1967 Dodge Musicmaster

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Tue Aug 02, 16 10:39 pm

Hi,

The day we collected the Monaco from Farmer Ted in Michigan the radio went up in smoke.

When the car came back to the U.K. Matt Snowball very kindly lent us the service manual for the radio and I managed to send it to a very helpful guy in Bristol who fixed it and it worked happily, if AM only, until I managed, on Friday evening to break the on/off rotary switch. The rotary turns and turns but doesn't click.

It is a Dodge Musicmaster 241 (or 377, Bendix 7BDD) from a 1967 Dodge Monaco.

There is another guy in Bristol who fixes old radios but he doesn't remember fixing ours as he says he has only been in business for a few years and ours was fixed about ten years ago.

Does anyone know of any companies, here or in the US, that supplies parts for these radios so we can ship the parts here and have it fixed here rather than send the radio abroad (or buy another as otherwise it works perfectly)?

Any help or advice appreciated.

Radio

The broken switch (at top)

All the best

RobTwin · Post by **RobTwin** » Wed Aug 10, 16 1:42 am

Hi Sandy,
About 5 years ago we sent our Sport Satellite's radio (as below) to a guy in Bristol named Adrian, to get it converted to AM/FM/Stereo/with MP3 connection.
His email address is/was: regiesradios@02.co.uk

Dunno if that could have been the same person?

He did have some similar radios amongst his stock, so he may have spares for yours? If he's still trading...

I should have a company name and phone number for him somewhere. If you think it might be useful, i'll see if I can dig it out.

Cheers, Rob

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Fri Aug 12, 16 9:21 am

Hi Rob,

I am not at home at the moment so I can't remember the name of the guy who said he had just been in business a few years but the other info you have is hopeful and sounds like the guy who may have worked on Linda's.

I couldn't find an email address for him but my PC crashed in 2009 so that may explain that.

An FM conversion would be nice, but there is something nice about the fuzzy crackles...

Thanks in advance.

All the best

sharpie · Post by **sharpie** » Fri Aug 12, 16 10:11 am

i think o2 recently canned all their email addresses after selling their broadband to sky last year ... so that email may not work

ScottyDave · Post by **ScottyDave** » Fri Aug 12, 16 6:58 pm

sharpie wrote:i think o2 recently canned all their email addresses after selling their broadband to sky last year ... so that email may not work

Thats right, there's no way of getting any o2 emails they shut it all down after sky took over.

RobTwin · Post by **RobTwin** » Fri Aug 12, 16 7:44 pm

Sandy - found this info amongst the old stuff I've held onto... thankfully!

His / their details as follows:

Car Radio Repair & Resto Service
Mr A C James
10 Westview
Paulton
Bristol
BS39 7XJ

tel - 01761 413933

Not sure if he's still in business tho?

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Thu Oct 06, 16 10:22 pm

Hi Rob,

Just an update. Couldn't get hold of either of the guys in Bristol so sent the radio to Robert Pacini in New York. It should be on its way back now.

Luckily Linda does stuff in the U.S. and gets paid in dollars into her U.S. bank account. Very handy at the moment

Robert has fettled the radio and kept me up to date with progress and what he has done. About a four week turnaround too. We were both impressed by him.

There as a nice article about him in Hemmings Muscle Machines which I had read just a few weeks before I broke it.

All the best

Many thanks to Matt Snowball as well for the scanned manual

RobTwin · Post by **RobTwin** » Fri Oct 07, 16 8:25 am

Sandy wrote:Hi Rob,

Just an update. Couldn't get hold of either of the guys in Bristol so sent the radio to Robert Pacini in New York. It should be on its way back now.

Luckily Linda does stuff in the U.S. and gets paid in dollars into her U.S. bank account. Very handy at the moment

Robert has fettled the radio and kept me up to date with progress and what he has done. About a four week turnaround too. We were both impressed by him.

There as a nice article about him in Hemmings Muscle Machines which I had read just a few weeks before I broke it.

All the best

Many thanks to Matt Snowball as well for the scanned manual

Glad to hear you got it sorted Sandy. Not so pleased to hear you cant get hold of the chap that did ours tho...

Just before we got ours done, I read an article in HMM about a guy in the States that restores and upgrades old car radios - may be the same article? It must have been about 5 years ago?
It was that article that gave me the idea to get ours converted.

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Fri Oct 07, 16 9:38 am

Hi Rob,

Yes, that would be right, it is the same guy. He doesn't actually do an FM conversion but he repaired the rotary switch, does a tune up and renews components and then fitted the MP3/CD jack.

Some things came out of our emails which may be of interest.

What I broke (the on/off function of the rotary volume control) is very common and can be either easily fixed (in our case) or need a new switch. He recommends a delicate touch with the on/off function or just turn the radio down but not off.

Back in the day these radios used 8ohm speakers. About 1985 onwards most if not all replacement speakers went to 4ohm. You are advised never to power up these old Musicmasters without the speakers connected. original 8ohm speakers, which the Monaco still has, have square magnets. Replacement speakers have round ones.

Cost was repair $100, tune up $50, MP3 $50. Return postage $69.

Outward postage was Â£47.

No doubt there will be some horrendous duty/handling charge nonsense too

I'll let you know how it sounds.

All the best

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Mon Oct 17, 16 6:53 pm

Hi Rob,

Puzzlingly, but greatly appreciated, no handling/duty charges. Just a wee note to collect from my local post office.

It does sound great though

Weirdly (on all counts) it was tuned to Radio Teuchter-land and we were assailed by Scottish country dancing music for some minutes before firing up the ipod and doing the Dandy Warhols head nod ...shades of Wayne' World.

Very impressed with Robert's service. All in all not cheap (though helped by Linda's dollars - see above) but he kept us informed of what he was doing and the whole process took about five weeks.

All the best

sharpie · Post by **sharpie** » Tue Oct 18, 16 12:09 am

repairs returned to owner shouldnt accrue duty or handling ... one to remember

RobTwin · Post by **RobTwin** » Tue Oct 18, 16 8:33 am

sharpie wrote:repairs returned to owner shouldnt accrue duty or handling ... one to remember

Ok in theory but they'd rather ignore that you've told them that's it's a repair being returned and charge you anyway and say you can claim it back which is a very laborious process