I’m hoping to find someone who has upgraded the sound system in their Series 1 E-Type and has the original one sitting on a shelf. Mine was missing when I bought the car. I want to maintain the originality of the car, so I don’t want to switch to a negative ground. I’ve been searching online a lot, but haven’t found anything suitable. I have a 1964 3.8 OTS. Please contact me if you’re the person I’m looking for.
Thanks, Al
I have an original two piece unit (one in the console, another behind the glovebox) that came with my car. Don’t know if it works as it wasn’t installed when I got it. But mine would be negative ground as I have an early 4.2 car.
Original was no radio. Put the blank in and use a hidden bluetooth amp for sound. Looks better, sounds better, can play whatever music you want.
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Chromelondon supplly a polarity converter to convert an old neg earth radio to pos. Works well on mine.
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Al,
The early E-Type radios were not installed at the factory but at the dealerships so the radio originally installed in your car depended on what country the original owner of your car lived in. If you want a period correct radio for your car it would depend on what country you live in, which you don’t mention in your post.
Paul
Hi Al. If you check out the originality section of the etypeuk forum there is a lot of information about original radio fitment. If you search online for period correct radiomobile radios you will find that they frequently show up, particularly on ebay uk. The nice thing about them is that the e type era ones were switchable between positive and negative ground. Jaguar branded radiomobiles were installed in the saloon cars and are a nice touch if you can find one but are pretty rare. I sourced one out of a Mark 10. If you are looking for a Becker or a Blaupunkt they are also available on ebay at pretty health prices. The period correct bezels are available from one of the retro radio vendors but I do not recall which one in particular.
If you buy an early radio for anything other than ornamentation for the dash hole plan on having it restored in some way.
Even if it turns on and plays performance in a 50-60 year old radio is greatly comprised even if the electronics are not a fire hazard, which they can be.
You have a choice of either having the internals completely updated with a strip and replace or to restore the original inferior sound to spec.
Either solution is around $300-$400 or more depending on the options you choose-bluetooth, mp3 input, extra input/output connections.
There are those that say it’s in an old noisy car anyway, a 64 OTS, so sound quality is not important. I feel that the worse the environment you put the device in the better it should be so you can turn it up and hear and enjoy it. If that’s the purpose of the radio anyway.
My radio is indeed ornamental. The Jaguar label looks very in place in my mind. If I am able to access AM radio for news weather and arguments about politics I consider it a bonus. Should I have a sudden desire to listen to has been music an Iphone and blue tooth speakers are my go to.
Yep, got one in my 62 Olds that serves the same purpose.
Have the orig radio blank in my 62 OTS and a bluetooth amp and good speakers in both cars to actualy listen to. I enjoy music on a long drive and can crank it up for a favorite piece.
Maybe not the help you’re looking for, but I did quite extensive work on sorting the original radio in my '63 coupe. Here is the link to one of those threads:
For reference, Mike Frank has good info on his site re. radios.
In my case, I wanted original, but also to change the polarity. No problem, my Blaupunkt was one of many that was switchable between polarity. So today, my radio sits on the shelf waiting for the car and it has two current technology speakers, uses neg ground, sounds great for its day. There are a few folks on J-L who know their way around these old radios. If you seek them, you’ll find them.