I saw a few other post on this subject recently which got me interested in installing USB chargers in place of the rear ashtrays and front cigarette lighter. My car is a 1970 Cutlass Supreme Convertible. For the front I found a nice USB adapter that has USB outlets and a voltage display. The voltage is off about 2 tenths compared to my fluke directly to the battery. Close enough for me seeing as I only have the ralley pac gauges which aren’t terrible accurate either. I adapted some universal cigarette lighter to fit inside the rear ashtrays. They came with a 1.5” x 2” stainless plate. I had to grind the edges down to just over one inch so it would fit, then I used the wings off a low voltage electrical box to grab the underside of the ashtray housing. After carful trimming the lid even closes with the cover on the outlet. Now I just need to wire them up. I ordered some car chargers with dual USB ports which should be here next week. The front USB was around $20, rear USB adapters about $10 each and the universal cigarette lighters were about $10 each.

 

That is a cool idea!

 

I did the EXACT same thing on my 69 last year. Got tired of the phone cord stretched from the dash to the rear seat. Not to mention the kids fighting over eh gets to charge their phones first!

Remember how we as kids has to entertain ourselves by looking out the windows? Nope, today’s youth needs electronic entertainment!

 

Hey Matt, I’m pretty sure your post was one of the ones that inspired me. If I remember correctly you welded a plate to mount the lighter, I don’t have a welder so I had to get creative. I think it turned out pretty good though. Question for you, where did you wire them up to? I am planning on running a new wire, since my carpet is not installed yet it should be pretty easy. I just haven’t decided where I’m going to connect it yet.

 

I used the courtesy lamp circuit so the USB are powered at all times. The tail lamp harness has a orange wire for the dome lamp. Makes it easy, the usb draw a minimal amount of current when they aren’t charging anything, it would takes months to discharge the battery.

 

IIRC. Those kids also used to flick the ashtrays open n closed as many times as they could before their parents would yell at them to stop playing w the ashtray

 

I did the same thing to my ‘66 Starfire when I upgraded the rear ashtrays. Nice hidden feature. Clever reapplication of those mud ring flippers!