Teraplane radio

In 1937 Hudson offered two radios: the SA-37 and DB-37, both made by RCA.



The DB-37 is the more 'deluxe' model. It consists of three parts: a round speaker mounted to the firewall, a receiver (the box with the tubes) which sits on the steering column brace, and the radio control head which fits in the dash, The knobs on the dash unit are connected to the radio receiver with mechanical cables.



The SA-37 model has the control head, but the receiver incorporates a speaker (no separate speaker on the firewall).



The hardest part to find will be the dash control unit with the plastic knobs and 'belt drive' dial. Once you have this, you could do a bit of fakery, using a different radio receiver (which is hidden, anyway). For examply, I used the 1936 "CB-6" receiver which is exactly like the DB-37 except for the number of turns of the station selector knob from one end of the band to the other. (I salvaged the correct gear ratios from a junked 1937 DB-37 and put them into my CB-6. If you can't find the correct speaker you may be able to find something similar looking at a flea market ("autojumble'?).



I believe the multi-year shop manual (runs from 1934 to 1939, or thereabouts) has a whole section with installation instructions, photos, and wiring diagrams of the Hudson radios. I think that reprints of this book are available through the Club Store, to members of the Hudson club. You might want to get one of those!



Here's the '37 SA-37 radio receiver:





Here's the radio control head in the dashboard (top item on the dash):





These are both filched from Gregg Maroney's interesting 1937 website. You might want to head over there and look around! http://www.hudsonterraplane.com/index.html

Actually, Gregg seems to have an aftermarket radio in his dash, that was apparently built to fit the 1937 dashboards. Possibly Western Auto, Philco, Montgomery Ward, etc.







I think I saw one of these many years ago at a Hudson meet. I recall that the "tone" adjustment was a chrome lever just under either the volume or channel knob, where one might expect to find it in a more modern car. (In the 'factory' radio, it was a knob on the side of the receiver box, under the dash -- not the easiest thing to grope for, as one tooled down the highway.)



In fact, this photo seems to show such a device, at the left (volume) knob.



It's a neat fit and one might stand as much of a chance finding this aftermarket unit, as finding the Real McCoy. The only downside of the aftermarket dash control (one assumes that it connects remotely to a 'one-size-fits-all" receiver unit under the dash) is that it doesn't have the authentic plastic bezel, which a "factory" 1937 unit would have had. But I could be quite happy with what's shown, even if it wasn't 100% authentic!