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Re: 57 Radio mystery
Mike, Since the Wonderbar does not say Wonderbar on it your radio *may* be a '56 Wonderbar. Also it is possible that early '57's would have had remaining stock of '56 radio's inserted. By early '57, I'd estimate within the first 500 Corvettes. As to a chassis "strapped" on to the back of the radio chassis, I have no clue! Late '56 radio's and all '57's should have a transistor power pack positioned behind the 8" round speaker which is located behind the passenger side of the dash. The power pack consists of a large 1/8" square (more or less) aluminum plate attached to a round speaker. The plate has four half dollar sized transistors mounted and a transformer sticking through from a square hole cut in the center of the plate. The radio chassis part was just that, a rectangular shpaed chassis, common in appearance to most non Wonderbar radio's of the day. -
Re: 57 Radio mystery
Mike, Since the Wonderbar does not say Wonderbar on it your radio *may* be a '56 Wonderbar. Also it is possible that early '57's would have had remaining stock of '56 radio's inserted. By early '57, I'd estimate within the first 500 Corvettes. As to a chassis "strapped" on to the back of the radio chassis, I have no clue! Late '56 radio's and all '57's should have a transistor power pack positioned behind the 8" round speaker which is located behind the passenger side of the dash. The power pack consists of a large 1/8" square (more or less) aluminum plate attached to a round speaker. The plate has four half dollar sized transistors mounted and a transformer sticking through from a square hole cut in the center of the plate. The radio chassis part was just that, a rectangular shpaed chassis, common in appearance to most non Wonderbar radio's of the day.Comment
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Re: 57 Radio mystery
Wonderbar sets changed over the years. If you've ever pulled a Corvette 'cousin' set out of an early Cadillac, Buick, Olds, you'll see it's HUGE compared to the available behind dash space in a Corvette. The very early sets were 'chopped' into two pieces (receiver and power amp) and stuffed behind the dash in a volume/space available configuration.
Memory tells me the two-piece configuration is right for '55-56 appls, but I don't have manuals that early here. Other SA specialists can comment with wisdom as to when the change over happened where the two piece WB package became a one piece package using new fangled 'transistor' technology for speaker drive size/space reduction.
Don't pitch this baby out, especially if it's working. They're rare! You'll see lots at swap meets where fellow found 1/2 of the radio set and is naively selling it at top dollar not knowing he's only got half the radio!!Comment
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Re: 57 Radio mystery
Wonderbar sets changed over the years. If you've ever pulled a Corvette 'cousin' set out of an early Cadillac, Buick, Olds, you'll see it's HUGE compared to the available behind dash space in a Corvette. The very early sets were 'chopped' into two pieces (receiver and power amp) and stuffed behind the dash in a volume/space available configuration.
Memory tells me the two-piece configuration is right for '55-56 appls, but I don't have manuals that early here. Other SA specialists can comment with wisdom as to when the change over happened where the two piece WB package became a one piece package using new fangled 'transistor' technology for speaker drive size/space reduction.
Don't pitch this baby out, especially if it's working. They're rare! You'll see lots at swap meets where fellow found 1/2 of the radio set and is naively selling it at top dollar not knowing he's only got half the radio!!Comment
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