Antique Automobile Radio, Inc. began manufacturing car radio vibrators in 1982. The auto radios of the 30s, 40s and 50s were made by Motorola, Philco, Bendix, Sylvania, RCA, Zenith, Detrola, Wells-Gardner and others, all of whom had either gone out of business or turned their attention to other ventures, and had abandoned the old car market.
At that time, there were no new vibrators available, and the original ones had a life of about 18 months in regular service. Antique Automobile Radio designed a solid state vibrator and produced it in metal cans with the same base and physical dimensions as the originals. The greatest benefit of the solid state design was its long service life. Indeed many of Antique Automobile Radio's first vibrators are still in regular service. Today the company makes over 60 different types of vibrators and ships to every corner of the globe.
As their dealer network expanded, Antique Automobile Radio began to make other hard-to-find parts for older car radios. Dial glass and special speakers that are no longer used were added to their catalog.
As Antique Automobile Radio developed new replacement parts, they were faced with a problem seemingly beyond their control. Their AM audience was leaving. The question Antique Automobile Radio's restoration shops and dealers were being asked was "Why bother to restore a radio when there is nothing being broadcast that I want to listen to?"
By 1988, Antique Automobile Radio had a solution. They developed a tiny FM "front end" tuner that could be installed inside some radios to provide the FM band without changing the appearance or function of the original radio.
The original FM conversion was redesigned, refined and tweaked many times since then. It could be installed in any radio. It was still the same size as the original, but with the help of new surface mount technology had 3 times as many components. The increased circuit density allowed the company to greatly improve performance and simplify installation. The "solution" created a new challenge. Many more radios were being restored than would have been if the FM option was not available. The supply of interstage and output transformers, germanium transistors and other exotic parts, which would be too expensive to tool in small quantities, was rapidly being used up. Antique Automobile Radio designed the Mono 7 amplifier, a complete 7 watt RMS amplifier in a package about the size of the original Delco DS-501 output transistor. This eliminated the need for obsolete germanium output transistors and the hard-to-find output transformers they required.
With the input and output stages of the radio in production, the next logical step was to replace all of the original electronic circuitry with modern technology. In 1996 Antique Automobile Radio introduced the Stereo Conversion. They use the same IC circuitry as other car radio manufacturers, but with a special interface to allow them to use the original controls and tuning mechanism.
The radio still looks, feels, and is operated the same way as it did when originally manufactured, but the similarity stops when you turn it on! With up to 180 watts RMS of output power and the capability to play in iPods, MP3 players, satellite receivers, or CD players, the performance is thrilling!
In 1994 Antique Automobile Radio completed construction of their new manufacturing facility in Palm Harbor, Florida. The company is justifiably proud of its state-of-the-art design and manufacturing capabilities. Their technical staff has over 100 years of combined car audio experience. Antique Automobile Radio is continually evaluating new technologies that can be adapted to their customers' needs.