Newbie Blaupunkt radio help

[dconti]

I'm in the beginning stages of restoring my late dad's 1969 280sl. The car's got a lot of sentimental value, as you might guess, but he (and I in my younger days) beat it up pretty good. One question: It came with a Blaupunkt (cheapo?) am/fm radio. I've been fiddling with it, and can get a few stations, but the volume control is crazy. Sometimes it's clear as a bell and ridiculously loud at the lowest volume setting, and sometimes it's very low and crackly at the highest levels.
Any suggestions for a fix?

[seattle_Jerry]

I don't think that Blaupunkt was original...at least my year came with Beckers. Buy a rebuilt Becker or good used one...or get that fancy $900 retro Becker. Another option is to leave that one in the dash for looks and install a modern stereo hidden in the car (without cutting holes all over the place). If you are sold on keeping your radio...send it out for repair.

1967 230SL Havana Brown Auto with A/C

[dconti]

Unfortunately I think it is original. I know it's been in there since 1971, at least. I read somewhere that U.S. dealers were putting in Blaupunkts as a cheap alternative radio with higher margins. In any event, I'll probably take your advice and find a rebuilt Becker. Will it be the same size?

[ja17]

Hello dconti,

Go to Radio Shack and purchase a aerosol can of electronic contact cleaner and lubricant.  Take both top and lower covers off the radio and "hose" it down with the cleaner. Focus some of the spray on the innards of the volume switch.  Exercise the radio tuner buttons and other controls while spraying.  Give the radio about twenty minutes to dry out and try it again.

This will fix an old unused radio a lot of times. The contacts and coils in the unit "tarnish" and loose contact from long periods of inactivity.

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[Raymond]

My '68 has it's original Blaupunkt AM/FM/SW radio.  In the late 60's Blaupunkt was busy marketing itself to the US as a high end stereo company.  It developed a reputation, thanks to advertising, as a desirable brand over American products like Pioneer, Craig, etc. in audio and department stores.  So, when German cars were marketed with Blaupunkt to the uninformed consumer, it was actually considered "cooler" than a relatively unknown name like Becker.

They achieved this the same way Corona marketed itself as a good beer... there's no accounting for taste.

Ray
'68 280SL 4-spd Coupe

[don p]

I was wondering if my AM/FM/SW Blaupunkt was original to the car glad to see that it was.

If you replace the radio dont trash it. Sure would like to buy it for spare parts if mine fails in the future.

Don Pemberton
1968 250SL
113.043-10-004113
190g Graphite gray                     Connecticut

[sjiatrou]

I think the US MB dealers installed Blaupunkts in cars that did not come with factory equipped radios.  Beckers, of course, were installed at the factory, Blaupunkts at the dealers.  My car came to San Francisco without a radio but the dealer installed one before it left the floor; it still had the dealer installed 1964 Blaupunkt Frankfurt radio when I purchased it from the original owner.  It, like yours, did not work very well so I took it apart and hit it with component cleaner (as recommended below) and that helped a little.  I tried to find more information on the radio (schematics etc.) but Blaupunkt does not support its older products so I plunked down the money for a refurbished, factory correct Becker.  Here's a pretty interesting site that lists the models and serial numbers of Blaupunkts through the years. It focuses on Porsches but the information applies to all Blaupunkts.
 http://members.aol.com/porshalaka/DerWhitesBlaupunktRadios.html


Steve
Seaside, CA
1964 230sl roadster
White (050)/Black (116)

[TheEngineer]

My car came with a Blaupunkt, model Munich and a 400 watt amplifier installed under the driver's seat. I cranked it up (not all the way!) once at a Pagoda get-together and it blew the 10 A fuse installed. On the steering wheel there is a remote to adjust volume, change stations and switch to CD. But the radio doesn't keep time as accurately as the clock in the dash. Really bugs me. The radio does reset the time when it gets a signal from a station that broadcasts digital time.

'69 280SL,Signal Red,Automatic,retired engineer, West-Seattle,WA

[Raymond]

Engineeer, I presume you mean the car came to you that way and not that it came from the dealer that way.  CDs were invented in 1982.

In the late '70s the Toyota folks I did some work with told me that the  US tax laws were set up so that optional equipment on imported cars carried a US tariff, but that parts did not.  So for tax reasons, it was more cost-effective for them to import the parts separately and have dealers install them.  Thereby encouraging US jobs.  Whole auto processing companies were created as a result. The Japanese manufacturers still program car options that way today.  Cars come in without stripes, alloy wheels, radios, and other upgrades.

My data card references a "radio suppression" distributor and it came with the extra belt pulley but no radio or A/C.  That seems to me to indicate that MB Germany intended for a radio and air conditioner to be installed Stateside.  I don't think there were many other options.  Perhaps alloys.

Ray
'68 280SL 4-spd Coupe

[TheEngineer]

Yes, Ray, you are right: The car came to me that way. It also looks like the A/C was installed by someone other than the factory and I found an installation manual for it showing all the parts and procedure. The radio is newer than the car for sure, but I can't get any help, information or wiring diagram from Blaupunkt. I have tried. I even had to fabricate the tool to remove it from the dash. It has the appearance of an old radio, but the entire face tilts down to insert a single CD. It's a mystery!

[Raymond]

I made one phone call to Blaupunkt USA and it told me all I need to know about the company.  The woman on the phone interrupted my sentence as soon as she heard "1968", was completely rude about it, and refused to connect me to tech support.  When I asked if she thought there was anyone at the company who might know of aftermarket suppliers, she merely repeated her statement that "We don't support old radios." and hung up.

Ray
'68 280SL 4-spd Coupe

[Douglas]

Ray,

That's an unfortunate experience. Try Walter Odemer in LA for Blaupunkt Repair.

Douglas Kim
New York
USA

[ctaylor738]

That's very different from the experience I had with Blaupunkt just this morning.  I called the 800 number from an old instruction book and got a very nice lady who "triaged" my guestion and had tech support call me back, since they were not in yet.

The number is 800 266 2528.

Chuck Taylor
1970 280SL #14076
Falls Church VA

[scoot]

quote:Originally posted by Douglas

Ray,

That's an unfortunate experience. Try Walter Odemer in LA for Blaupunkt Repair.

Blaupunkt as a company does not support their old radios.  Walter Odemer as a repair person will work on them, he's not cheap, and the results are mixed.   Other than that, I don't know of Blaupunkt resources.