Fairlane wrote:

Hi -

Looking to fill the big hole in the dash of my '65 where the radio once was.

Fortunately it was not cut to fit an aftermarket, but someone had replaced the original with some plastic cheapie cassette player. Of course, can't go to Walmart or Amazon to get one! No opportunities to locate one here locally.

I was wondering if anyone has had experience buying OEM radios like this?
https://www.vintagecartruckradios.com/ford-full-size-1949-1980/

Looking forward to hearing from folks who did find a nice stock radio.

Dan
 

Hello Fairlane,

  You're not alone looking for an original radio for the '65-'66 full size Ford. At least those two years take the same radio and upgrading to an AM-FM version isn't as bad as a '68 Ford full size as the dash lens and bezel also needs to be changed to an AM-FM version along with the radio. Finding these obscure parts 50 years later is a real challenge and very pricy.

  Might I ask are you looking for the AM radio or the AM-FM radio for your 1965? The AM radio will be cheaper and easier to find. The AM-FM radio is often very expensive to have a nice fully functional one. When I say very expensive, think around 1000 dollars. That's buying the old radio, either in good physical shape or buying a beat up one and having parts replated and or pad printed (dial) then having the radio serviced/repaired properly.

  Here's my 2 cents on the whole Ford full size radio deal from one person whose been hunting the AM-FM versions for a 1966 galaxie 500 XL, a 1966 LTD and a 1968 XL. It took years just to find the radios at a reasonable cost. Just about any old automotive radio will need servicing. Now servicing is a very loose term which I will attempt to firm up by defining it. The constant heat and cold cycling that old auto radios go through yearly takes its toll. Here's some common problems that should be addressed or at the very least tested:

1. Transistors can get very noisy with age and temp cycles, especially germanium ones. Even though they might still appear to "work" just fine they will introduce "hiss" into the audio. Noise figure tests on the radios should be done.

2.  Electrical alignment can be off, AM can be done pretty easily without specialized equipment, and monaural FM can sometimes be done simply, but I would insist that the final performance of wide band (high fidelity) be adjusted or checked using in the very least a sweep generator and scope across the IF strip to check for proper bandwidth. I see so many people try to adjust this and end up hurting the FM performance.

3. Electrolytic capacitors, this usually goes without saying, but most electrolytics because of age will either open, dead short,become mildly shorted, or develop high series resistance affecting performance. Most cheap generic capacitor checkers cannot check for all these conditions.

4. Mica capacitors, these are usually embedded in the IF transformers and some have been known to open through silver migration over the years or they loose contact if pinched in place over the years. Some times it is possible to replace them or remove them from the transformer and attach a substitute close to the transformer. This is very labour/time intensive.

About replacement parts for older radios. If you have a coil or transformer open, you'll probably need another radio for spare parts which can drive the total cost really high. Most of the other common parts are readily available through regular parts suppliers such as Digikey, Mouser, Newark, etc.

A word of caution about seeing ads for "serviced radios". Don't fall for the high price of a "serviced" radio ad you might come across. The common thing is to just replace all the electrolytic capacitors and call it serviced without doing anything else. Now here's the clincher, there are many cheap capacitors out there and you do not want those in your radio. Nichicon, Panasonic and Illinois Capacitors are good brands.

If you do come across a potential radio that's been "serviced" ask for a specific list of what's been done and what brand of parts they used to "service" the radio, if they seem shady walk away, if they can't give you a test report on the radio as far as noise figure (signal to noise ratio), sensitivity on AM and FM bands and final clean power output chances are they changing parts and overcharging and not to be trusted.

A couple extra thoughts are the '65/'66 AM-FM radios are just monaural from the factory and the '68 AM-FM radio is in fact stereo. Any good radio repair shop worth their salt should be able to add a stereo decoder to a '65/'66 AM-FM radio and bring out a L and R pre amp output for you.

Stay away from a gross all in one conversion where they gut your existing radio and put in some cheap electronics. That's another popular modification I've seen people regret.

Hope this helps some.

Cheers