Radios

The radios back in the 70's were very easy to operate straight forward devices compared to the entertainment-consoles available nowadays with all the little faders, knobs and LCD scales.

In the early seventies the Compact Cassette was just invented by Philips and it was not obvious if the Compact Cassette or the Eight Track Cartridge would be the music storage-system of the future. Only very few expensive radios with integrated cassette player were available.

If the hole for the radio in your dashboard is still existing in its original shape consider yourself lucky because you still have the chance to build in an original radio. Modern radios require an rectangular hole, whereas the contemporary radios required a smaller rectangular hole with two round holes to the left and right for the two axes protruding out of the radio.

The left axes is driving the potentiometers for volume and balance, whereas the right axes is for tuning in the stations and for the selection of the AM or FM band.

Since years I have a Blaupunkt Köln (Cologne) in my possession. This radio was installed in one of the cars I bought ages ago. I realized that this radio would fit perfectly into my Zagato because this type was sold in the beginning of the 70's. I had the radio overhauled and managed to buy the original console (chrome frame) and set of installation material specifically designed by Blaupunkt for the Junior Zagato. The red knob in the middle console between cigarette lighter and switch for the electric-motor of the rear hood is the hazard-lights switch. It is mandatory for all cars in Germany and was installed by Alfa Romeo technicians in Frankfurt/Main.

The following documentation was delivered together with the installation material (for larger images click on the small pictures below):

Installation instructions, page 1 (in German)

Installation instructions, page 2 (in German)

Suppression instructions, page 1 (in German, English, French and Spanish)	Suppression instructions, page 2 (in German, English, French and Spanish)	Suppression instructions, page 3 (in German, English, French and Spanish)

I'm very interested to learn more about contemporary radios from other manufacturers. Please let me know if you could contribute to this page.