72notchback

I have been researching radios and speakers to make my 71 442 factory correct. When I got the car it was missing a lot of parts and the radio and lower dash for ac vents too. It is an ac car. It did have two rear speakers that looked to be factory original and both were fastened the same and appeared correct. I always questioned the fact that there was two rear speakers but could not find any info on it being factory correct. Until I found an older post about original 8 track cars having two rear speakers. Is that true? If the car did have two rear factory speakers it came with an 8 track? I have zero original paper work so everything I know about the car is what I discover and I always thought the speakers looked completely untouched and original. Also I never found any front speaker or mount or anything. Did the front speaker get deleted on an 8 track set up?
On a side note I guess I might be in the market for an 8 track player if this info is true and two rear speakers 100% means it was a factory option. Lol great more money for things that I probably can't say no to getting.
Hoping someone will chime in and provide firm answers as many older post are all over the map with regards to rear speakers.

Tia Dave

joesw31

The cutlass and 442 used only two speakers one in the front and one in the back. There are some am radio cars that only used a front speaker. The rear speaker is in the passenger rear and grounded to the body. The speakers were 10 ohms. The cutlass or 442 did not have two rear speakers.

joe_padavano

The factory "stereo" configuration was the one speaker in the center of the dash and the one speaker in the rear package shelf. The other location in the rear package was used for the optional rear window defogger. People frequently put the second speaker in the rear shelf, but it was never factory. There's no fuzz on this, it's well documented in all factory literature.

72notchback

Was just reading on wild about cars and found the 71 factory options list where one could order the am/fm stereo with four speakers. I figured more survivors would have original speakers but no real way to tell

mmurphy77

My '71 is, except for one exterior repaint a dozen or more years ago, primarily an unmolested original car and has an AM/FM radio and one speaker in the middle dash and one speaker in the passenger rear. It's a late build car so my defogger is electric grid in the glass.

oldspackrat

Dave,
That 4 speaker option may have been for big cars? I've never seen a Cutlass/442 with 4 speakers & there is literally no place to put them. Like has been said, the cars came with either a front only speaker, or a front & one rear speaker option. Don't know what to say about those speakers in your car. They do look factory installed...

cjsdad

I worked in the aftermarket stereo industry for 15 years and it was not uncommon for classic car enthusiasts to have factory GM speakers installed. It was common to install two factory style speakers and grills. Even original GM speaker wires were available for installation. We could make the installation look like it came from the factory!

VikingBlue

what was the factory speaker set up for convertibles ?