Did CSi's originally come with Becker radios or Blaupunkts?
- Thread starter wolfturbo
- Start date
RogerB
Well-Known Member
To the best of my knowledge, all radios were dealer installed with various radio brands?!?!?
Becker and Blaupunkt for sure.
The parts books list various Blaupunkt and Becker radios as stated above and they were all dealer installed. In the US it seems most were Blaupunkt. If yours has the euro FM 104 scale it is correct.
Italian market? Geloso would be nice. I read they went under in 72 so it may be borderline.
Simufly
Well-Known Member
Radios
In the days of the E3/E9 no radios were factory fitted. They were all fitted by the selling dealer.
In the days of the E3/E9 no radios were factory fitted. They were all fitted by the selling dealer.
Please post a picture.
I bought this radio from Simufly in 2011 for my Italian delivery '73 CSi, Athena.
I bought this radio from Simufly in 2011 for my Italian delivery '73 CSi, Athena.
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I think we need to swap 
Yours looks correct for US delivery not Italian delivery, I have the Euro Blaupunkt Frankfurt with the LMKUU instead of AM/FM on the knobs and mine is US delivery. I like it being a Euro version but I don't think either of ours are technically correct for our cars even though basically same model (US vs. Euro) and definitely period correct.
Yours looks correct for US delivery not Italian delivery, I have the Euro Blaupunkt Frankfurt with the LMKUU instead of AM/FM on the knobs and mine is US delivery. I like it being a Euro version but I don't think either of ours are technically correct for our cars even though basically same model (US vs. Euro) and definitely period correct.
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Sharp eyes there Shane, Andrew's has the 108 US FM scale. Those push buttons might be 74 vintage but he has Stereo, a big plus!
I would add an asterisk respecting radios installed in the early '70s. There is no question that Blaupunkt and Becker manufactured the best known radios of choice and cornered the high-end BMW, Porsche and Mercedes markets. But they were not the only radios that made it in to E9s, E3s and 02s - when they were new. There were other compact car radios available at the time, e.g., Grundig, Philips and Motorola, in Europa.
This thread raises an interesting historical quirk regarding North American dealer-installed radios. Despite beautiful design and what seemed to be scrupulous manufacture, the Blaupunkts and Beckers installed in the early '70s did not necessarily receive the same acclaim as the North American market cars in which they made their homes. Some of this spotty repute may have been due to the various dealer installations by those with limited knowledge and experience except for using electrical tape. I don't think they called themselves "technicians" back then and remember one "installer" who admitted having no idea about antenna trimming adjustments - until after he left the job.
In my admittedly limited experience, radio installation was of secondary concern to to some US dealers. I believe some US dealers did not always wait for customers to specifically order a radio, nor did they always install a radio designed for the US market. Many dealers "pre-installed" radios at or before dealer prep time, and most customers accepted them as-is (markup and all). For unknown reasons (to me) our East coast E3 "Bavaria" and two different US '02s all came with Blaupunkts bearing "LMKUU" on the station select buttons. A neighbor's '77 US-market, big-bumpered, E21 also had a Euro LKMUU radio. Each radio's reception was marginal-to-poor, compared with our American-made counterparts. With the introduction of moderately priced am/fm cassette radios, the original German radios were replaced.
One wonders if each dealer had much say over what radios were shipped to them for installation. Certain dealers, e.g., V. Polak and O.Zipper probably could have their needs satisfied, but other dealers may have been stuck with whatever radios were in the supply line. Or maybe there was a bigger markup on Euro market radios in North America.
I am aware of at least one instance where a customer had so many problems with his "new" German radio that after the second replacement he told the dealer to "keep it" and instead installed a Japanese made Pioneer am/fm. This same customer returned a set of Continental(?) tires and replaced them with new BFGs. Not sure if this was for vanity, safety or economic considerations - or because he may have owned a BFGoodrich tire store.
From memory, US auto publications of the time (through the late '70s) advertise long forgotten (mostly Japanese) "off" brands such as Pioneer, Craig, Kraco, Marantz, Sparkomatic, Clarion, Kenwood and Alpine. (On second thought Kenwood and Alpine may have blossomed after E9s and E3s were in their prime, in the early '80s.) Porsche's distant cousin, VW, seemed to be the most likely recipient of these brands; although, I recall most VWs probably sported the ubiquitous "Sapphire" name. :? It seems counterintuitive but a few of those Saffires may have matriculated into BMWs. FWIW, Radio Shack offered so-called "high fidelity" options as did Crutchfield (which started its catalog in 1974).
BMW may not have ever expressly sanctioned the installation of these (mostly) less-expensive tune machines yet it seems a case can be made that radios other than Blaupunkt and Becker can be period correct.
The owners manual depicts the speaker, but not even a generic radio. (Nor does the manual address air conditioning although there is discussion of "ventilation and heating.") Some sales brochures depict radios. Aside from cars destined for the track, rallye circuits, law enforcement or high school drivers ed., wonder how many coupes and sedans left the dealers without any tunes?
1972 Citroen Celia
Rolls
These docs are from this forum and only 1 references Blaupunkt Frankfurt at 140 in 1970.
LLoyd.......... great info......my favorite, something I have never heard of and my warped brain thought it was funny, the 1972 Citroen Celia GO...GO...GO...PO...PO
Poo poo's always funny, except for when your really have to GO....Ok, I'm sorry, bad humor.
Poo poo's always funny, except for when your really have to GO....Ok, I'm sorry, bad humor.
