Car History 4U - History of the Car Radio in Motor Cars / Automobiles

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The motor car - a concise history.
"a reminder for some, an introduction for others"

History of the Car Radio in Motor Cars / Automobiles

6.2 Car Radio

Acknowledgement

Grateful thanks are given to John Hunter of the Model T Ford Club of Australia for his overall contribution to this world wide history of car radios and especially for his invaluable assistance in compiling the Australian section.

6.2.1 Before 1930

In England in 1901 Guglielmo Marconi fitted a radio to a Thornycroft steam powered vehicle. The radio only received data, not sound.
The tall roof mounted cylindrical aerial was lowered to a horizontal position before the vehicle moved.

The first radios used in cars were battery operated domestic sets that were usually placed on the car’s back seat and typically used at picnic spots, etc.
Later, more ruggedized versions started to appear which were built in weatherproof steel boxes that were mounted under the car or on the running board.
As radios became smaller and car interior space became bigger, radios were mounted inside the car, often on the floor or bulkhead.
Cables reached up to a small control panel on the steering column or dashboard.
Note: This arrangement lasted with some cars into the 1950's. Complete single unit radios mounted inside the dashboard appeared in the late 1940's.
The Westinghouse Company in the USA is reported to have produced their first “adapted portable battery radio” for use in automobiles in 1919. Additional information on this report is required.
In early 1922 George Frost of the Lane High School radio club in Chicago, USA, installed a modified battery operated portable radio into a Model T Ford.
A high impedance cone loudspeaker was fitted into the car’s passenger door.
Note: The early loudspeakers were either ordinary horn or cone speakers. Sometimes sets were just equipped with headphones.
In England a Marconi eight-valve receiver was fitted into the rear compartment of a Daimler Light 30 car in November 1922.
A large frame aerial was installed on car’s roof.
In addition to frame aerials, early car aerials came in differing forms; wire sewn into the roofing fabric, chicken wire concealed under the roof lining of closed cars, a length of wire threaded criss-cross fashion under the car, etc.
Some very early installations used a wire stretched between two posts on opposite corners of the car.
During the early 1920s a few motorists in England also fitted a Marconi V2A (cabinet radio) to the car’s running boards.

In the US in 1922 it was possible to purchase a Chevrolet Sedan car fitted with a Westinghouse “two-step amplifying radio receiving set”.
The radio was priced at $200.
There is a report that in 1923 the first factory installed “Regular Production Option” car radio was carried out by the US Springfield Body Corporation.
Additional information on this report is required.
For a short period during 1923-4 Daimler in UK supplied a radio with some of their cars.
The cost of installing the radio increased the car’s sale prices by about 25% and consequently the option was soon withdrawn.
In Australia the first car radio was fitted in 1924 by Kellys Motors in New South Wales. The aerial was attached to the waterproof hood.
The radio was fitted to a “Summit” car that had been designed by W T Kelly and assembled from American components. What type of radio?
In 1925 William Heina of the US Heinaphone Company was granted a patent for a radio designed for use in a car. What is the US patent number?
Another report states that “W.M. Heina applied for and received patent for the installation of radios in cars through his firm Heinaphone which also manufactured car radios”. Did the patent cover the design or just the installation of radios into cars? Patent information required.
In the USA in 1927 C. Russel Feldman formed the Automobile Radio Corporation (ARC) to produce Transitone radios for installation in automobiles.
The early Transitone models had two-dial tuning and were priced at over $150. Was it called the “Transitone TH-1”?
In 1927 the Automobile Radio Corporation acquired the Heinaphone Company. To acquire the rights to William Heina’s 1925 patent? Were the first Transitone radios based on this patent?
By July 1929 the Chicago Police in the USA were using a specially installed radio to receive messages via local radio stations.
www.radiomuseum.org/forumdata/users/1146/Police_1929.pdf
The radio was a Sparks-Withington Co. model AR-50. It operated on the medium wave band.
A radio designed by two Harvard professors was installed in the dash board of 1929 Packard 645 Convertible Coupe during the automobile’s manufacture.
It wasn’t until 1927, with the invention of a method of suppressing ignition noise by Elmer Wavering in the USA, that a car radio could be listened to when the vehicle’s engine was running.

