Show us your shaft-style stereo setups.

[CentralCoaster]

Right now I have one of the aftermarket imitation stereos USA-4 or something like that.

It's starting to fail internally and I guess it's probably made in China or Taiwan.

What are some other classic-looking stereos I can put in? Obviously none of them will take a CD but something with inputs or even a hard drive or mp3 capability would be cool. What are our options? I don't want a killer sound system, but I need more than AM/FM. Even the newer shaft stereos from Pioneer/kenwood etc all look too modern.

I know Nakamichi for example, makes some high quality OEM looking stereos for newer cars, so I'm looking for something along those lines. I hate flashy ****.

Cost isn't that big of a factor, I don't feel bad about spending a lot if I only have to buy it once.

[davidh]

I think a stereo from the 80's doesnt look out of place on these trucks. I have bought a few shaft stereos from ebay but they seem to be getting higher in price there days.

[BB72CHEVKT]

Originally Posted by davidh

I think a stereo from the 80's doesnt look out of place on these trucks. I have bought a few shaft stereos from ebay but they seem to be getting higher in price there days.

I could not find any. Have a link?

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by davidh

I think a stereo from the 80's doesnt look out of place on these trucks. I have bought a few shaft stereos from ebay but they seem to be getting higher in price there days.

If you're talking 80's GM stereos you're crazy!

What in the world is a shaft stereo?

[SkylineNXS]

I think by shaft he means the tape deck style, like oem on these trucks, with the two "shafts" that hold the knobs ont he right and left side goin trough the hole in the dash, then the center rectangular protrusion, at least i think thats what he means...

[Palf70Step]

Ones with knobs!

There are only a few that I know of, and most are not of the highest quality.

There is a cassette/AM/FM system on Crutchfield, but even that requires some mods.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, gotcha. When I think of GM 80's radios I think of the gigantic sqaure face radio that GM used from like the early/mid 80's in EVERYTHING they sold until like, a few years ago

[70' GMC]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=267981
something like that???

[bobthecop]

I was gonna use a radio delete plate and build a console with my CD palyer in the console.

[Luvlegs]

I've seen a lot of our trucks (junked) with foreign radios in them - I think they were all either toyota or nissans... they all seemed to be the same model radio too.

[Longhorn Man]

How about an old shaft style (or known as 2 knob) 8 track?

Sound quality is kinda crappy, so i have a small amp... a booster more acurately... maybe 50 watts X 2 chanels... a couple 6X9's, I have some small old 8 inch speakers I'll try out, and I'll have to get some new door speakers too since these ones are pretty much garbage. I'm gonna grab an EQ to help with the sound a bit too. For X-mas My mom is getting me an FM modulated CD chainger that'll go under the seat. CD's, CDR CDWR, MP3's... all playing though a theft proof 8 track player. (really, who's gonna steal an old crappy 8 track?)

[CentralCoaster]

Yeah, that's a shaft-style one. You guys are too new-fashioned.

The one I have right now is from custom autosound. Everyone says they are crap and I agree:

http://www.customautosounds.com/classic/classic.html

I guess I was just wondering if there were any like it with better quality.

I know there's places like this that will put new stereo guts into an old head unit...http://www.turnswitch.com/radio1.htm

[Mondo]

I looked at all those too, trying to keep the stock look, but they haven't kept up with the times (on the inside). We, in California, need to have bluetooth in 2008 for cell phone; unless you want to wear one of those funky earpieces.
Also, I want an ipod connection more than a cd player.... so I'm going ahead and cutting the dash to the standard DIN size that all stereos now are and am putting this stereo in.

http://www.gosale.com/4937140/alpine...FRE_OAodtTKJNQ

Guess it depends on what you want from the stereo. You could always leave the stock and put a new one in the glove box but I didn't want the hassle (that's where the ipod will go).

[CentralCoaster]

Originally Posted by Mondo

I looked at all those too, trying to keep the stock look, but they haven't kept up with the times (on the inside). We, in California, need to have bluetooth in 2008 for cell phone; unless you want to wear one of those funky earpieces.
Also, I want an ipod connection more than a cd player.... so I'm going ahead and cutting the dash to the standard DIN size that all stereos now are and am putting this stereo in.

