the dash.
Late model Ferrari 512 Boxers had a very eighties graphic equalizer mounted on the opposite side of the steering column to the radio so that only the driver could adjust it.
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