RADIOS

[John Betsch - "SADIE"]

Could I ask some opinions about Pagoda radios?
 
Most cars I see seem to have the Becker Europa radios.  My car was delivered with and has the Becker Grand Prix radio.  Looking at the Tech Manual, this one  seems to have a few different features. 

Would this be considered the higher end option or was it the least chosen radio?  Or is their an opinion out there of why I have this one?  (car was a German delivery car)

jb

[mbzse]

.../...My car was delivered with and has the Becker Grand Prix radio.../... Would this be considered the higher end option.../...

Grand Prix was the "top of the line" radio that a customer had the possibility to order as an option, when buying her/his new car. Expensive in its day... The Becker Mexico was almost as expensive, though.

Price in Germany in Aug 1966 (for 230SL) Becker Europa installed at delivery German Marks (DEM) 490, Becker Mexico DEM 630, Becker Grand Prix DEM 650. For the Grand Prix, this was 3% of the price of the car itself.

[neelyrc]

As mbze indicates the Grand Prix is the high end radio.  The cost of mine installed at the factory was USD151 with the automatic Hirschmann antenna costing another USD49 for a round USD200 total.  A lot for a car radio back then!  The push buttons on the European model will have different letters from my USA version.  If yours is European I believe they will be marked LMKUU.

[Iconic]

Looking at the Tech Manual, this one  seems to have a few different features. 

SADIE,
What do you mean by this statement?
Your Grand Prix has other features than other Grand Prixs or the Grand Prix in general has different features than a Europa???
The cool thing about the Grand Prix is that it has a seek bar. Push it and the radio seeks the next station.

[MikeSimon]

Not having me in front of me, is there a field for the radio on the data card? My 71 280 has a Blaupunkt since I bought it in 1982. Wonder if the radio was replaced or never came with one.

[neelyrc]

Yes Mike, you will see the code 519 for the Becker Grand Prix and 531 for the antenna on the order confirmation in my post #2 above.  Both of these codes appear on my data card.

The codes also appear on the data card for my much later R107.

[MikeSimon]

Thanks, Ralph. So, it looks like on the order confirmation it says code "519", but I cannot identify the radio code on the data card. where do I have to look?

[neelyrc]

Mike, attached is a copy of my data card that should be easier to read.  On the second row of information you will see a series of cells with small numbers in the top of the cell.  Starting on the left they read 44, 45, 46, etc.  The eighth space over has the number "51" in the top of the cell and a large "9" below giving the code 519.  Similarly, two spaces over to the right in block "53" you will see a "1" giving the code 531.

[MikeSimon]

O.K., thank you Ralph!

Checking my data card, I see there is a "dash" in these fields. I have a Blaupunkt Radio/Casette which may have been a dealer install or later addition

[neelyrc]

I stand to be corrected but my understanding has always been that only Becker Radios were ever factory installed.  As far as I know, there are no option codes for Blauplunkt or other radios.

[MikeSimon]

I think you are correct. Becker was the only factory option. And then again, not all Becker radios were factory. Some were dealer installed options. You could order the radio, but the dealer would install them. Similar to some Porsche options. There were codes you could specify with your new car, but the dealer would install the option.

[Mike Hughes]

Beckers were the factory installed radios, and as discussed in other threads could be pretty pricey.  Many U.S. dealers ordered their stock units without radios or antennas and installed Blaupunkt radios and Hirschmann antennas (usually manual) prior to delivery.  The customer could save a little money on the dealer installed radio compared with the factory radio price and it was a nice profit center for the dealership.  One can usually tell the cars originally shipped without radios because there are no copper spring fingers at the hood latch to ground the hood.

[scoot]

One can usually tell the cars originally shipped without radios because there are no copper spring fingers at the hood latch to ground the hood.

Except many cars (such as my former 250 SL) came from the factory with the "radio suppression kit" but no radio.  Setup for the dealer to add the radio.  It had the copper spring fingers, etc.

[mbzse]

Except many cars (such as my former 250 SL) came from the factory with the "radio suppression kit" but no radio.  Setup for the dealer to add the radio.  It had the copper spring fingers, etc.

Yes, this was not uncommon. The SA code for this was between 531 to 536, depending on suppression yes/no, Antenna type installed from factory (mechanical or motorized) or no antenna.

[Mike Hughes]

I suspect that the radio suppression kit was probably more common on the later cars than the earlier ones.  My '66 230SL has its "original" dealer installed Blaupunkt and manual Hirschmann antenna, but not the copper spring fingers.  Because it doesn't have the radio suppression kit I get a good deal of ignition noise when I play the radio.  As dealers fielded enough complaints about interference with dealer installed radios, they ultimately discovered they could order vehicles with suppression kits.

[wayne R]

Hi , May interest owners, a letter to becker FM/AM autoradio owners---12-1-64
sorry if its not very clear, try double click.

[MikeSimon]

Further checking shows that my car - 71 280 German spec -does not have the radio suppression kit. Further evidence that I may not have come with a radio from the factory. Don't know if the suppression kit was used on German cars. Some things were not that common there back then.

[Pawel66]

Just to add, perhaps, to knowledge base: my car is March 1970, German specs, it has a code 532 - automatic antenna without radio set. It looks like it had the suppression kit - spring, a box next to VR, condensers.