I did stumble across a USB add-on for the Custom Autosound stereos. This would be nice to have a semi-permanent setup where you could stick SD cards in with mp3s on them and skip songs through the head unit. I might try and make this pos work since that's available and I can't find anything else. A little SD card will hold about 250 albums on it. I'm guessing that'd be a huge hassle to navigate through them though. Maybe just put 10 albums on a card and use the preset buttons to get to em or something.

[streetstar]

Originally Posted by Mondo

Also, I want an ipod connection more than a cd player.... so I'm going ahead and cutting the dash to the standard DIN size that all stereos now are and am putting this stereo in.

You could always leave the stock and put a new one in the glove box but I didn't want the hassle (that's where the ipod will go).

i agree, i just put a new ipod capable Alpine in my Blazer and am super happy about it -- no more stacks of cd's flying this way and that when i'm trying to catch some air ---- i think you could plug the ipod cord into an FM modulator though, but i dont know how you would control it then

[70' GMC]

The reason why I got my durabrand was because my old ones eats tapes, it pops and crackles when it plays any cassette, and the last reason was because my dash is black and the stereo is black so it will blend pretty and it only costed 30 bucks.

[68 Stepside]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

(really, who's gonna steal an old crappy 8 track?)

Me. I dig it!

[streetstar]

Originally Posted by 68 Stepside

Me. I dig it!

Me, too --- thats boss! (uh-oh, now ya gotta start locking it!)

[70' GMC]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

How about an old shaft style (or known as 2 knob) 8 track?

Sound quality is kinda crappy, so i have a small amp... a booster more acurately... maybe 50 watts X 2 chanels... a couple 6X9's, I have some small old 8 inch speakers I'll try out, and I'll have to get some new door speakers too since these ones are pretty much garbage. I'm gonna grab an EQ to help with the sound a bit too. For X-mas My mom is getting me an FM modulated CD chainger that'll go under the seat. CD's, CDR CDWR, MP3's... all playing though a theft proof 8 track player. (really, who's gonna steal an old crappy 8 track?)

uhh a crack head who will sell for a few dollars

[pmpski_1]

This is my plan:

I have the original AM radio in the dash, and I want to leave it that way. I also have a Zune (not iPod) and it has an FM radio built in. Since it has FM, all my music is already on it, and I don't need all of the features of a new car stereo, I'm gonna roll my own.

I'm gonna build a custom console that has an amp and speakers. I'll use an adapter to plug the Zune straight into the amp. The console will be completely removeable and the stock setup will stay put.

I haven't gotten past the investigation stage on this, so I can't tell you if it works yet

[CentralCoaster]

I think I fixed the USA-6. I opened it up and repaired some solder joints.

It looks like I can get the USB adapter and make a SD card slot directly in the front of the stereo face with enough room for the card reader to fit in there. That'd be a nice setup. I'm thinking this little adapter only has the ability to skip back and forth between songs though. If it can skip between folders now, that'd be nice.

[badpeanut]

The one thing I like about the Custom Autosound or Vintage Auto Radio units is that they use factory looking knobs so they look "right" in the dash. The Wal-Mart one from the link above is too "modern" looking for my taste. What else is there that looks more era correct?

[Blue71LWB]

Are all of the radios, that fit these truck, that are sold by LMC and Classic industries POS ?
I've been looking at the one that is am/fm with an input for my XM. It is $160.00 from Classic Indutries , but I'm not gonna mess with it if they are crap.

[michael bustamante]

if you want a cd player 2 knobber, I have seen and heard a high quality one made by McIntosh that sounded real nice and looked nice too. I use an older Alpine 2 knobber tape deck And it looks good in the factorey location for being as old as it is

[mrein3]

Hey CentralCoaster, I read both this page and chevelles.com too. I almost responded to your question over there. But since my photo is of my stereo in my truck, I thought I'd post it here.

I got this one at JC Whitney in the last 5 years. It was less than $100. I guarantee it sounds as good to me as anybody's $1000 dash hacking set-up. Especially when I'm tearing down the slab at 70 mph.