For more info on the various radios that went into these cars, here's a page chock full of info and photos:
http://mbzponton.org/valueadded/other/radios.htm
The old girl came with a combination of a Becker radio, with a Reims short-wave adapter (pictured below). Aside from some pitting on the metal bits, all of this gear looks to be in good shape. There's no telling if any of it is functional, as yet. The long horizontal button just above the speaker grille is a scan button - radios in the 1950s had a scan function? Whodathunkit.
From some recent traffic on the Ponton list, I surmise that the above unit is the "Mexico" model, which was one of the more expensive models (if not the most expensive) available at the time. I don't think any of the other radios available had the scan function.
Fortunately, there are still shops around that work on these old radios. So at some point, I may be sending my gear in to get repaired/refurbished/cleaned up.
The buttons on the short-wave adapter would, when selected, change the range of frequencies that you could choose from with the tuning dial, from what I've read. Kinda funky.
The power supply for the radio is the larger unit to the rear.
Four bolts on the sides of the Bakelite facia and a couple farther back free up the unit from the dashboard area.
Next to come away is the power supply. The cable on the left side appears to be a ground.
The unit comes off the bottom of the dash easily.
The main cable connecting the radio to the power supply is held onto the rear of the power supply by a clip, which pops off and allows the plug to be removed.
A couple of more wires (function unknown at the moment) are freed by getting a small flathead screwdriver into the holes above.
Power supply has been liberated!
Now to remove the radio. Note the clips (well, clip) for the mounting bolts.
Another wire to be removed - another ground, I assume.
It's at this point that I was stuck - I couldn't puzzle out how to remove the short-wave adapter from the triangular-ish mounting plate (which is itself mounted to the underside of the dash). So, I ignored it. For months. Like, four months. Meh.
But, while digging through old emails and cleaning up my inbox, I happened upon the emails I had exchanged with Ramzi months before - and dropped him a note asking his advice on getting the rest of this gear out. Stupid simple, it turns out.
All it takes is to poke a decent-sized flathead screwdriver in from the side, and to lever the front ends of the unit free. This took about five seconds to accomplish. Once both sides are free, the unit slides forward to get the rearward tab free of the mounting plate above.
On the top of the unit, one can see two cylindrical pieces on each side - these snap up into the mounting plate, and simply required a bit of oomph to get them free.
The black cable on the left side of the unit appears to go to the antenna - it snakes through over the steering column and into the side of the passenger compartment, right about where the antenna is mounted. The end in the adapter just pops right out.
The mounting plate, shot from below. This is held on by three Phillips screws.
The whole kit and kaboodle (except for the mounting plate).
Very cool!
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