240z radio

[sjarrett]

im chasing an original 240z 1970 radio, can anyone help?

[George]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/131362128136

[gav240z]

It's actually very rare to see 1 for sale these days also. As far as I'm aware currently there is no way to get the faceplate reproduced for this particular model. Which is what your early car would have had.

[chris240]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/131362128136

$500 ? Really ? Have I missed something the past few years..

They used to sell for $2-300 tops..

 

[George]

$500 ? Really ? Have I missed something the past few years..

They used to sell for $2-300 tops..

 

 

Well, there's this one at $750 http://www.ebay.com/itm/291316074943

 

Or this one at $1100 http://www.ebay.com/itm/251744067349

 

Add $70 for postage from the States.

[gilltech]

How is the 1970 faceplate different to the later ones - is it the countersunk screws in the lower corners?

[gav240z]

$500 ? Really ? Have I missed something the past few years..

They used to sell for $2-300 tops..

 

 

Yes, try find me another 1 with the face plate and antenna switch for a better price. I got mine from a member without the faceplate or knobs, or the antenna switch. Now I have to find the knobs and faceplate (someone was nice enough to donate a switch to me).

 

The later faceplate looks like this:

 

I'm not sure, but from what I've seen only the early cars got this Hitachi radio in the US (1970), it seems our market may have got it for all year 240z's (but I have yet to confirm this 100%). Just going by what I've seen in different year cars here.

 

It seems the Japanese market was different yet again and may not have got the same early radio in their home market cars.

 

Check out Kats 432 interior photos here.

 

Well, there's this one at $750 http://www.ebay.com/itm/291316074943

 

Or this one at $1100 http://www.ebay.com/itm/251744067349

 

Add $70 for postage from the States.

 

Whilst they are refurbished and this makes a difference to prices, they have also been on the market a while. However it's not just postage, you gotta factor in conversion rate (AUD is sliding), then PayPal fees (or crappy conversion rate) and if they don't declare at less than $1000 AUD value (insurance) you'll have to pay GST on it / import duties etc..

 

How is the 1970 faceplate different to the later ones - is it the countersunk screws in the lower corners?

 

Hope I've somewhat answered it above? See also this page.

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,14979.0.html

 

Both HS30 00149 and HS30 00151 have the same early Hitachi radio, hence I had to get 1.

 

I missed out on this 1 recently.

http://page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w112939564

 

But with Yahoo! Auctions I'd have broker fee's + shipping costs etc.. So it would have cost me at least $250 AU by the time I got it at a guess...and I don't know how high the other bidder would have gone + faceplate has a crack in corner.

 

PS: That radio is cheap compared to finding and restoring early Jeco Twin Knob Rally Clocks 

[gav240z]

To further add evidence that perhaps the Japanese Market received a different Hitachi Radio than our market you can see the October 1969 Launch photos here.

http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/33633-24th-october-1969-the-s30-series-z-public-debut/?p=298350

 

You can see this photo here shows the antenna switch isn't on the far right hand side.

 

A bit further down the same page you see the Fairlady brochure. (which has a Rally Clock in it (2 knobs))

 

As a side note and because the photos reminded me.

 

I mentioned in my steering wheel refurb thread the differences I've seen in wood-grain on the Fairlady Z steering wheels.

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,14508.msg153951.html#msg153951

 

Here is another photo I have of a Fairlady Z that was for sale recently on eBay in North America. Note: The colour of the wood grain on this wheel is very interesting.

 

Coming back to the radio though, I'd love to hear from an S30z owner with a 71, 72 or 73 240z that still has the original radio to see what faceplate they had?

 

My current suspicion is that we got the same hitachi radio (with the right hand switch radio antenna) through all years of our market cars and never saw the other head units. Which if true will be a bummer as they seem to be hard to find replacement faceplates for.

[wildy55]

Hey Gav

This was in my '71 when I bought it. Guessing it was the original unit.

[gav240z]

Yep that's the only radio type I've seen fitted to an Aussie delivered 240z.

 

Have you since removed it?

[adam]

I have the exact same radio in my '73 240z.

[gilltech]

So would it be correct to say that the basic AM radio got the vertical rocker switch for the antenna, at the RH end of the faceplate;

while both the AM/FM radio & radio cassette units (which are bigger units) used the little switch above the volume knob like in Gav's photo? That's what it looks like to me anyway.

[gav240z]

I have the exact same radio in my '73 240z.

 

So would it be correct to say that the basic AM radio got the vertical rocker switch for the antenna, at the RH end of the faceplate;

while both the AM/FM radio & radio cassette units (which are bigger units) used the little switch above the volume knob like in Gav's photo? That's what it looks like to me anyway.

 

Seems to be verified by the photos here also:

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,15328.0.html

[Agno]

Gav, the Japanese would have certainly gotten a different radio to us because Japanese radio and Australian AM/FM radio frequencies are different.

[gav240z]

Yeah I figured that may have been the determining factor in terms of which radio we received.

[HS30-H]

I mentioned in my steering wheel refurb thread the differences I've seen in wood-grain on the Fairlady Z steering wheels.

 

Here is another photo I have of a Fairlady Z that was for sale recently on eBay in North America. Note: The colour of the wood grain on this wheel is very interesting.

 

Gav,

That's a (stitched on) leather cover which has aged/deteriorated to a colour that looks a bit like wood. It's not a different shade of wood.

[gav240z]

Thanks for clarifying Alan, that photo wasn't very clear to begin with.

[gav240z]

Just a quick update on this thread. I believe Australian delivered 240z's all received the same radio which was AM band only. Unlike the North American delivered cars which only got the AM radio in 69/70/71 models, the 72/73 models got an FM receiver hence the change in Hitachi head unit.

 

See this thread for comparison photos.

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=14979.0

 

After speaking with a seller of a Early Hitachi radio in the US he mentioned this.

 

Interesting information on the use of this radio in Australia. I lived through those times, and that is when in USA the popularity of FM radio began to increase. The demand came quickly for FM receivers, so I assume Nissan was simply reacting to buyer demand. Would be interesting to know when the FM became popular in Australia.

 

So with that in mind, does anybody know when Australian radio started to move to FM from AM? I'm guessing it would have been around late 73? Maybe early 74?

 

This would explain why we only got the 'early' style radio in 240z's delivered to Australia.

 

 

[gav240z]

Seek and you shall find.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_broadcasting_in_Australia

 

FM radio broadcasting started in Australia in 1947 but did not catch on and was shut down in 1961 to expand the television band and not reopened until 1975 when Australia's FM allocation was aligned with most of the rest of the world (Initially it was envisaged that FM broadcasting would take place on UHF but this idea was abandoned as impractical and uneconomic). During the 1980s, FM broadcasting developed very slowly as many frequencies were still occupied by television transmitters, but by the 1990s these had been reallocated to other bands.

 

During this time many AM stations transferred to FM because of its superior sound quality. Today, as elsewhere in the developed world, most Australian broadcasting is on FM - although AM talk stations are still very popular.

 

And there you have it...

[Lynton]

my 260z in October 1975 was issued with FM radio but there were only 2 classical music stations back then 2 buttons for fm and 3 buttons for AM Lynton