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1956 Clipper Radio
#1
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Brian Wilson
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My 1956 Clipper Deluxe is fitted with not one but two radios! The older one is fitted in the usual place in the dash.The second one is a modern AM/FM unit fitted into the glove compartment, connected to an aerial inside left hand side of the windscreen and a pair of quite large speakers on the rear parcel shelf. I works quite well but is unspeakably ugly.

The car is right hand drive and was delivered new in Australia. The original radio is a locally made AWA Pressmatic item (see pic). There is a manual aerial in the usual place on the front left hand guard. This is an AM radio, which I would like to recommission if possible. Many of the local AM stations shown on the dial still exist in Sydney, so it's potentially quite usable. It powers on when the car is running, but appears not to be connected to the aerial or speakers. Two questions:

Does anybody know where the original radio speaker/s were located in these cars?

Does the faceplate on this radio look familiar? I'm pretty sure AWA never made a custom faceplate for it, so it might be a factory job.

Cheers

Brian

Attach file:



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Posted on: 2020/3/7 5:05
1941 120 Club Coupe (SOLD)
1956 Clipper Deluxe (RHD and auto) - for the wife, or so I told her!
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Re: 1956 Clipper Radio
#2
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Ross
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That is the standard radio delete plate, machined to accept your radio.

Posted on: 2020/3/7 8:22
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Re: 1956 Clipper Radio
#3
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HH56
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The original factory radio came in two parts. The tuner section which was the part visible and the power supply and amplifier section was mounted in the space now occupied by the instrument cluster in your car. The front speaker was in that second section. An optional rear seat speaker was available and controlled by a fader switch with knob located (in LHD cars) in the middle between the ign switch and cigar lighter. The rear speaker was mounted in the trunk to the bottom L side of the package shelf behind the rear seat. If the car had an optional electric antenna its switch was in the other row of switches in the middle space between lights and wiper. R or L side locations for switches etc may have been different if the RHD cars had them mirrored. I believe the turn signals and gearshift locations are different on the RHD cars and maybe switches too.

I don't know how the RHD conversions were done. Possibly Packard had a reverse stamping of the dash available which would have had the cluster holes on the right and speaker cutout on the left side or maybe when doing the conversion they just cut the needed new holes for the instruments in the original LHD dashes and filled or covered over the old left side holes.

Posted on: 2020/3/7 9:52
Howard
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Re: 1956 Clipper Radio
#4
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Brian Wilson
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Thanks Howard and Ross

Very interesting. I'll investigate further. Yes, this radio is also in two pieces. What you see is the tuner section. The amp section should be fairly small, given it was transistorised. Clever people AWA. The radio is definitely worth saving.

Howard, the dash is a factory pressing and mirror image of the left hand drive item. Switches etc all in corresponding places. No sign of a power antenna switch or fader for rear speaker, but I'll investigate further. The aerial looks like a manual local item, which I presume is no longer connected.

Interesting that the blanking plate has been adapted to the radio. Very ingenious - and penny-pinching for an expensive car! These radio kits cost 55 Australian pounds new (about US$170 then). I'll get the faceplate off and look at replating it.

Howard. here's a pic of the dash.

Cheers

Brian

Attach file:



jpeg  (73.37 KB)
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Posted on: 2020/3/7 15:06
1941 120 Club Coupe (SOLD)
1956 Clipper Deluxe (RHD and auto) - for the wife, or so I told her!
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Re: 1956 Clipper Radio
#5
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HH56
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Here is an illustration of the LHD dash taken from the owners manual. The radio power unit and front speaker would be directly behind the Clipper wheel ornament and script on the right side.

Attach file:



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Posted on: 2020/3/7 15:16
Howard
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Re: 1956 Clipper Radio
#6
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Brian Wilson
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Thanks Howard

Yes, it's pretty much the same but my car is fitted with a locally made Smiths heater/demister unit which looks very like the Packard one. Currently looking for replacements for the fresh air duct flexible hoses in the engine bay. The sliding controls down near the steering column operate the ventilation/heating (in a fashion). There are no additional switches on the dash. I can see the second part of the radio kit up behind the Clipper wheel emblem on mine.