Up to then the driver had to stop and turn off the engine before listening to the radio.

Note: Another problem was the low audio power output of the early radios (typically less than half a watt) which was insufficient to overcome road and engine noise.

6.2.2 Austria

In Austria Friedrich Horny’s company produced a car radio in 1934. Additional information required. Was it the first Austrian car radio?

6.2.3 Australia

The first radio broadcast in Australia took place on 23 November 1923.
The first car radio was fitted to an Australian car in 1924.
Australian radios operated on the Medium Wave band of 550-1600Kc/s.
Official FM services started in Australia in 1974, although experimental FM broadcasts took place from 1947 to 1961. When was the first car fitted with an FM radio?
The three prominent car radio producers in Australia were Astor, AWA, and Ferris.

Astor Company

The Astor Company started making car radios in the mid 1930's.
The company was formed in the 1920s and was originally part of the Radio Corporation of Australia, before finally being absorbed by Philips (Australia) in the late 1960's.
http://www.milesago.com/Industry/astor.htm
In the 1950s the company was chosen to supply radios for Holden cars made by General Motors in Melbourne.
Astor fitted its 'Diamond Dot' and 'Air Chief' car radio models to Holden cars.
http://thebakeliteradio.com/page7/page98/page98.html
In the late 1950s the company supplied the “Vanguard set” for the Standard Vanguard car.

The Vanguard model was a hybrid set using transistors for the audio stages and valves for the other parts of the radio.
In the early 1960s Astor was, along with AWA, the largest producers of car radios in Australia.
In addition to Holden the company also made radios sets for other types of cars, including Ford, Chrysler and Buick. The radios were essentially all the same, but with different dial mechanisms for different cars.
When did Astor cease producing car radios?

In 1913 Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company and the Australian Wireless Company merged to form Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd (AWA).
When did AWA start producing car radios?
An advert for an AWA car radio in the Sydney Morning Herald of 7 July 1953 included the following information:

6 High Gain Valves, Automatic Volume Control. Universal model £45.15.0, Special models £47.16.6. Installation charge of £2.0.0.
This advertised radio was made with different faceplates/dials from about 1953 to 1965, with some minor changes in circuitry over that period.
It was a popular design that was fitted to many makes of car, but particularly VW.

In the 1950s Holden cars produced in Sydney were fitted with AWA radios. Note: Holden cars produced in Melbourne were fitted with Astor radios.
The last all valve vibrator car radio set produced in Australia was built by AWA in 1965.
In the mid 1960s AWA produced the PF 11B-6V all-transistor car radio. Two models were available; a "standard" model with a single-ended audio output and an up-market unit with a push-pull audio output stage.
AWA produced over nine different radios models which Ford in Australia installed in their Falcon cars. Between what years?
These car radios were mainly fully transistorised from the Falcon XM-XP era but the older radios fitted to the Falcon XK and the XL models were valve/transistor hybrids.
http://www.stormloader.com/falconccwa/radiohint.htm

Circuit diagram for the Ford, 5-Star Push-Button Radio that was used on the 1960-66 Ford Falcon models.
AWA ceased operating in the late 1980s. Did it cease in 1988?

Ferris

In 1936 Chum Ferris registered a company called Ferris Bros. Pty. Ltd. and started to produce experimental car radio sets.
At the start of 1938 the Sydney based company produced its first car radio; the Ferris Fultone model 56.
Ferris produced their first portable car radio; the 74 model in 1947. It contained 6 indirectly heated valves.

