Recently removed the radio from my 1939 LaSalle. Was told by someone who did not see it that it was probably an after-market radio. Whatever emblem was on the radio is gone. Was also told they put 2 different radios in the 1939. The radio was mounted on the firewall, left side. How do I know?
Thanks.
The Cadillac-LaSalle front compartment radio was a single unit set, mounted to the instrument panel. The speaker was contained in the radio package. Tuning and volume controls were done with thumbwheels in the center of the speaker grille. The push-buttons at the top of the dash selected 5 preset stations. The leftmost button turned the set off. The righmost button selected manual (dial) tuning.
There were aftermarket sets made for Cadilac and LaSalle, particulary by Motorola. They were cable controlled radios, with the radio mounted to the firewall, and the flexible cables operating the tuning and on-off volume from two knobs in place of the thumbwheel controls in the middle of the speaker grille. The speaker may have been mounted to the dash grille, or could have been contained in the radio box. With the Motorola sets, I seem to recall that Motorolas name was on the dial scale.
Yes, there were two radios sold for Cadillac. The one described above, and a set for the rear compartment of formal cars in the 75 and 90 series. The rear compartment sets were actually dash radios from 1937, equipped with extra long flexible cables, running from the control head in a rear armrest to the radio in the trunk. The speaker was mounted in the parcel shelf behind the rear seat. The rear compartment sets usually used under-running-board antennas, while the front compartment sets could have had either the new vertical rod vacuum antenna in 1939, or the running board type.
By chance, I have the emblem (I think) for your radio. We have car club tonight in town so I wont be able to dig it out and take a picture of it till later. Give me a shout on bgwhlr@tds.net instead of using the reply button, as I dont use the hot mail much and have a filter on it.