Radios for a 71 98?

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Old Jun 5, 2020 | 03:17 PM
  #1  
broman's Avatar
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Radios for a 71 98?

Looking for a retro double din AM/FM radio with a front aux and front usb port that would fit my 1971 Oldsmobile 98. Does anyone know of one that would work? Thanks in advance.
Old Jun 5, 2020 | 07:40 PM
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If you're talking about the original radio opening in the dash in a '71 98, no DIN radio, single, double, or otherwise will fit. 1971 was before the DIN standards came into use and it was the era of **** radios.

If you don't want to cut the dash, your only hope is to find a retro radio with USB and all the rest that fits into a shaft style opening. They are made. An example of one is below. You want one with USB and aux ports, and you can find those if you hunt around.

Another alternative is to have your original radio converted to modern electronics. That can be done as well, but it's expensive.






Another alternative is to cut the dash. I know that some consider this sacriledge, but I did it on a '73 Custom Cruiser I owned until a few years ago. This car has the same dash as yours. Below is what it looked like, and I thought it ended up looking pretty good. It gave me AUX and USB inputs as well as satellite radio and CD. Of course, the original dash on that side has been irreversibly modified, so keep that in mind if you try it. You could always get a replacement right side dash from a parts car and use that if you ever wanted to make the car original again.




Old Jun 5, 2020 | 10:00 PM
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Here's a photo of my dash,

it doesn't have the original radio, the original owners put this one in I believe. I'm still new to the car community with this being my first car and I don't know a lot about this stuff so apologies if I'm wrong. Is this already cut to fit a radio such as: https://www.classiccarstereos.com/di...rome-face.html ?
Old Jun 6, 2020 | 07:53 AM
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Originally Posted by broman
it doesn't have the original radio, the original owners put this one in I believe. I'm still new to the car community with this being my first car and I don't know a lot about this stuff so apologies if I'm wrong. Is this already cut to fit a radio such as: https://www.classiccarstereos.com/di...rome-face.html ?
Your dash has not been cut. That is an aftermarket radio, but it s shaft-style aftermarket radio probably installed in the late 1970s or 1980s when shaft-style aftermarket radios were still readily available from Radio Shack and many other places and before the DIN standard was adopted. The original radio might have been just an AM radio, and someone along the line wanted FM and the ability to play cassettes. There was no cassette option on Olds factory radios in 1971. Any tape capability was 8-track.

The radio in the link you provided will NOT work without cutting into the opening. It has the look of an old style radio, but it is not. It requires a modern, single DIN opening. Your options are as I described them above. Get a retro, shaft-style radio like that one I showed above, or cut into the dash so you can fit a modern radio in there.

DIN or double DIN doesn't apply here. Your dash doesn't have room for a double DIN radio, anyway. A double DIN opening is 4 inches high, and your cigarette lighter is in the way. You could make a single DIN radio fit as I did and show in the photo above.

Last edited by jaunty75; Jun 6, 2020 at 08:00 AM.
Old Jun 6, 2020 | 08:21 AM
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Ok good to know thank you
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