On the cars that had the rear speaker option, was there a different radio for those versus the single speaker cars? I'm curious because there obviously is a **** for controlling the sound to the rear on those models, but the cars with only the dash speaker had the blank behind the tuner ****.

 

Interesting question. If you look at the factory service manual for '64 Oldsmobile (available for free at wildaboutcars.com), it mentions three radios available that year, "Deluxe", "Super Deluxe", and "AM/FM." But the difference between the first two is not the rear speaker thing, but rather the Super Deluxe has the automatic tuning ("Wonderbar", I think).

As far as the manual says, cars equipped with a rear speaker had a control on the right **** to vary the volume level between front and rear. Apparently this option was available on any radio, and I would guess that if you got, for example, the "Deluxe" radio, it could have been had with or without the rear speaker control. Ditto for the other two radio types. But it was the same radio either way.

As far as '65, the wording in that manual about the radios is identical. Same three radios were offered with the same option with regard to front/rear speaker control.

 

Ah, I see now. The fader control was a separate part on the radio shaft. Was there ever an FM radio offered for the '65 Cutlass or F-85? I've only seen them in the big cars.

 

my car came with the rear speaker option and it had no speaker in the dash when i pulled it apart.

 

According to the '65 Dealer Specs book, no.

For the F-85, F-85 Deluxe, Cutlass, and Vista Cruiser, the only radio offered was the "Deluxe" at a cost of $65.64. To get the "Bi-Phonic" rear speaker option was an extra $16.14. There's no mention of the "Super Deluxe" or AM/FM radios, which were available only on the full-size cars. You could have gotten, however, a power antenna for $26.09.

Everything was identical for '64. Even the prices were unchanged in going from '64 to '65.

 

Good info, good info. Never heard of the power antenna option before, that's interesting.

 

My car had the rear speaker and it just had an extra wire plugged into the back of the radio. The power antenna had a separate switch on the dash by the Cutlass emblem that powered the antenna up and down, no fancy automatic stuff.

 

There is a jumper clip on the side of the radio that you remove when hooking up the rear speaker.

There was a transistorized radio in 65, AM only.

 

Speaker thing was "Biphonic radio adapter" that replaced the jumper and the dummy **** to use the extra harness for the second speaker.

FM in A bodies started in 66.