The radio in my 56 88 has hit and miss operation, It was working when I bought it but the previous owner told me it goes on vacation sometimes with no warning and then will return as it pleases. well it's been on a extended vacation for a while. There is a place here in Prescott
AZ. that specializes in vintage radio repair but I wasn't quite ready to remove it for repair,
You can find radios' on E-bay but they are usually just cores or parts radios in non working condition, I did find one that was refurbished in working condition with the seller claiming all tubes tested tuner lubricated and guaranteed to operate $159.00 plus shipping but upon close inspection the dial was quite foggy and the bright work was quite pitted. I also looked into to replacement radio's $199.00 but I didnt like the way they looked.
Walmart to the rescue !! I was in there looking for Propane for camping and browsed through the auto dept I looked in the case and the had a AM/FM stereo with Blue tooth, hook ups for pre-amp USB for are you ready ? $16.97 !!! I looked at the box and it was less than half the size of a carton of cigarettes, I thought at that size and price I should buy it and mount it in the glove box, it will give me am/fm usb playback to play the same tunes I have in my Jeep and Bluetooth from my phone and even receive calls for $16.97 !! I also bought a pair of 4- 1/2 speakers for $19.99 and just zip tied them up out of sight under the dash, now all that being said were not talking Bose sound quality but I now have everything I need for a total $39.94 inc tax. this thing is very small and takes up very little space in the glove box.
the usb play back works great and even identifies the name of song and artist ! this will due until I get that wild hair and take the radio out for repair. here are a few pics.

 

Holy Smokes, Batman! Couldn't resist Cool find and way to go!