[alfa] Vintage radios

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A recurrent question on the Digest has been sources for appropriate radios for vintage Alfas, along with the broader question of what were appropriate radios. At the time I bought my first few new Alfas radios were not offered as options, and neither of the dealers I bought cars from offered radios as aftermarket add-ons. The two most prominent radio brand-names at the time were Blaupunkt, for market mainstream quality,and Becker, for no-hold-barred top quality. I bought a Becker Grand Prix (mono, of course) for my Giulia Super; I  don't have the papers but my recollection is that it cost close to a tenth the cost of the new car. There was at least one Becker below it (the Europa) and one above it (the Mexico). The Grand Prix did not yet have pushbuttons for preselected stations, but did have a touchbar for tuning up or down to the next strong signal. Some Beckers (including mine) had two-piece chassis for fitting in tight behind-dash spaces.

Today I received an aftermarket parts catalog for an unAlfa make which contained near the back a listing of vintage Becker radios rebuilt by Becker of North America. It lists eleven different Beckers by model name, type, model number, and year of Mercedes application, with "Call for other Becker Radios and Amplifiers not listed." Prices are generally $395 (high, but cheap enough by a one-tenth of car standard) with the earliest Europa $295 and various nineties models $495-$695. (10% discount on online orders.)

I hold no strong compunctions on strict period authenticity - what a reasonable owner might have done when the car was in its original prime seems close enough, including my reuse of the Grand Prix in a later car, or fitting a respectable later radio in an unnew car, but for more fastidious concoursians the option of choosing between a 1968 Europa, 1969-71 Europa Stereo, or 1972-73 Europa II stereo might be interesting.

The company is Adsit, 1-800-521-7656 or www.adsitco.com.

Cheers

John H.
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