Source for Older Blaupunkts?

[ctaylor738]

My 280SL has a Blaupunkt Montreal stereo with cassette. It was installed by the dealer in Belgium when the car was delivered, according to the warranty documentation. The tuner section of the unit is TU. If you press the "seek" button, it will not lock on a station. The display simply shows the frequency moving up or down, depending on which side of the switch was pressed. It does this in all three bands.

I also discovered that the antenna cable was bad. So I though the fix would be easy. But with a new cable connected, no change in the seeking behavior. But with the tuner set to 96.1 FM with a preset, I get a weak reception of 105.9.

Cassette works fine, but I would like to have a functioning radio.

Midwest electronics would like to fix this for me, but there are no parts available, and they think it will need a new chip in the tuner.

My initial thought was to simply upgrade a contemporary CD receiver, but I am having second thoughts about orginality. The Montreal really seems to fit with the rest of the car.

Does anyknow know of a source for these older Blaupunkts? Anybody have one in a corner of their garage or basement?
Web surfing has not turned much up.

As always, TIA.

[jjrodger]

There's a chap called Borg Warner or something (sounds like a transmission, I know) in Germany who has many thousands of period wireless sets for Mercedes cars. There was an article about him in an early Mercedes Enthusiast. Unfortunately I am no longer allowed to keep my car magazines in the house and they are all in storage at my parents' place, or I would get his details for you. Somebody else who subscribes may have the article, though.

[KirkVining]

There's a guy in California who restores old Mercedes radios to spec, and he was recommended highly to me. His prices aren't bad, he quoted me 180 for my becker.

http://www.radiomanrepair.com/

[cbdo]

Ebay normally has a number of Blaupunkt head units listed, including a few older models; my 560SL has a Honolulu CD-radio piece that I found there, which is a bit more modern graphically but also operationally. Of the older models with CD capability, I found these to be reasonable-to-good fits cosmetically (personal judgment) for 107-era cars, with varying levels of electronics: ACD2900, Aspen or Miami CD42, Florida RD168/Nevada RDM168, Los Angeles/Las Vegas CD127, Madison/Miami CD127, New Orleans CD125, Toronto RDM126, Vancouver CD126, and possibly the RPD435X.

I've also seen older cassette-radio Blaupunkts listed, not as commonly but pretty consistently. Watch for a bit and you'll be able to find what you want.

[Tom McMenamin]

Try these guys!

[ctaylor738]

Thanks for the suggestions. The new stuff from Crutchfield is a bit too modern aesthetically.

There are a whole bunch of cassette radios on ebay. I am drawn to the Charlotte because it is the same general style as the Montreal and it is new in the box. It is a 1998 model.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7910093446&category=38639

There is also an Orlando with a CD changer as well:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7910055854&category=38644

There are more that come up if you search on "blaupunkt cassette."

There is an equally good selection of older Beckers as well.

[cbdo]

The Charlotte has a nice look. It's apparently the cassette version of the Madison/Miami CD127, which looks essentially identical; the Madison has yellow display lighting, which fits with the tone of the 107 panel at night. The Los Angeles CDM147 is a very similar style but is one notch newer, with six radio preset buttons rather than five for 18 FM presets and 6 AM; it also has a yellow display, while the Las Vegas CDM147 is green like the Miami CD127. I've seen all of these pop up from time to time in the Ebay listings.

[Strife]

I picked up a used Mid-80's blaupunkt cass/FM stereo, but I was disappointed that the display had a great deal of dust in it and the backlit buttons had actually been worh through, making the radio aesthetically worthless for me. I found that the modern Blaupunkt Monte Carlo CD34 doesn't look too bad (some of these new radios look ridiculous in ANY car in my opinion) and you can turn off the most dorky features of this radio. Honest to God, some of these new stereos look like busy boxes for children or some kind of ecstacy-induced visual effect.

I also got the steering wheel mounted remote for this stereo and I'm EXTREMELY happy with it.

[ctaylor738]

Agree fully. That's why I like the "NOS" Charlotte - literally still in the box.

The best modern radio I could find is the Alpine CDA 9835, for which you pay extra for a text display. Could not agree more with your assessment of the graphics.