atomic13

I just spent the day under my dash on my 71 Cutlass Supreme Convert. (slow day). My original am/fm radio has never worked. What I have found is that there is no wiring harness for the radio and no speaker under there. The previous owner had a high dollar sterio system that I have removed. Luckly they left the original radio.

What I need is a wiring harness for the radio and a speaker. It appears it only had a single speaker in the dash.

The radio has a flat black plug on the back that has three male terminals inside facing down. There is also a blue wire that goes from the front of the radio and runs along the side to the back with a quick disconnect plug on it. What is that?

Thanks

rcorrigan5

From what you describe and how I interpret it, your factory radio is equipped for a rear speaker. There should be a fader dial on the right side of the face of the radio to accomodate the balance between the front and rear speaker.

Your 3 wire plug on the back of the radio: from passenger side to driver side, they are for a ground wire (black), the front speaker wire (blue), and your 12V wire (yellow) to power the radio. When you get a factory front speaker, it should have the black and blue wires in a connector that fits into the back of your radio. The yellow wire slot on that connector will be empty because that yellow wire (with a connector on the end of it that fits into the empty spot) comes from your existing wire harness behind the dash.

The blue wire you describe with the quick disconnect plug on it would go to the rear speaker. The rear speaker only has the blue wire going to it as the speaker is grounded to the body of the car so a ground wire isn't necesssary.

There are a number of vendors that do radio repair that advertise in Hemmings. You can pick one that is close to where you live. I highly recommend the person that advertises in the Olds Club of America's magazine, Journey With Olds. He's done 3 radios for me and I'm quite satisfied with his work. It cost about $180/radio, not including shipping. There wasn't much wrong with any of my radios except that they didn't work, just like what you described. This radio repairman is Barry Dalton at 1489 Rogue River Hwy, Grants Pass, OR 97526, (541) 474-2524, email radiodoc@rvi.net.

Hope this helps.

Randy C.

rcorrigan5

I just remembered that your Cutlass Supreme is a convertible. The rear speaker for convertibles mounts in the metal framework behind the rear seatback.

Rear speakers in convertibles in those days was kind of a joke. They work fine if your top is up but, if the top is down, you may as well forget about hearing anything from the rear speaker.

My '68 vert is the same way. When the top is down, I just dial in the sound all to the front speaker.

Randy C.

oldspackrat

I probably have any wiring you might need for your radio.
Let me know.
Scott
c. 317-727-7041

atomic13

Thanks all

rcorrigan5,

Your info was dead on. Thank you. I just bench tested the radio from your informaton and it worked great. Now I can reinstall the radio and it should work.

New question. What size speaker was installed in the center under the dash and what was the size of the speaker behind the seat?

Thanks again for your information.

rcorrigan5

As I recall, the front speaker is a 4 X 10 and it is mounted in a frame that fits into the space above the radio. When you look for that front speaker, be sure to get the framework with it, as well as the connector from the speaker to the radio.

The rear speaker is a standard size but I don't recall exactly what that standard size is. If you do a search on this site for radio speaker the exact size will most likely come up.

Remember that, in these older cars, the speakers are 10 ohm. If you buy new speakers for today's cars, they are usually 4 ohm and they don't work nearly as well as the 10 ohm speakers.

Randy C.

atomic13

What the heck, may as well go for broke. Does anyone have a front center speaker bracket and speaker laying around that they would like to get rid of? Its for a 1971 convertible.

Thanks again