A guy I work with done it yesterday to the original radio in his 49 pontiac and will soon be doing it for my 55,its sweet as the dial will light up and uses the original on/off switch along the push buttons for volumn,seek and source.  I will post more after mine is done and see how it works,he is willing to do some if anyone is interested but it wont be cheap as there are parts to buy and its time consuming and you would have to supply a original radio to be cut up which cant be put back to original after he is done.

Butchering up everything I can get my hands on in Dayton Ohio

Another option I did was to take a modern radio (alpine) and make the face remote mount, and put it on a panel that is under the dash, (panel also has 3 guages as well).  Its set up so when I flip a switch, it retracts up under the dash and you cant see it.  The "brains" of the radio are mounted in the glovebox.

When its retracted, you cant see it unless you get down on the floor, so it looks completely stock for shows, etc., but it has cd, sat radio, ipod, etc.

The one thing i like about it is that the parts that you have to remove from the stock radio (at least on a 56) can be replaced later if needed, so the original radio, while inoperable, isnt destroyed...

Just another thought.

Ron Grove

Wauconda, IL

Since my 55 will never be put back to 6 volt I have no problem is destroying a radio,I am going to keep the original radio intact but will find a junker to do the modification too.  I cant wait to get it made as the dash will look all original again and will look like the radio is working,I thought about having the original radio converted to am/fm but I heard one and it did not sound so great plus its was very expensive and since I work for a shop that sells car audio I get everything at cost and can build a much better sounding system much cheaper then the conversions.

Butchering up everything I can get my hands on in Dayton Ohio

The are harnesses to install an ipod, to an amp and it will charge and play and fit nicely in the glovebox, this is the route i am taking. got the idea from a post on the hamb and it is inexpensive too.

 I'm on a Lowwwww Budget

The conversion is only going to cost me some beer as he did some looking at work and found the parts needed to do it and cant wait as the more I think about it I want that marine remote out of the dash,since mine has a modern stereo I can hook up a ipod now but still have not got one.

Butchering up everything I can get my hands on in Dayton Ohio

Where can I buy one of these harnesses? I don't really want to cut up my stereo either, I just want to leave the light bulb so it turns on when all the other dash lights are on.



Loving my Y!

Kevin Walshe

Costa Mesa, California

The radio I got yesterday has been converted to the remote and will be installing it soon,been trying to see if I can do something with the marine remote so I can tell what station its on.  I am thinking on building a small box to mount it on so it can put it under the seat so it wont be seen and just get it out and laying it on the seat when traveling,I could of gotten by with just doing that but like the idea of controlling the stereo with what looks like a original radio so I will use both if I can.

Butchering up everything I can get my hands on in Dayton Ohio

Its in and working and the dash looks much better now,burning some CDs to keep in it as we speak.

Butchering up everything I can get my hands on in Dayton Ohio

sorry kevin i was away on vacation, i got it off the internet a company called PAC makes the harnesses

Mike

 I'm on a Lowwwww Budget