Retro Radio

[muley]

I read a thread on radios here that was about a year old. I've got a 1969 C 20 Longhorn and was curious as to anybodys input to some of these Retro Radios. Has anybody tried one lately? Do they work all right? Which ones to stay away from?
Thanks for any help I get.

[Jahloha]

Haven't installed one yet, but been looking at a few that have the aux output; seeing as that's all I need to have.

I am interested in others' experience, so I will be following.

[muley]

I've been looking at Retro Sound mod. one or two. Then a USA-1.
I've no idea if they will last or not.

[cdowns]

i bought a USA-1 the best day i had with it was when i took the BFH to it and ended that piece of craps reign of terror/// poor quality non exisitant customer service

[flashed]

I had a USA 1 Radio in my wife's chevelle and it sucked .

[muley]

Well,
Those are glowing reports.

[Ken Davis]

I sent my am radio to tayman electrical in florida he converted it to am fm with a aux. Output it looks original and works great.

[jocko]

Try these guys:
http://mikehaganantiqueautoradio.com/
http://www.antiqueautomobileradio.com/

Many of these old places will retrofit your factory am or am/fm with an aux port to run an mp3 or ipod or whatever. good reports on mike hagan, especially.

[Katrina/10]

I have a Custom Autosound USA radio in my truck. It is slightly better than nothing.

[Ken Davis]

I had a custom auto sound now it is in the junk pile. My new reworked am to am fm 180 watt stereo looks and works great.

[muley]

I get the picture. One would think the money they charge, you would get more than a paperweight in return. I'll start snooping around locally and see if I can find someone that can build a " frankenradio ".
I also see a in dash speaker for sale that appears to be a two in one speaker.
Any input on this? Or do I need to just cut holes in the cab.

[Ken Davis]

I useca custom auto sound two in one it barely fits with the original radio. My gastank has been removed so I bought the corner panels for 6 x 9 speakers for the back panels. The am fm board that Tayman uses is the same as the one used on the repro factory looking am fm.

[flashed]

As far as the speaker you are talking about I have one in the Chevelle and it is fine .There is one in my truck too but the radio among many other things is yet to be installed. In my 72 truck Im doing a radio delete in the dash and hiding the stereo in the BuddyBucket console and hiding the power antenna in the front driver side stake pocket .

[Steve Hafner]

. . . .

I bought one of these from Mike Hagan in October of 2010 for my 70 C-10.

I also purchased the in dash speaker he recommended.

The radio, at that time was around $600.

Together, they sound pretty good, better then the original AM that came with my truck !!!

It DOES have an auxiliary input in the back, which I haven't used yet.
( but I'm planning on getting a cord for it to use with an Ipod )

The electronic tuning is a little "touchy" . . . it locks onto stations good though.

One of the neat things about this radio is the fact that it's only about TWO inches deep !!!

. . . .

[special-K]

Custom Autosound sucked when they came out with no attempt to change since. Found out on the one in the '65 Biscayne I had.

Hagan's units are 180w. I've used him for years,except that time above.

[MidLifer]

I had a Retrosound Model One - or should I say I had two of them- over the past two years. I had problems with both, but I must say that Retrosound stood behind them and promptly replaced both. I can't say enough good things about Chris Peterson at Retrosound.

Now, that said, when the second one crapped out, Chris called me and offered me a Zuma to replace it with, which is their new model. I've had it in the truck for about 2 months and so far it has worked great. He admitted that they had reliability issues with the Model 2's but said the Zuma has new guts in it and should work better. Only time will tell, but with a 2 year warranty and Chris and his team standing behind their product, you don't have much to lose.

[special-K]

I always figured,even if the radios worked fine,why buy a Custom Autosound that doesn't look original and doesn't have good sound when there was no problem finding a quality unit made by a brand name company that fits (Alpine,Pioneer,etc). That has changed since they started out,but even now,there are better quality units available that look original or have an original converted...with 180w

[Lattimer]

Problem is that the name brand companies no longer make dual shaft radios.

I put a USA 230 in my truck. Sound was just ok, functions are just ok. Reception sucked on FM and worse on AM. After maybe a month of using it 1-2 days a week it has an issue where it will go to mute instead of turning off when you push the button. Only way I have found to fix it is to remove power so it resets. not cool.

Now it just fills the hole in the dash.

I already had a Highliner headliner installed, so I went the rest of the way and put an inexpensive Pioneer radio in it. Now I have CD, AM, FM, Aux, USB, and Bluetooth. Cost was about $129. Reception is way better, obviously works way better, and i can stream music from my IPhone. Also have Bluetooth hands free calling now.

[Fldawg]

my custom autosound lasted 1 year, brothers was gonna help me out and just exchange it
but then told me to go throught custom autosound, that was a joke. buy at your own risk

[BigRed76]

Originally Posted by Ken Davis

I sent my am radio to tayman electrical in florida he converted it to am fm with a aux. Output it looks original and works great.

Do you remember how much that costs from Tayman?

Nevermind, found they're website, says $385 for am/fm conversion.

[Ken Davis]

You have to tell Tayman to put the led light in orange is fm red is am. I installed mine two weeks ago and am very happy with it. Tayman was great to deal with.

[BigRed76]

Originally Posted by Ken Davis

You have to tell Tayman to put the led light in orange is fm red is am. I installed mine two weeks ago and am very happy with it. Tayman was great to deal with.

Are those the original colors for an am/fm radio? I've never had one so I don't know

[70CHEVYBB]

After hearing all this maybe I should just cut my dash for a real radio?? Has anyone used the lmc headliner with radio and speakers mounted in it.

[special-K]

Just buy a used in dash AM/FM/Cassette. It will perform and last longer than a new Custom Autosound. I always kept mine while others tossed them. I've had them given to me,too. I hear members here call aftermarket in-dash units cheap and cheezy. I don't know about everyone else,but an AM radio is worthless to me. Might as well have nothing. Till maybe the '90s,the word was pretty much all factory radios sucked...AM,AM/FM,of AM/FM/Cassette. The first thing I've always done in my vehicles is replace the factory unit with a quality stereo and that's what I still do. I have cassettes I recorded in the '70s that still sound great. The only reason I've gone with the Hagan conversions was on a show quality "factory-like" truck to get the CD/XM/MP3 capabilities. And that'll cost ya...like everything else on a truck like that. If you just want to hear good music while driving your truck,find a used stereo and enjoy. They are era correct accessories,just like VentVisors,brush guards,bed rails,bumper guards,wide steel wheels,dual exhaust SBC,etc

[flashed]

I agree with special K ,I have a new in box Craig AM/FM cassette radio that I save and have another good used one for a project for later .I still plan to mount a new style radio under the dash of my 74 .