Radios Available in 1973?

[ctaylor738]

Anyone know what radios and speaker combinations were officially available in a '73 280C?

The car has a dash speaker.

My owner's manual says that there could be an optional rear speaker with a balance control next to the cigarette lighter. Sure enough, there is a press out panel in the package shelf metal where a speaker similar to the one in the dash could go. I don't have the switch or the speaker, but could probably get them. Has anyone seen this arrangement?

My road test of a 1970 250C from a 1970 Road & Track shows this option.

I have a both a Europa and a Europa II Stereo, and I am re-carpeting the package shelf, and my new kick panels do not have holes, so it is a clean sheet of paper as far as speakers go. My preference would be the Europa II with front and rear speakers, but I do not want to get too far away from original.

Suggestions?

TIA

[Mark DiSilvestro]

My'72 250C came with a Blaupunkt Frankfurt AM/FM stereo radio with the 3 X 7 center dash speaker and a matching speaker in the center of the rear shelf. Those speakers sound far better than the 4 speaker setup that came with the Becker Europa stereo radio in my '72 250 sedan. There's a F-R balance knob in the console if your car had the factory stereo. I've recently acquired a mid '70s Becker Mexico cassette/wonderbar radio to dress up my 250C.

Happy Motoring, Mark

I have an original sales brochure for the 250C and CE which says that Becker Europa, Mexico and Grand Prix radios were available as a factory option. I think many people had radios installed at the dealership which would explain why a lot of cars had other brands. I recently bought a 70's Becker Europa for my 280ce which looks good. Also you will notice that the Becker Radios which were available for Mercedes at the time used Control knobs which match exactly with the Mercedes knobs used on the window winders, control switches etc...

Here is a scan...

[ctaylor738]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I also talked to Ed Ebel at Becker. A Europa II stereo could be an option in the '73-'76 114's and these had speakers in the kick panels and package shelf.

I bought a pair of the rear speakers from Becker and TMC is tracking down a pair of 4" speakers for the kick panels. Both front and rear are shallow mount so it is important to get the covers.

Interestingly, I put some speakers in my '72 280ce recently, the reverse of carpeted rear shelf cover has markings for one oval central speaker or two speakers either side. A good guide as to the size required.

[ctaylor738]

Right - I saw those when I pulled the shelf covering out to replace the carpet on it. The PO installed a pair of 6x9 Delco (!) speakers, so I will be closing those holes. The Beckers are 5x7

[Aaron]

Correct, the optional radios were the Europa and Europa II. My '70 280SE originally came with a Europa unit but I removed it and put a later '70s Mexico with signal seek in there instead. Easy swap and the Mexico is actually a great radio. Interestingly enough, MUCH more sensitive than the later electronic Grand Prix units!