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radios?

12K views 30 replies 9 participants last post by  geoffcb 
#1 ·
It seems that every time the thought of owning an original RHD tri-five has been permanently dismissed from my mind, http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/172566325410 pops up for sale again. (Thanks to John for bringing this to my attention.) Same car at the same price as this time last year, though the AUD to USD exchange rate is less favorable for me than last year.

Anyway, this car's reappearance raised a few questions in my mind.

At some point in its life, the car was fitted with Bel Air wheel covers and dash trim. I have a RHD parts catalog from 1957, and it lists this dash trim, but only for Bel Airs. Likewise, the Australian version of the owner's manual http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyowner/a57omindex.htm shows no dash trim or radio.

I'm inclined to think someone ordered the dash trim from the dealership's parts department early on, and installed it. Does anyone know of any original documentation that shows this trim being installed from the factory?

My main question is about radios. Obviously, the radio in this car was installed in recent decades.

My RHD catalog does not list a radio. Now, the RHD catalog only lists parts that differ from LHD cars - the "regular" US LHD catalog is used for most parts. So, either Australian tri-fives did not have a GM-supplied radio available, or they used the same radios as the American cars.

So, my question is: in the mid 1950s, did Australia have AM radio stations at the same frequencies as the North American AM radio stations - 540-1600 kHz? What other radio station bands were in common use in Australia? FM? Short wave? Other?
 
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#2 ·
Australia


◦The first radio broadcast in Australia took place on 23 November 1923.


◦The first car radio was fitted to an Australian car in 1924.


◦Australian radios operated on the Medium Wave band of 550-1600Kc/s.


◦Official FM services started in Australia in 1974, although experimental FM broadcasts took place from 1947 to 1961. When was the first car fitted with an FM radio?


◦The three prominent car radio producers in Australia were Astor, AWA, and Ferris.


Hope that helps :)
 
#4 · (Edited)
Australia
◦The first radio broadcast in Australia took place on 23 November 1923.

◦The first car radio was fitted to an Australian car in 1924.

◦Australian radios operated on the Medium Wave band of 550-1600Kc/s.

◦Official FM services started in Australia in 1974, although experimental FM broadcasts took place from 1947 to 1961. When was the first car fitted with an FM radio?

◦The three prominent car radio producers in Australia were Astor, AWA, and Ferris.

Hope that helps :)
Thanks, Angelo, That's exactly the information I was looking for. That means the American AM radios would have worked just fine in tri-fives.

All Australian CKD 210s had the BelAir dash trim.

Have never heard of US-supplied radios being fitted to CKDs – would assume local dealer option.

As far as I can recall, no BelAir hubcaps were available to these cars. (Happy to be told otherwise.)

And the zinger: All these cars had leather upholstery.
John, are you certain about the Bel Air dash trim on these 210s? (If so, that means I've just found another error in the factory documentation.)

I have to say that trim is a nice touch, especially with the leather interior.

I have reason to believe that no tri-fives came from the factory with radios, even the US versions. There's no installation instructions in the factory assembly manuals we have, although there are instructions for them as dealer installed accessories. I've also seen a fair number of cars over the years (including Bel Airs) that still have the radio delete plate in place.

Of course, the Bel Air wheel covers could have easily been ordered from the parts department at the dealership, or picked up used some years later. Part #987537 is a set of 4 Bel Air wheel covers to be installed as an accessory on '57 150s and 210s.
 
#3 ·
All Australian CKD 210s had the BelAir dash trim.

Have never heard of US-supplied radios being fitted to CKDs – would assume local dealer option.

As far as I can recall, no BelAir hubcaps were available to these cars. (Happy to be told otherwise.)

And the zinger: All these cars had leather upholstery.
 
