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wonderbar radio for 1960

60vettesdr

Active member
Joined
Jan 1, 2004
Messages
31
Location
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Corvette
1960 Tasco Turquois Survivor
I am looking for a working Wonderbar Radio and clock for a 1960 Corvette. Anyone have any suggestions as to where to find them?
 
You can buy converted radios at Corvette Central right there in Sawyer, MI or if you have the time go to corvettes @ Carlisle Aug. 27-29. You'll find everything you need there
 
60vettesdr, If you could post a picture of the Vette that would great, Tasco Turquois is a fairly rare color. I'm a Ex-Michigander grew up in NOVI.
 
Blue 1960, I would love to but I can't seem to get the pictures to load from my hardrive to the posts. I guess I need to move them to a website and I am not sure how to do that. The car is really a sweet vehicle. Does anyone know of someone who works on radios. I think that I just have a blown tube. I heard of a guy in California but his price seemed really expensive. I will try the place in Sawyer but I really am looking for an original radio or to have my fixed as the rest of the car is pretty much original including the paint. Any help would be appreciated
 
Tasco Turquois

Hi,
My 60 is also Tasco Turquois. I bought it out of a tabaco barn in southern Maryland 3 years ago.

Andy
 
Corvette Central has new '58-'62 clocks for about $120.00, but they're quartz and won't pass judging (if that's important to you). If you still have your original electro-mechanical clock, send it to Clockworks ( www.clockwks.com ) and they can rebuild it for about $65.00.

A working Wonderbar (if you can find one) will set you back over $1,000.00; if you still have the original, Charles Siegfried in California will rebuild it completely with a 3-year guarantee for $400 or so. Wonderbars aren't cheap.
:beer
 
The big problem with the cost of rebuilding the old radios is the cost of the vacuum tubes. After the advent of the transistor and later the integrated circuit. (IC), vacuum tubes grew out of favor die to the power consumption and the heat generated for all audio equipment. Later, audiophiles determined that the sound quality of vacuum tube amplifiers was far superior to the solid state radios and would only look for vacuum tUbe amplifiers. DUe to the heat generated by the filament and the small confines of a car radio, it is very difficult to dissipate the heat generated. Thus car radio life is not that good, maybe 2-3 years before repair. The limited amount of tubes made each year make the cost high, and also because audiophiles are willing to pay more for a tube the the average person also drives up the cost. As I recall, the vacuum tube that controls the search capability of the WonderBar is a very common tube. But don’t quote me on that because the last time I took my WonderBar apart to fix it was 1969. I replaced it with a AM/FM Cassette stereo on 1970 because I wanted a more modern radio. I did keep my WonderBar in case I ever wanted to put it back in. If it’s not going to be put in shows then I would not worry about it.
 

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