Help With Odd Looking Radio

TwoTimeSC

Registered User
I have run across a rather unique looking Ford Radio that I'm trying to get some info on. It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen before.

It has all of the functions and knobs of a regular Premium Sound unit used in '88-'93 Fords but the layout and look of the buttons has a much more modern appearance. The faceplate is a single DIN size and is rounded on the corners like a MACH 460 Radio.

The connectors on the back are even odd looking, and it has a built-in 4-amp fuse that plugs into the back.

I picked this one up along with two others from a guy that said it came from Ford's Audio Prototyping Lab.

Ever seen one like this anywhere?
 

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TwoTimeSC said:
No One Has Seen One Like This Before ????

It makes me think of a radio from an 87 Mark VII with JBL but I'm just not sure. That is the closest thing I can think of. I vaguely remember putting an aftermarket radio in one of them and something tells me that when I pulled the radio out I was like "damn, what the heck am I going to do with this". Not sure though. I've seen a lot of Ford radios in all sorts of cars and that doesn't really look familiar to me.
 
Thats actually a Japanese design developed for Mazda... Then Ford stamped the oval on it and put it in probes.... :rolleyes: It will plug right into a MX-6
 
Not that it matters anyhow, but that is not a Probe radio that I've ever seen. I've installed hundreds or radios in all years of Probes. That ain't one of em.
 
kinda looks like an old tempo radio, and it kinda looks like an old radio my dad had his aerostar van, but then agian i was like 5 years old. :rolleyes:



Tyler
 
It could be one of the Probe radio's with an EQ. I can't remember what those were like in back. Definitely not a Mazda radio though. Mazda never used Ford plugs on their radios. In the later years Mazda did use Ford radios though.
 
T@Sound-Xtreme said:
kinda looks like an old tempo radio, and it kinda looks like an old radio my dad had his aerostar van, but then agian i was like 5 years old. :rolleyes:



Tyler
ROFL, I was about to post about the Aerostar, my father bought one in the late '80s. Besides a similar looking stereo, it also had that cool stereo control module, in the second row of seats driver's side.
 
Well, I did a little more checking by popping the cover off. It looks like it has the same Cassette Transport as the '88-'90 Premium Radios. The circuit board looks unlike any I've seen and the Part Number on the Cassette mechanism is E9LF-...... (Made in '88-'89)

It also has a lot of mods to the circuitry including an added toggle switch and micro relay. It looks like the toggle switch is a 3 position miniature one and there is a label in there marked "Switchable FM Sensitivity". I'm assuming the board modifications and toggle switch were added by some Ford technician in the prototype development of this Radio.

I've still been searching the net for a photo on Mazda and Probe sites but have come up empty handed. I have not found a site that shows these style connectors on the back yet either.

I'll keep looking.......
 
The thing that keeps coming back to me is that the small connectors are not standard fare Ford premium/JBL connectors. I've installed more Probe radio's than I can count and I assure you it is not the normal fare. However, there were a few Probes that had factory installed EQ's. Of these cars I have only worked on maybe 2-3 in my whole life. I can't recall what the plug/pin configuration was, but there is a good chance that it looked like that. You won't find many pictures of the system because it was very rare. In all the databases that I had access to when working in the field, none of them had anything about this system, but I know it existed because I worked on a couple of them. I'm not sure if the one you have there is even one of the units I'm thinking of or not.

The thing that counts against the whole EQ system idea is that it doesn't make a lot of sense for it to have bass/treble/fader adjustments because those were on the EQ.

The reason I thought it might be from a Mark Vii is that I also recall installing a radio in one of those and when I pulled the OE radio out my reaction was "oh crap" because the plugs were quite different than I expected. But I don't remember what it was that was different. :~

Other cars that might bear looking into include the Capri and the Merkur line.

Other than you have posed an interesting question with this radio, I highly doubt there is much practical application for this radio. Due to the rarity of the connectors and obviously required additional equipment to make it work, it will most likely be useless. I'm quite interested to know if you can nail down the application though.
 
Oh, and the FM sensitivity switch may have to do with overseas applications or perhaps it was some experimentation with what Nissan calls "Diversity FM". Ford was working both with Mazda and Nissan and both companies used dual antenna FM recievers. Only thing is they require dual antenna plugs and I don't see it on that radio.
 
XR7 Dave.. now that you mention the Merkur line, we have one sitting in our auto shop at school. It'll all down the the frame now, but the grade 10 class ripped that car apart. I'll see if I can find the radio and have a peek and see if it looks like our "mystery" radio.
 
Mystery Solved

Well the mystery radio has been sighted by me on eBay.UK's site under Ford Scorpio cars for sale.

There was a 1991 and 1992 Scorpio auction that I hijacked these pictures from.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the thing....

Cheers,
Paul
 

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Anyone else think the car looks similar to the new Ford Five Hundred??

flfrontleft.jpg


usa_2005_ford_fivehundred_sdn_4_x_exfrhead_x.jpg
 
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