#9 ·
Follow-on to my earlier comment:

Here is strong evidence that radios were NOT a factory installed option, and all radios were installed by the dealer.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-CHEVRO...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

This auction was for original (not reprint) literature. Note the very last photo of the "Suggested Delivered Prices", dated February 1, 1957. Radios do NOT appear in the "Factory Installed Options" list. They're only listed with the other dealer-installed accessories.

Yet, this very document demonstrates the inconsistencies we find in factory documentation. Let's look closely.

In the bottom left corner of the front page of the price sheet, it says "printed 2-1-57". Also note that turn signals, V8 oil filter, and electric windshield wiper are listed as "required factory options". In other words - they're listed as options, but you can't order a car without them? Hmm....

Now, we all know a fair number of '57s came with vacuum wipers. Furthermore, http://www.trifive.com/garage/57 Chevy Assembly Manual/1-11.gif clearly shows the standard wiper motor is the vacuum version. But, what's that I see down in the drawing notes? Redrawn on 3-25-57? Nearly 2 months AFTER the price sheet shows electric wipers were listed as a "required option"?

Anyway - welcome to the "real world" of building and selling almost 100,000 Chevrolets every month back in 1957.
 
#10 ·
I can't vouch for other countries, but the dash trim treatment was certainly true for Australia.

So, if Australia was the only exception to the convention, maybe that's why it is not documented in the GM assembly manuals? Just a thought.
 
#11 ·
For all we know, the Aussie plant manager had seen the Bel Airs going to New Zealand, liked the look of the dash trim, and "ordered a few crates of dash trim by mistake". :)

I'm not saying that's what happened, but stranger things have been known to occur.

Or, maybe they did get approval to use it, but a parts catalog editor in Michigan recognized "hey - 210s don't get dash trim", and didn't put it in the catalog.

It's easy to forget all this was done by people working for one of the biggest companies in the country long before there was email or real-time computer databases. Mistakes happen.
 
#13 ·
I you don't know the answer...

...then there are no dumb questions, but I'll try.

On a standard column shift RHD is the shift pattern the same as the LHD cars, i.e., are the Rev and 1st positions on the left side of the "H" away from the steering wheel or are they on the right side of the "H" closest to the steering wheel? Is the neutral rest position on the left or the right end of the "H" crossbar?
 
#15 ·
...then there are no dumb questions, but I'll try.

On a standard column shift RHD is the shift pattern the same as the LHD cars, i.e., are the Rev and 1st positions on the left side of the "H" away from the steering wheel or are they on the right side of the "H" closest to the steering wheel? Is the neutral rest position on the left or the right end of the "H" crossbar?
Here's the answer: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyowner/a57om10.htm
 
#16 ·
When setting up my RHD auto column, Des and I opted to keep the shifter on the right – it was a US column.
 
#17 · (Edited)
While we're on this subject, it brings to mind another point. Why is it Australians view a Chevrolet as a "dream car", while Americans view it as a decent but very ordinary car?

As John mentioned, the answer is quite simple - price.

About a year ago, we were having a similar conversation here. One tri-fiver did some homework. He determined that, at the prevailing exchange rates of the time, a '57 210 cost over twice as much in Australia as in the US.

Think about that. If Chevrolets cost Americans twice as much, we'd look at them very differently too.

Doubling the price of a Chevrolet would put it at about the same price as a Cadillac. (When I was growing up, if you saw a new Cadillac going down the road, the thinking was, "must be nice to have that kind of money".)

Fortunately, that wasn't the case. If it was, I'm not sure what we would have driven.

Back then, a family on a budget out shopping for a new car had the decision, "Ford, Chevrolet, or Plymouth - pick one". They were all comparably priced with comparable features. And, you need to pick one of them. Because - until Volkswagens started selling in large volumes in the 1960s, and Toyotas and Hondas in the 1970s, there really wasn't anything that cost less than a Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth.
 
#20 ·
Thanks to mr265, the radio mystery is solved.

mr265 noted an auction for an Australian '55 brochure. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-CHEVRO...006584?hash=item282dea11f8:g:B3EAAOSwfVpYwNlI

The back page of this brochure lists options available - starting off with the radio. It's clear from the drawing that this is the same radio as in this car.

