Speakers in the kickpanels

[ElGracho]

My 1975 GMC Gentleman Jim has speakers in the kickpanels from the factory. It had a factory stereo 8 track with a separate firewall mounted amplifier. Does anyone know if other 1975 trucks with factory stereo had the kickpanel mounted speakers?

[ocbaud]

are you sure there from the factory?

[old Rusty C10]

ive owned alot of trucks in my day and never heard of speakers int he kick panel from the factory. I can tell you about kick panel speakers sold by JC Whitney though. I cant imagine speakers installed there though cause its a prime area to get those speakers damaged

[ElGracho]

Of the four Gentelman Jim's I've actually seen in person, they all had exactly the same thing. The kickpanel has about a 3 inch hole in it, there is a plastic seal that sits in a hole in the metal behind the plastic to seal the "enclosure." There is a 3 1/2 or 4" round speaker (I'll have to measure mine) and a rectangular black plastic cover about 3x4" and 1" tall on top.

There are no holes in the dash for two speakers in the 75 trucks and my truck doesn't have any rear speakers, it kinda makes sense because I don't know how else you could have stereo. Just based on your replies, they sound like the are at least uncommon, maybe only on the Gentleman Jims.

[ElGracho]

I just did a little more looking through my brochures, and 1980 is the first year it mentions stereo in the regular truck brochure. Here is a picture I scanned from that brochure that shows where they put the two front speakers:



The Gentleman Jim brochure specifically mentions stereo, so I don't think most trucks had that in the 70's. With 81 came the new dash and a place to put the front speakers.

[78SilveradoSWB]

Are you sure kickpanel?, the above picture shows the speaker in the door panel.

[ElGracho]

Yeah, I guess that is confusing. The picture above is a 1980 and this is another place that Chevrolet put their front speakers for stereo.

My 1975 has a very similar looking speaker cover, but it is mounted vertically and on the kickpanel (guess it's time to get out my digital camera)

I did some more looking through brochures and found that an AM/FM 8 track stereo is listed for 75-80 GMC trucks, but isn't mentioned in the Chevrolet brochures. In 76, the regular GMC pickup brochure mentions "Delco's Cross-Fire speaker system" which I think is what my Gentleman Jim has.

Anyhow, I was just wondering how common this is.

[old Rusty C10]

after viewing the picture i reverse the original call ( i gotta stop watching football and playin on the computer at the same time)
The original post stated the kick panel which is the almost triangular shaped panel at the bottom of the dashboard next to the door . The speakers in the door panels were common enough in stereo equipped models ive had several of them ok now that we got that squared away GO BILLS!!!!!!!

[ElGracho]

Now I'M confused. I never should have posted that picture.

My 1975 Gentleman Jim has speakers in the KICKPANELS, from the factory. NOT THE DOORPANELS.

The picture I posted above is from a 1980 Chevrolet pickup brochure. It was supposed to show that GM was putting speakers in different places than at least what I'm used to seeing. I got everyone confused because I mentioned those grilles on the 80 speakers are a lot like the grilles on my 75 speakers, but they are in totally different spots inside the truck.

For some more confusion, I have a 1980 Chevy truck accessory brochure (stuff you could buy from the dealer for your truck) and it shows a AM/FM 8-track CB stereo with a digital display. Has anyone ever seen one of these?

[78SilveradoSWB]

I have a 78 C-10 with air and in looking at my kickpanels there is a faint circular outline in the plastic, about 4" diameter. Wonder if this was for optional speakers? Not much room for a speaker with any large magnet, but then again speakers used back then had small magnets.