It was designed to be removable from the car so it could also be used in the home. It operated on 6 or 12 VDC or 240VAC.
A 1949 advert for the 74 model included the following: “Australia’s First Portable Car Radio (FERRIS). Especially useful for the family man, country people and commercial travellers”.
Between 1947 and 1954 eight major portable car radio models were produced, including the 83 model (1949) and the 94 model (1950).
The first fully transistorised car radio, the 134 model, was produced in 1959.
Another innovation introduced by the 134 model was its ability to slip into a cradle mounted under a vehicle dashboard.
The 134 model is also believed to be first all-transistor portable car radio operating from its own dry battery and/or a car battery.
The Company produced series of transistorised car radios during the 1960s including the 7 transistor 234 model, the 727, the 8 transistor 184 and the 9 transistor 254, 284 and 204 models.
These fully transistorised models contained dry cells for power when away from the car and became known as the "Picnic Portable".
In 1969 the company was purchased by Hawker Siddeley Electronics Ltd.
http://www.dhub.org/object/161315

Walbar

A company called Walbar, with branches in Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane, specialised in producing car radios and aerials. Between what years? More information on Walbar required?

6.2.4 Canada

In 1932 the Canadian General Electric Company launched the medium wave band M-30 car radio.

6.2.5 France

Ducretet in France produced a medium wave/long wave car radio in 1935. Was it the first French car radio? Additional information on car radios in France required?

6.2.6 Germany

In Germany in 1932 the “Ideal” company (which became known as Blaupunkt in 1938) produced their first car radio, the Autoradio AS 5 model; fitting the first model to a Studebaker automobile.
It was operated in the long and medium wavebands from steering column mounted controls.
It was priced at 465 Reichsmarks; representing about one third the cost of a car.
In 1934 Philips Radios in Germany produced two medium wave band car radios; the 241B and 243B models. Additional information required.
The Becker Company was established in the late forties in Germany, producing their first car radio in 1949.
In 1963 the company produced the first solid state radio and, in 1985, the first car radio with integrated CD player. Check those claims.
By the end of 1953 40% of cars in Germany had a car radio.

6.2.7 Great Britain

For the history of car radios in Great Britain prior to 1930 see Section 6.2.1.
In Britain in 1933 Crossley Motors became the first British car manufacturer to provide a factory fitted radio. It was offered with their 10 hp models. Was it supplied as an option extra? What type of radio?
A purpose built car radio was fitted in 1934 during the production of the British Hillman Melody Minx car.
From 1938 in the UK cars fitted with a radio required a radio licence. A UK 1955 advert announced: “£1 for a motor car wireless licence at a Post Office”.
In 1947 the UK Treasury introduced a purchase tax of 33% on car radios.

In England in 1945 a company called Smith and Sons (Radiomobile) Limited was formed jointly by EMI’s Gramophone Company and.Smiths Motor Accessories Ltd.
The aim of the company was to “market car radios manufactured and developed by Gramophone Ltd”.
The newly formed company produced their first car radio, the “Radiomobile 100”, in 1946. It was priced at £40.

The car radios produced have been marked “HMV radiomobile”, “Smith radiomobile” or “Radiomobile”.

Models produced include types 201X, 202X, 203X, XB, XC and XD (1956), RC, RA, 203X, 230R, 30X and XC (1957), 22X (1960) and the 500T (1961). Note: The dates of models underlined may not be accurate. www.radiomobile.co.uk
The company reformed as “Radiomobile“ in 1953. Is that statement correct?

6.2.8 Italy

In Italy in 1935 Allocchio Bacchini produced a car radio. Additional information required. Was it the first Italian car radio?

6.2.9 Japan

In 1975 the Pioneer introduced the first car compact cassette player.
In 1984 Pioneer also introduced the first car CD player.
Note: Pioneer also introduced the first car GPS navigation system in 1990. www.pioneer.eu/uk/content/company/company/history.html

