My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

[BillE]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

As long as this thread has come out of the woodwork...lets us not forget "Vibrasonic" rear speakers.

Bill

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

Ed, welcome to MOL. We kinda hate to point this out, but 7 years ago when this thread was started, the original poster (bencar) stated that this unit did indeed work in his car. Interesting that these units are now selling for so much on ebay though!

[ED MLYNEK]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

Ok--i'm from the 50's and had many record players like yours...i don't think it is going to work in a 1060 plymouth--haere is why....they made two styles of players...'early' ('56 to '59) and '60 and newer.....the problem is with the 'hook-up' to your factory radio....as you know, all early radios had vacuum tubes in them...and the 'connection' to make the rca units work, you spliced into the tube type radio volume control...fine....now, around '57 and newer...... (this varies greatly on the year, model, manufacturer of car, ect.)....car radios began to be 'transisterized'....these radios would not work with the old style volume knob hook-up....rca knew this and realized they would have to completely re-design the hook-up to the radio...this they elected not to do and sold everything they had to the 'arc' company.....(this is why the 'faces of some units are different) the arc units don't say 'rca' anywhere on them......usually they have a chromed silver waffle 'face' on the front where the on-off and reject-repeat switches are....the way they changed the inside hook-up was to now use the radio anttenna connection..inside is a transmitter thing that 'broadcasts' the player audio on or near 800 on your am dail...so, no more removing your radio,taking it to a radio shop and pay $20 to get your 'plug' wired up to volume tube radio knob...this greatly simplified installation of the units...all you had to do (now) is wire up a 12v hot wire (easy-usually to key on only)..and the take the two input ant. Wire and unplug your radios ant. Wire and plug it into the adapter at the female end, and the male end goes into the radio ant. Socket..easy!! No tech ($20) needed..anyone could do it...and that is how it was done...so, the most mopars did have the tube style jack factory wired as the rca record player was a factory option in the mid to late 50's...but ford and g-m did not have this special plug and those radios (only tube type for a rca player) had to be removed and wired by a radio shop serviceman......so, if your rca model won't work, don't give up...a arc type model will work... And on e-bay, i see the rca models going for $850+ and the arc ones for around $650....so maybe a swap could be arranged or something??? You could enven put a arc one in a 2012 car..(if you could easily get behind the dash to get to the raio ant. Connection).....hope this helps you..of course i have (still) one of each unit rca and arc...i never did like the 'cheaper looking' arc 'faceplate' and so i had an extra arc ant. Type module and put it in the old style rca unit...it's the best of both worlds..the pretty rca case and the more modern arc ant. Hook-up.....if you have more questions, call me at 706-376-7514 eastern time............bye ed mlynek......hartwell, georgia

[Duke]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

Oh now that in-dash TV is nice. I had no idea they ever tried that in early model vehicles.

[bencar]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

I'd sure be curious to know. In the case of my Plymouth, I became aware of the Record Player option being a Factory piece, via both the Owner's Manual for the car, and the Factory Shop Manual.

Oh, on an off topic note, my Plymouth appeared in a 30 second segment this past Sunday on Spike Channel, on HorsepowerTV. Once I get the DVD, I'll try to excerpt that segment, and Post it to Youtube, or Yahoo Video.

I have no idea. I've owned 5 1959 Cadillacs and 2 1960 Cadillacs so I know a little bit about this era of big fin caddys but I don't know the skinny on the TV option. I was jut there to take pictures and keyed in on the TV as soon as I saw it.

There's a classic Cadillac forum I belong to and I can check with those guys...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

Was that a Factory option, like the Record Player in my Plymouth, or an aftermarket item in that Cadillac?

I have no idea. I've owned 5 1959 Cadillacs and 2 1960 Cadillacs so I know a little bit about this era of big fin caddys but I don't know the skinny on the TV option. I was jut there to take pictures and keyed in on the TV as soon as I saw it.

Posted a question about it here,


Television in a 1960 Cadillac Convertible?

[bencar]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

Was that a Factory option, like the Record Player in my Plymouth, or an aftermarket item in that Cadillac?

A few years ago while at the Barret-Jackson Auction I snapped a couple of photos of a period correct TV in a 1960 Cadillac.

[bencar]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

The correct Factory Radio though, came with a socket to accept the Plug from the Record Player.

Yup, most any radio will work with the RCA though, just conneted to the volume control wire.

Sweet Record players

[Mike Phillips]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

A few years ago while at the Barret-Jackson Auction I snapped a couple of photos of a period correct TV in a 1960 Cadillac.

[Duke]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

Yup, most any radio will work with the RCA though, just conneted to the volume control wire.

Sweet Record players

[bencar]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

The RCA uses the matching Factory Radio as it's Pre-Amp, and volume and base/treble levels are controlled through the Radio.

Also the ARC has an all chrome case as the RCA only had chrome on the face plate and the case itself was painted black. Other than the connection with ARC going through a modulator to produce it's sound through antenna and RCA using the high wire of volume control, mechanically they are the same and parts are interchangable.

[Duke]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

Also the ARC has an all chrome case as the RCA only had chrome on the face plate and the case itself was painted black. Other than the connection with ARC going through a modulator to produce it's sound through antenna and RCA using the high wire of volume control, mechanically they are the same and parts are interchangable.

[bencar]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

I guess though the method has changed, the motivation hasn't, when it comes to an alternative to music chosen by some programming guru. These days, I use an MP3 Player as my alternative to annoying Radio.

I never had a record player in my car, but a friend of mine did. We thought it was cool that we could listen to the music we wanted to and not have to listen to the radio. I had a '57 Chevy Bel Air that I put a Reverb unit in. That sounded neat at the time. But like a dummy I got rid of the '57 in 1970.

Dave

[dvtldav]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

I never had a record player in my car, but a friend of mine did. We thought it was cool that we could listen to the music we wanted to and not have to listen to the radio. I had a '57 Chevy Bel Air that I put a Reverb unit in. That sounded neat at the time. But like a dummy I got rid of the '57 in 1970.

Dave

[bencar]

Re: My 1960 Plymouth's 45 rpm RCA Record Player

Most notable difference, you won't find the ARC Player detailed in the Factory Shop Manual, the RCA, is. The Factory Shop Manual gives complete details on the RCA unit, showing the Mechanism, Hook-up, and wiring of the unit itself. The other, more immediately obvious difference, the ARC unit does not have the RCA Logo on the front of the unit.

Thank you for the compliment on my Plymouth, which we've owned since it was new.

That Ap-1 of yours is a pretty one bencar. I restore them myself.
I have 8 of them at this point that I am working on. The ARC players are the same as the RCA with only a few differences.

Mighty pretty car ya got as well..

Duke