1965 original radio?

[stevo]

[70bus]

The Essen is in the dash; stevo is also slyly bragging about his in-car record player, under the dash!

I have a 72 version of the Frankfurt and it went in with no trouble; looks pretty similar to the mid-60s version as well. I had the black knobs replaced with correct white ones.
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[stevo]

Blaupunkt Essen. Lowest ranking radio in the Blaupunkt line. Fits well, plays loud too. Use as 6 or 12V. Unit shown in my 65 is the 64-65 model. Listed as unknown, untested on this site. Really satisfied with it.

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When you cross an Irishman, they never forget. I mean, never.

[BarryL]

[tasb]

The Bendix Saphires had a Bus specific model. I think the difference was the view of the dial angle?
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Roads Scholar
1957 Kombi low mileage 36 hp governor equipped M 178 Slow Drag Winner 2014, 2015, 2018

1965 hardtop Deluxe Microbus owned since 1990 M 620 factory 12 v 1500cc

1961 (October)Single Cab- Road Trip Workhorse

Member# 2059

[BarryL]

[pondoras box]

There is a company that will convert your original radio to AM/FM and blue tooth receiver. The radio is basically a shell that the knobs control a small module that goes inside. Not cheap though.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop
1973 standard bug
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=804912
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[Buskraut]

For my '65 bus, I had the Sapphire I converted to 12V, and added a FM receiver module. You switch from AM-FM by turning the radio on and off for a couple of seconds. Presets work normally. FM reception is excellent. You can also add modules for external inputs or bluetooth (although personally I wouldn't bother since you can just use an external BT module).

Work was done by Rich Langenwalter who was great to work with and advertises on this site.
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Erik S
'65 Type 251 / Deluxe
'03 Eurovan MVWK

[Louie Lozano]

Hello everyone!! Would anyone know if there is a new version of the original radio that went into the 1965 Bus? I looked at Retro Manufacturing but they only have one for the beetle:

https://www.retromanufacturing.com/products/1958-6...6462667932

I would hate to have to buy a modern stereo and ruin the nostalgia of my bus.

Thank you all for your help.

[BarryL]

Late '67 use the faceplate, every earlier year lose the faceplate. Use washers or adjust the nuts on the stems to fit the depth of the face trim.

[VW Man 53]

this is up in the classifieds as for a split bus, do you just remove the faceplate for bus installation?

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[VW Man 53]

the customer gave me a template for his unhacked dash, he measured the knob slots 23/64 which is 9.1 mm so i assume the measurement is a tiny bit off and it takes a 10 mm blaupunkt, i really appreciate all the feedback and help guys.
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[williamM]

I love Samba- get to learn new stuff every day. It's like fishing or "eating chocolates" Ya never know what you're gonna get.

Turns out one radio hole in all my stuff was not corrupted by vicious VW techs
in the 80's (that would be me)- so yes they did have an 10mm hole but appears to be elongated.[img]

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some days I get up and just sit and think. Some days I just sit.

opinion untempered by fact is ignorance.

Don't step in any!

[EverettB]

I realized I have samples of both radios here so here are some post diameters:
Blaupunkt - 10mm
Sapphire - 12mm

I don't have an unhacked Bus dash to provide an unhacked measurement but I do have a Bus with holes that were widened, probably for a Sapphire radio due to the hole size. The holes are between 13-14mm in diameter.
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[Eric&Barb]

[VW Man 53]

[EverettB]

[mandraks]

[williamM]

I have a 66 and here is a dash pic of that original radio.

This was the most common but it came in many models over the years Then VW went to Blauplunk radios in later years.

If your dash has small holes I would look for a radio that fits - rather than ream out those to fit- no telling what the judges of the future car shows might find important.
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some days I get up and just sit and think. Some days I just sit.

opinion untempered by fact is ignorance.

Don't step in any!

[VW Man 53]

Hello everyone, first time posting in the split bus forum, i have a customer where i work who im helping out cause im our resident air-cooled guy, he needs a radio for his 1965 sundial camper, he tells me he bought an original radio but the spindals on the radio were too large for the holes in the dashboard, do any of you have info regarding why he would have this issue, the bus had a radio before, were there several different radios dealers were installing for that year of bus? thanks for reading
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