The elusive early-A AM/FM & other stuff

-
396 Signet

396 Signet

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2008
Messages
415
Reaction score
21
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Worked on the 65 Signet today. Did final alignment of body panels & installed the dash. Thought someone might like to see the ultra-rare factory AM-FM I lucked upon a couple of years ago. I've only seen 3 of these ever & this was the best and cheapest, works as-new. Some other pics as well.<p>
am-fminstalled2.jpg


dashincar3.jpg


bodyassembledrear.jpg


engine-aircleaner.jpg
 
Great looking Signet! I hope to find a am/fm for my Dart one day too. (you lucky dog!) I think the HP 273's are the best looking Mopar mills and you have a very handsome one. You'll have to post more photos when you get her done. Great job. toolmanmike
 
Yes, looks great!!...just have to do something about that Holley hiding under the Commando air cleaner....LOL... :) :)
 
Wow. Ultra rare steering wheel delete option! Are you using a dash pad?

I love that color combo, and the Commando tins speak for themselves. More pics please.
 
Real nice. When you get it outside in the sun post some pic's. I have that same interior color and i need some advice on the body color choices. Again, great job!

Dave..........
 
toolmanmike said:
Great looking Signet! I hope to find a am/fm for my Dart one day too.
Click to expand...

The 71 and up A Body AM/FMs fit the 65 radio bezels perfectly. I've had one in my 65 GT for years and fit the dash and bezel perfectly.
 
I'm not sure fm was available before 68. It fits and looks good though.
Happy moparing
 
SSVDP said:
Wasn't the AM/FM radio a dealer installed option?
Click to expand...

Believe it could be ordered new, it was shown in the standard radio section of the 65 parts book. It did not show in the sales brochure but those are in general semi-accurate. At any rate they seem to be quite rare. I know other AM-FM radios will fit but I just think the factory 65 is more cool!
 
That looks awesome. My first car was a 65 Signet back in the mid 80's. I wasn't into it then, but love them now!
 
Commando66 said:
Wow! Your 65 is above and beyond nice. Do you have more details about your build?
Click to expand...

Thanks! When I finish I'll put a bunch of pics in the resto section. Basically the Valiant was bought new by a Stockton CA school teacher & stayed there its whole life. It only had 4 options- PB, AM radio, 273-2V, & 4-speed. It has 57k original miles due to the owner never changing the oil & spinning a rod bearing. It sat in a garage for many years with the blown motor until a coworker of hers bought it, threw in a junkyard 318 to get it moving & put it on ebay where I bought it for $2900 complete with the blown 273 in the trunk.

The body was incredibly clean, rust-free & straight & my original intent was to just make some minor repairs & make it a daily driver. One thing led to another & I ended up putting it on a rotisserie & completely redoing everything. The only thing I don't do is paint & that was an adventure in itself but 3 years & 2 body shops later the paint was done to a much higher standard than my goal. Got it back last year & have slowly been putting it all back together.

My general goal with the car was to have a stone-stock appearance but be super quick. My other rule given the body condition was absolutely no cutting or drilling on any sheetmetal. I built a bored-stroked hydraulic-roller 340 with many tricks but set up for a stock type idle & pump gas & decked out to look like a 273. The original color was a 50's type baby blue which wasn't my cup of tea so I changed it to a late model PB8 midnight blue pearl which you can see all over the place on 300's minivans, etc. PB8 is fairly close to the old B7 dark blue metallic that was available in 65. The interior was light blue metallic which I kept completley stock.

I completely rebuilt & detailed the suspension & put Wilwood discs on the front with B-body 10" drums & A-body 8-3/4 rear. Shocks are QYB aluminum adjustable types. The wheels are custom-offset Stockton 15x6 steelies that take the Valiant 9" dog dishes.

Lots more info but enough for now. BTW if anyone wants a rotisserie-

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=97952
 
Looks amazing! I hope I can find one of those radios! If not maybe in six years after I've went thru college for electrical engineering I will just convert me a AM to a AM/FM
 
SSVDP said:
Looks fantastic!
Wasn't the AM/FM radio a dealer installed option?
Click to expand...

In 1966 it was. My Dart GT had one. The other dealer installed audio options listed in the owner's manual were a rear seat speaker with fader and a reverb unit.

Real clean rebuild on the car. Great job.
 
SSVDP said:
Looks fantastic!
Wasn't the AM/FM radio a dealer installed option?
Click to expand...
They were a dealer installed option in the A & B bodies....factory option in the C-body according to the owners manuals. In a '66 model the fender tag code would be R3 for the standard AM-FM and the build sheet code is 423. The earliest AM-FM I've seen was in a '63 Imperial. It was a Delco unit with a Chrysler part number tag on it. I've seen the same type unit in the '64 Imperials and New Yorkers.
 
Dash is looking super! I have one of those AM/FM radio's that was in my 66 when I bought it. Haven't decided yet whether to go aftermarket or use what I got..Where did you get your dash redone?
 
GTGrinly said:
Dash is looking super! I have one of those AM/FM radio's that was in my 66 when I bought it. Haven't decided yet whether to go aftermarket or use what I got..Where did you get your dash redone?
Click to expand...


Basically I just took it all apart & had a local guy paint it to match the original. It was actually in nice shape to start but had its share of scratches. The two plastic pieces were rechomed by Laysons who did a super job. Everything else was just clean & install.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top