Parts Catalog Accessories Catalog How To Articles Tech Forums
Call Pelican Parts at 888-280-7799
Shopping Cart Cart | Project List | Order Status | Help



Go Back   PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum > Mercedes-Benz Tech Information and Support > Vintage Mercedes Forum

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 04-11-2007, 01:14 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Phoenix
Posts: 3,726
Finding an Old Radio

How would one go about finding a reasonably correct radio for a 1959 Mercedes 180D? It was presumably a Becker but I'm not sure. Any help appreciated.

Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 04-11-2007, 01:39 PM
cscmc1's Avatar
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Central IL
Posts: 2,782
Try eBay -- search "vintage becker," "mercedes radio," vintage blaupunkt," etc... and you'll find all sorts of interesting stuff. There are regular listings from a couple of places in Germany that specialize in period radios. If you don't see what you need, email them and I'll bet they can round one up for you.
__________________
1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 04-11-2007, 04:31 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Ocean Isle Beach, NC
Posts: 2,512
Go to www.mbzponton.org and join the ponton discussion group. We've got over 600 owners there that can help you out. Might also do a search for radio on the Ponton Page. There is a nice write up on radios there.
__________________
Len
'59 220S Cabriolet-SOLD and living happily in Malta
'83 240D 351,500 miles original owner-SOLD
'88 560SL 41,000 miles - totaled and parted out
https://sites.google.com/site/mercedesstuff/home
'99 E300 turbo 227,500 miles
'03 SLK320 40,000 miles - gave to my daughter
'14 Smart electric coupe 28,500 miles
'14 Smart electric cabriolet 28,500 miles
'15 Smart electric coupe 28,000 miles

Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 04-11-2007, 11:25 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Phoenix
Posts: 3,726
Thanks, I will try both ideas.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 04-12-2007, 12:41 AM
250 Coupe's Avatar
Middle Aged Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Des Moines, WA
Posts: 927
Also, check out Konigs. Lost of spare parts and rebuilt radios.

Michael
__________________
Usta haves '69 250/8, '76 280C, 1971 250C 114.023, 1976 450SEL 116.033
Current have, 1983 300SD 126.120
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 04-14-2007, 05:17 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Alexandria, Virginia
Posts: 5,480
Quote:
Originally Posted by deanyel View Post
How would one go about finding a reasonably correct radio for a 1959 Mercedes 180D? It was presumably a Becker but I'm not sure. Any help appreciated.
If your 180D never had a radio, you will also need the bakelite center-dash radio-housing with speaker to replace your blank center dash-panel & 180D badge.

The dash radio-housing will accomodate many German radios, including later transistorized ones, but the correct original radios were large tube AM or AM-FM units, using separately-mounted vibrator-power supply boxes. Most common original radios were the Becker Europa AM-FM. with the ultimate being the Becker Mexico AM-FM with the 'Wonderbar' automatic tuning feature. Blaupunkt radios were also common. Phillips, Telefunken or Grundig much less so.

How original and correct do you want your radio installation to be? Reason I ask is I recently visited the Ponton site and while some of the radios appear correct or pretty close, others appear to be more modern radios installed in original radio housings, and in other cases holes were cut through the blank dash housings to add radios.

If you're looking to find a correct old radio on places like eBay, one tip-off is the type of knobs which should exactly match the ones in your dash.
Up through '58, Mercedes dash & radio knobs were polished aluminum, with brown plastic centers. One of these would fit and look fine, but if you were really fussy you'd want to change the knobs to the '59 through mid '60s style, which were brown plastic with a chrome ring center. One of these radios, including the early transistor models, would be closest in appearance to original for a '59 180D.
Late '60s Mercedes radio/dash knobs looked similar but were flatter and larger diameter, and the radio faceplates were taller and a different style. The radios may fit but won't look exactly right for a '59 180D. Hope this helps.

Happy Motoring, Mark

__________________
DrDKW
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:56 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2024 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Peach Parts or Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page