55 Radio

[D.Yaros]

Have yet to receive my 55 CDV, but have been reading up in prep for her arrival.  I have a question re: the radio.  Am I to understand that all 55 radios come the the selector bar (what Olds called a Wonder Bar)?

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Dave:

If the car was equipped with a radio, it was a "wonderbar" type -- ditto for 1954 as
well.  The only bad thing about these (neat as they are) is that if the clockwork
type mechanism doesn't work that moves the pointer, there is no other way to change
stations.

Mike

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

GM called all these type of radios "Wonderbar"

But these days, when they don't work, we would sometimes "Wonder" when the "Bar" stopped working.

Bruce.

[Walter Youshock]

Also, don't get too upset if it doesn't stop on a station.  There aren't that many AM stations left!

You'll get lots of talk, and talk, and talk...

One very clear night about 5 years ago, I actually pulled in a station from CANADA on the '57!  And I live in Scranton, PA!  This is on a completely original set--it has never had a capacitor or tube replaced and has never been readujested.

In case you get no power to the set or blow fuses, it is the vibrator.  You can get solid-state units for about $40.00.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Hey Walter!

These old tube radios are quite good at pulling in the stations, if the weather
is good and especially at night.  I live in Pittsburgh, PA and on a good night I
get WSM (Nashville) and listen to the "Grand Ol Oprey" as well as NY, Chicago, Canada,
St. Louis, even Havana.  That's inside a garage (lower floor) with a steel roof!  Quite
amazing these old radios were!

I was a big fan of old short-wave radio and the "skip" at night helps to give these
stations extra range.  BTW, you should easily be able to get KDKA Pittsburgh at
1020 on the AM dial -- it's one of the most powerful stations in this area.

Mike

[Coupe]

Back in the day the clear channel stations had quite the listening audience . After sunset they could crank up their output to 50,000 watts and reach amazing distances especially on a clear night. In western Minnesota we would tune in WGN out of Chicage for rock and roll and WSM for country.
2 weeks ago on my way home from Florida I was listen to the NASCAR race from Las Vegas on FM, every 40 miles had to search for another station. I missed the old days of no daylight savings and clear channel AM carrying something other than talk shows.

[Walter Youshock]

I will throw this out there:  I had the original radio in my car redone years ago since the vibrator went bad.  It never worked right after that.  I have an original junkyard set in the car now with the solid-state vibrator and it works PERFECTLY--picks up stations on all sensitivity settings, doesn't spit or crackle and stops dead-on with the Wonderbar.  And my FAVORITE toy is the foot switch I also found in the junkyard.

If you ever have to have one of these sets redone, you need to find a true pro.  The parts are so crammed inside those chassies.

[David King (kz78hy)]

I just hung up the phone with the fellow who is rebuilding/checking my radio unit.  He is replacing the capacitors and checking each circuit to ensure it is within its specifications.  Kind of expensive, but seems like a fellow who really knows how to work on these units.  Claims to be one of the best at getting the wonderbar feature to operate correctly.  I will know soon.  My unit has no tubes, but the 1st transistors and everything is put back to original.

There might even be a discrete aux. port to plug in a ipod

David

[Walter Youshock]

The Brougham radio was the first solid state unit Cadillac used.  The only feature you COULDN'T get for the Brougham was the foot switch--it would cause a dead short and blow the fuse.

[David King (kz78hy)]

Don't know what your plan is for this. There is an adapter available that plugs in line with antenna plug. The best part is, no modifications to the radio are necessary. Here's the link http://www.rediscoveradio.com/   No AM stations? no problem with this thing. Just plug in your CD/IPOD/ SAT Radio and your cruising with some tunes    Works with 6V too!

Lou

Thanks Lou
Since these units have a separate amp (tube or transitor) is possible to just add a selector switch and aux. port which can be hidden anywhere.  The system is stock, there is just a secondary source option now.  It is only 50 bucks more for this and should be nice sounding.  These systems are supposed to be very good.  I remember having my FM converter, 8 track to cassette converter and these did work, but not that great.  I suppose today's electronics make it better, but no substitute for hard wire.   Of course when I was using the "converters", the burned out glass packs did not aid in great  sound system quality.  I wonder where that 68 Camaro SS is today?

David

[D.Yaros]

but seems like a fellow who really knows how to work on these units.  Claims to be one of the best at getting the wonderbar feature to operate correctly.  I will know soon.

Please do give us a report when the rehab is complete and the radio back in.  I for one would be interested.

[David King (kz78hy)]

This weekend I reinstalled the radio and I'm happy to report it works fine.  The ipod jack works as well, so I would say everything is OK.  

Hopefully I will start it up for the 1st time this week or so.  At least I will have tunes when it goes.

The fellows name is Charles Siegfried who did the work and below is his link.

http://www.nadjaart.com/charles/index.htm

David

[D.Yaros]

Thanks for the follow-up report.  Good to hear you found someone who knows what he is doing.

To the others reading commenting in this thread on the wonder bar radio receptivity, I am able to report I tested my radio for the first time Saturday, and it locks on stations without a hitch.  Surprised me!