I thought the radio in the car looked awful, and assumed it was something someone had bought at the Australian equivalent of Wal-Mart or Radio Shack.

Apparently, this is a standard Holden radio, which would explain why it's not in the Chevy RHD catalog I have.

It also has a nice drawing of the '55 interior, which differs slightly from the '57.
 

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#22 · (Edited)
Re: parts listed in parts catalogs and photos in driver's manuals, I think these documents are printed up at least several months or more before the actual production begins, and certainly well before the cars, complete and CKD, were shipped out. There is a good chance that any changes in equipment, standard or optional, would simply be passed by, as reprinting and distributing changes would not be cost effective. These types of changes would likely be reflected in Service Bulletins, if at all. This could well be the case with the dash trim.

This Australian 1957 Sales Brochure definitely shows dash trim installed


This original 1957 RHD in Australia did not have the dash trim, or a radio.


This original 1956 in England did have dash trim (and no radio)


I think this is from England, 1955/1956?


Here's a 1955 from Australia


And a 1957 from South Africa, with radio and no trim


Conclusions from all this? Some RHD Tri Fives came with dash trim, some didn't. You can't just take LHD trim and put it on a RHD dash since the holes are different, so any originals either came from the factory (or CKD) that way, or the local dealer had to order it special for the car.
 
#25 ·
This original 1957 RHD in Australia did not have the dash trim, or a radio.
I'm not too sure about this car being an original Aussie 57 RHD. For starters there is an aftermarket gauge stuck on the left hand side of the key, it only has two pedals meaning it's an automatic and the shifter has been moved from the column to the floor ?????
 
#23 ·
Excellent references, David!

I can't be sure of any other RHD destinations, such as NZ and South Africa – maybe these countries did the upgrade to Bel Air dash trim as well? Don't know.

Australia enabled a few scenarios.

All CKD cars were 210 and all had the Bel Air dash trim. (And I believe all such cars were 4-door sedans with a 6.)

Then there were the imported cars. There was a bunch of these that were Bel Air 4DHT (56 and 57), so naturally these would have had the Bel Air trim as well – these may have come in as an order from GMH for GM dealers or for consular use/distribution. There were also some Bel Air sedans that would/could have come in via similar circumstances. Also, there was ability for individuals to order Chevs from the US as ready-made RHD cars – I know of two such vehicles, both were 57 4-door hardtops, one of which is a Bel Air. It may have been possible that some of these imported cars were 210s and had the standard 210 dash finish (without trim), but I am not sure – it's possible.

It's possible that some of the cars from the photos were originally Australian RHD CKD cars that have had dash trim later removed – either via modification or restoration.

Interestingly, the imported Bel Air cars would have had vinyl/cloth interiors, while the locally assembled cars would have had leather. :)
 
#24 · (Edited)
KThere are currently 193 countries and territories recognized by the UN, Of these, 139 have right hand traffic and 54, (most, but not all such as Japan, former British colonies such as Bermuda and India). have left hand traffic. Of those with left hand traffic I would assume most have right hand drive cars but I have not been able to confirm which may have had imported rhd Chevrolets.
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#26 ·
(Historian) David Hayward wrote plenty about GM outside of the US:

http://www.gmhistory.chevytalk.org/index.html

I am sure some of his writing/posts both here and on Chevytalk would include information as to where GM assembled and distributed cars outside of the US, especially gown back years.

Where there ever any RHD cars assembled specifically for UK distribution, I wonder?

I know that some countries had car intakes that corresponded with military activity. The Phillipines, for example, had a number of Chevs due to the number of US servicemen there – and I think one or two 567s have found their way to Australia from there.

Interestingly, the Philippines was a RHD country until 1945, when the then president signed an order to change to LHD – due to better buying economics from the US car manufacturers. :)
 
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