Does anyone have a picture(s) showing proper radio antenna placement for an AD. Before I drill that hole I want to make sure I have proper placement to avoid the hood and also want to make sure I have it the proper distance from the mirror mount. Any pictures would be greatly appreciated. Slinger
Original? Jerry - This is the placement on my truck. The hood hits it at about 95% open. I think the only way to avoid contact would be to mount the antenna on the side wall. I've seen a double stand off mounting, but don't know how authentic it is.
Antenna There is an article someplace about the exact place where it is supposed to be so it don't hit. I think I remember it saying it actually took Chevy a couple of years to put that info out because radios were only for the elite....not found very often.....it was nicer to hear the sweet sounds of the lifters! Which you could sing to...various songs! It is around someplace...but that is also based on proper adjustments and on probably a base that is somewhat different than what you might come across. Even the base found in the 60's was different. What I did recently was to take that base and add a home made antenna. If you are using a radio from a while back remember that many of them had a little screw to fine tune that antenna. It was either (mainly a transistor radio) on the metal box and usually marked. Some of them you had to lift up the 8 track, 4 track, cassette or record door and reach in to adjust. But what ever you do don't just open the case up and start adjusting all of the little caps you see! rod
Antenna Trimming I'd suggest not fiddling with this adjustment but if you simply have to , be aware you cannot do it with as ferrous metal tool ~ brass or plastic only . On older radios the adjuster will always be on the outside , usually a tiny hex headed sticking out , sometimes a flat headed screw with a thin slot , never a cross head . You warm up the radio then tune in a weak station on the lower 1/2 of the dial and s l o w l y turn the adjuster a *tiny* bit ~ 1/4 turn means you've prolly ruined it so go easy here ! . Most of the time , polishing the antenna mast , antenna lead plug and adding ground wires from radio to cab , will make it work much better than it did .
mine is on driver's side I too recall an article with excellent diagrams that showed proper placement that was free of the hood and mirror and it was not on the side. I don't know now where I found the diagram - most likely on this site, but I can't find it now with a search for 'antenna' but then again, the poster may have misspelled that key word and we are SOL. If I recall, you could look underneath the dash and see where it was already stamped for placement (not on outer skin obviously) should you wish to install one later. I could be wrong. Good luck.
Antenna Placement The only ORIGINAL spot for the 47-54 trucks is on the driver side top cowl. Between the mirror and wiper stud. Theres a template for it, I have it somewhere. Ill look for it . All the other places are aftermarket and not correct. Especially the double standoff ones on the side cowls, even though they are pretty cool looking! I have the double mount one on my Canopy Express. Ill see if I can find the orig. template for the driv. side top cowl.
Installation instructions> http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/radios/51rs/51rs39.htm You'll need the mentioned template.
And this is a bit better: http://www.oldchevytrucks.com/blog/index.php/category/technical-articles/1947-55/radio-1947-55/
The double stand off antenna was actually a GM accessory for the car models in the late 40's..... it was very common for the dealers to use this antenna instead of the truck antenna when they installed radios in the AD trucks.
