Antique Radio Repair & Restoration ! Car Home

Automobile and Car Radio Repair and Restoration

We have Automobile Antique Car Radio Repair down to a science
using all the right tools and troubleshooting techniques!!

Don't spend your money on a spare tube set. Tubes are not
hard to get and they typically are not the major failure
component in old car radios.

Car and automobile radio repair and restoration is a different kind of beast to restore than plug-in the wall home radios. Automobile radios have a totally different kind of power supply and the components are more difficult to access than home radios. Most car radios are either 6 or 12 volt based. Higher voltage, which makes the tubes work, is derived through the use of Vibrators and step up power transformers. As noted below, vibrators and power supply components are one of the main sources of failures in auto radios. We can repair and restore most Chevrolet, Ford, Buick, Pontiac, GM, Hudson, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, Cadillac, Delco, Lincoln, Volkswagen VW, and other car and truck radios.

1940 Chevrolet 5 Band Radio Model 985697

This radio was one of the most challenging car radios that I have ever worked on. When the Chevrolet 5 Band radio came into the shop, it was in terrible shape. It was very dirty, had a broken dial string, bad capacitors, frayed wiring, bad speaker, numerous mechanical issues, and finally a broken tuning slug wire (which made the radio completely DOA). To access and attempt repair of the slug was a major feat as I had to remove and disassemble much of the mechanical parts. The fact that this is a rather rare radio and being an automobile AM and Shortwave set, made it desirable for the customer to want to repair it.

1953 Chevrolet Radio Restoration Pictorial

Restored 1953 Chevrolet Bel-Air Car Radio

The 1953 Delco Model 986668 AM car radio that was installed as an option in the Chevrolets (Motorola also supplied radios) were of considerable good quality. Both in construction and receiver performance. The most common problems with these radios and most old radios in general, as a result of age, are deteriorating components. Specifically, the most common problems are:

	Bad vibrator: This effects the high voltage DC. Typically, these can be replaced with a modern solid state unit which is unquestionably more reliable and quieter. These solid state vibrators cost about $30 and are readily available. It should be noted, that many older mechanical vibrators will work fine. But, it is hard to predict when the contacts become so bad that the unit will cease to operate.
	Noisy Volume Potentiometer: After age, they do get noisy (like in most radios). Dirt and dust is the major culprit along with wear of the carbon element inside.
	Leaky and Bad Capacitors: As noted in the pictures, there are paper audio bypass and power supply filter capacitors that almost always should be replaced. The power supply filer capacitors should also be changed with new comparable ones. In these capacitors, the electrolyte dries up with age and the elements inside short out. If not addressed, the short in the capacitor can be catastrophic as damage will occur to the power transformer.
	Vibrator Timing (Buffer) Capacitor: This component is an important part in insuring that voltage spikes are suppressed as they are generated by the vibrator. The buffer capacitor is rated at a much higher voltage than other capacitors in the radio.

Radio Pictures

As mentioned above, we can repair and restore Chevrolet, Ford, Buick, Pontiac, GM, Hudson, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, Cadillac, Delco, Lincoln, and other car and truck radios. It should be noted that in car radios, many of them also come in with mechanical problems (linkage, pushbuttons, etc). It is often very difficult to completely fix all mechanical problems. But, we do the best that we can and will inform you of the issues.