Re: Vintage Radios

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-724 W. B. Peale asks "does anyone have the hard data on which radios
were originally installed on earlier Alfas in the US?  I'm guessing this 
might have been done by dealers with a lot of variation, but maybe not. (I'm 
especially interested in finding a correct radio for a US-Spec 69 GT Veloce.)"

Not "hard data", but I bought a 1967 Giulia Super new, a 1971 GT Veloce new, 
and a 1972 Berlina new, two different dealers, and nobody mentioned a radio. 
The Giulia Super had a radio blanking plate over a cutout, but neither the 
'71 coupe nor the '72 sedan had radio cutouts and/or blanking plates. I 
believe the brand-of-choice in the USA was Becker, don't remember anyone 
chatting-up Blaupunkts or any domestic brands.

Looking in 1969 issues of Road & Track, which was still the predominant 
information source for US enthusiasts, (and discounting one big ad for a huge 
and ugly Muntz Stereo) Blaupunkt and Becker were the only brands advertised. 
The Blaupunkt ads (every month) are one column inch, from Foreign Car 
Specialties in New York, and offer both AM/FM and AM High Fidelity, For 
Foreign and American Cars, Economically Priced. The less frequent Becker ads 
(Becker Autoradio USA, Philadelphia) are much more prepossessing, pitched to 
"the true connoisseur", West German skill, standard equipment in Mercedes 
Benz, original factory custom plates available for most foreign cars, 
Porsche, Volvo, BMW, Ferrari, Alfa-

The one we got for our '67 Super was a Becker Grand Prix, which had a 
separate amplifier and a signal-seeking touchbar which didn't work very well, 
and we added an underdash Becker short-wave unit. Our '69 Berlina project car 
has a Becker Europa which appears to be an early installation. I believe I 
remember an early big splash Becker made in the motoring press with a 
top-of-the-line model called the Mexico, which had to have been keying off 
the panache, in Europe, of the Carrera Panamericana. 

So, no hard data, but I would wager that the vast majority of Alfas which had 
radios installed in the US in the late sixties had Beckers.

There is also the no-radio option which might be considered. None of the 
sales literature for 1750 and 2000 GT Veloces and Berlinas which I have shows 
the car with radio installed. The Giuliettas (except the Zagato) provided for 
radios and were often shown with them, but the catalogs look as though with 
the 1750 Alfa had decided that radios were among the bells and whistles which 
a discriminating enthusiast could live without. 

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

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