6.2.10 USA

For the history of car radios in the USA prior to 1930 see Section 6.2.1.
In the late 1920s Elmer Wavering and his friend William P. Lear (of Lear jet fame) were contacted Paul Galvin of the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago to assist in a car radio design project.
Production of the resulting car radio commenced in 1930 with the Motorola model 5T71, which sold for between $110 and $130.
It is considered by many to be the first commercially successful car radio.
www.motorola.com/content.jsp?globalObjectId=8432-10811
A car radio patent was issued to William Lear on 3 August 1931. Soon afterwards Lear sold his patent to Paul Gavin.
“William P Lear, Chicago. Ill, assignor to Grigsby-Grunow Company, Chicago”. US Radio Apparatus Patent No. 1,944,139”.
The Gavin Manufacturing Corporation, which was formed in September 1928, changed its name to “Motorola” in 1947.
Note: Elmer Wavering later became President of Motorola, the company which created a radio for NASA's Lunar Rover. In what year was the NASA radio produced?
In December 1930 the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company (Philco) purchased the Automobile Radio Corporation and created a subsidiary called the “Transitone Automobile Radio Corporation”.
In about 1931 Philco launched a new Transitone car radio, the Model 3. It was priced at just below $100. www.philcoradio.com/history/hist3.htm
Note: The Philadelphia Storage Battery Company, which began in 1906 producing batteries for electric vehicles, formally changed its name to Philco in 1940.
The company produced its first domestic “Philco” radio in June 1928. “An A.C Electric, light socket set”.
In 1929 or 1930 “United American Bosch”, a subsidiary of Bosch, Germany, introduced a car radio called the “Motor Car Receiver 80”.
www.radiomuseum.org/r/americanbo_80.html
By 1924 the US Crosley Corporation had become the largest radio manufacturer in the world.
In 1930 the company produced their first car radio, the “Crosley "Roamio".
www.maisonconnoisseur.com/crosley_radio_history.html

The Crosley Radio Corp. started to produce radios for Chevrolet/GM cars in 1935.
The following year, in 1936, the company was purchased by General Motors who launched the Delco Radio Division.
Delco Radio, which produced its millionth car radio in 1940, 30 million by 1961 and 50 million by 1968, ceased operating in 2005.
In 1931 Cadillac became possibly the first to offer a radio as an option.
The controls were mounted on the steering column. Dash mounted controls were introduced in the 1933 General Motor models.
Up to the early 1930s the car’s battery provided power for the radio’s valve heater/filaments and bulky and expensive dry batteries or noisy genemotors providing the radio’s high tension voltage.
The first vibrator (a device which converted the car’s 6.3v battery supply to 250v) was introduced in about 1932 to provide the high tension voltage.
These early vibrators were unreliable but by 1935 reliability had improved and the vibrator was a standard feature in American car radios.
A car radio could now operate entirely off the existing car battery. It was one of the most significant developments in car radio technology.
http://www.radioremembered.org/vpwrsup.htm

By 1932 over 100 different car radio models were available in the US.
A report states that by 1933 about 100,000 cars in the US were fitted with a radio.
In the USA between 1930 and the start of 1936 the number of cars equipped with radios increased from 34,000 to three million.
Car radios in the USA in 1936 were typically priced from $16.50 to $89.50 and ranged from “compact four-tube models to the advanced built-in 8 and 10-tube models”.
By late 1935 improvements in car radio design had resulted in the virtual elimination of spark interference and the introduction of automatic volume and automatic frequency control.
Ford in the United States became, in 1937, the first to use a steel rod as aerial.
Prior to this car manufacturers frequently installed wire aerials in the car’s roof with some manufacturers starting to fit “under car” aerials.

The first telescopic type aerial was used in 1938. Who invented it and what was the first car to be fitted with one? Was it invented in USA?
By the end of the 1930s, 20 percent of all cars in the USA had built-in car radios.
Motorola produced the first 45 rpm disc player for cars in 1956. A system called "Hiway hi-fi" was installed by Chrysler.
In 1965 Ford became the first automobile manufacturer to introduce (dealer-installed) eight-track players as an option on many of their models.
From 1970, when they were introduced by RCA, to the mid 1970s Quadraphonic eight-track cartridges were briefly popular as part of a car’s radio-stereo system.

6.2.11 Other Links/Web Sites