You guys are giving me shivers with all this hacking and cutting talk. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CUT THE LITTLE BAR IN BETWEEN...WHAT????!!!!! I know to each his own but dude...I can't tell you how long and how much money it has cost me to undo that very thing.
Classic Ind. or Matt's sells Secret Audio that fits nicely in the glove box and you can install a 10 CD changer in the trunk while leaving the dash uncut and the original radio in.
The problem with the '69 radio is the chassis and face are different from the '67-8. There is no after market '69 radio, so using the after market radio for the '67-8 you have to dispense with the bar, or have it interfere with the function of whatever is behind the bar. So cutting the bar is the compromise. The PO of my convertible cut the bar so I was free to make the choice of the '67-8 AM/FM cassette. I was fortunate no other mods were done.
Now my OHC coupe was a different story. The PO not only cut the dash bezel, he cut the dash frame to install a AM/FM CD player. Did I say cut? I meant hack, literately. It pained me to finish the job to look more professional. But I bought the car with the intention of just bringing it back from the brink of being a running parts car.
Now that I have two factory AM radios, I want to send one out for an internal upgrade. And I have a uncut dash to finish off getting the factory appearance back in my convertible. In my book, it's ok to make modifications that can be reversed with little effort and expense.
I guess it depends on what you consider to long or expensive. Restoring or modifying vintage vehicles is an inherently expensive hobby. If you think our hobby is expensive, try restoring a P-51 Mustang. As far as time, yea there's never enough. The time I devote to my 'bird isn't thought of as a burden, but a pleasure... and sometimes entertainment.