The on/off switch for the Torsion Level suspension is on the opposite side of the dash - next to an "Up/Down/Normal" control switch. The latter quite handy for negotiating steep driveways etc or playing tricks at traffic lights!

Cheers

Brian

Posted on: 2020/3/7 22:07
1941 120 Club Coupe (SOLD)
1956 Clipper Deluxe (RHD and auto) - for the wife, or so I told her!
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Re: 1956 Clipper Radio
#7
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Packard Don
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The up/down/normal switch was an accessory offered by Packard as a kit and installed by dealers. As I recall, it was the same switch as used on the power antenna. My 1956 Clipper had a home-made version at one point and it was quite handy at times.

Posted on: 2020/3/7 22:16
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Re: 1956 Clipper Radio
#8
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HH56
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Quote:

PackardDon wrote:
The up/down/normal switch was an accessory offered by Packard as a kit and installed by dealers. As I recall, it was the same switch as used on the power antenna but mounted though the lower edge of the dash and aiming downward.


You are correct on the placement and the manual up/dn switch does look very similar to the antenna switch but is not the same electrically or in operation. The factory manual switch does not have a spring return and has 3 distinct positions. It is wired in parallel with the automatic control switch.

Normally it is in the middle position which allows the 12 volts from the brake switch to pass thru and eventually feed on to the control sw so automatic operation is enabled. When manual up or down is commanded, the switch opens the circuit from the brake switch cutting the voltage to the control sw so the automatic action is disabled. At the same time the up or down position completes a ground which is fed to the wires just as if it was coming from the control switch. That ground goes thru the limit switch and activates the up or down solenoid. With no spring return the switch stays in the up or down position and the limit switch stops the motion when max travel in either direction is reached. If you want to stop somewhere before maximum you need to manually move the switch back to center. Doing so allows voltage back to the control switch and it would start leveling again unless you also turn off the regular on/off switch to keep the car where you placed it.

Posted on: 2020/3/7 23:02
Howard
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Re: 1956 Clipper Radio
#9
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Brian Wilson
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Howard

Very interesting. So the Up/Down Torsion Level switch was most likely an accessory? I was puzzling over who had the brains to fit it. Guess the answer was "nobody"!

The emergency (hand) brake mechanism has also moved to the right hand side of the dash. On the mounting bracket for that is a small push/pull switch which I discovered works an auxiliary electric fuel pump, which I have never actually needed. The Edelbrock 4-barrel carby has an auto choke which works a treat. It must store some fuel somewhere handy, because cold starts are instant.

Interestingly, the cigar lighter still works perfectly. Pity there are no smokers around any more. The clock is not working, which I will investigate. I notice that used ones of these are fairly readily available. It may be more cost effective to buy a working one if mine needs significant repairs. Then again, it might be something as simple as no power supply.

Just noticed that the small gauges are also reversed on my dash. My Owners' Manual is - not surprisingly - for the left hand drive version of the Clipper Deluxe. Works great when I read it upside down.

You are obviously very familiar with these Clippers. It's a very good car, which I enjoy driving in all weather! Paintwork is rough but I'm about to fix that. Hope it doesn't become too precious in the process.

It's one fault is very heavy steering. No room for the pump etc in the right hand drive configuration. I have been investigating the new electric power steering kits which are popular here now on classic cars. I wonder if they have the torque to turn the wheels, which is no small feat at parking speeds!

Cheers

Brian

Posted on: 2020/3/8 4:44
1941 120 Club Coupe (SOLD)
1956 Clipper Deluxe (RHD and auto) - for the wife, or so I told her!
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Re: 1956 Clipper Radio
#10
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R H
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The clock uses a spring loaded point. Winds down . kicks back.

What I did was to put a capacitor hot to ground .

The points arc. And get stuck. Or burn and don't make contact.

Where you really want the capacitor is across the points. But since one moves. Can't do.

I just used an electrolytic type capacitor.

They did make a quarts replacement.. It's a Borg clock.

Just to piss off book engineers

I would say this is a perceptual machine.

Posted on: 2020/3/8 6:56
Riki
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