L81 authentic or not

[GerryLP]

Well folks...I have recently purchased 1981 corvette related documents (owner's manual, sales brochure, Corvette News Magazine issues (that came out then)), and I keep coming accross information that says that the AM/FM Cassete / CB radio was not available with power antenna, but my does have both. How can this be possible???

Here is my build sheet...

[GerryLP]

another shot of build sheet...

[Yoda]

Gerry,

From everything I've read and seen the power ant. was available since 1978 with the CB optioned Corvettes. The 1978 were almost all 8-tracks with the CB option, and power ant. I had a buddy that had a Pace Car optioned that way and he bought it new and still had the window sticker ;)

[Dave L.]

I have an original 1981 Dealer order guide here at my dealership(which I would like to scan and post here if anyone would be interested) and it states like you said,"N/A with AM/FM stereo/citizens band radio"

Dave

[GerryLP]

Yeah...I don't know how the authors and publishers of these booklets, magazines, and even Chevy's official sales or maintenance documentation got their information from. ..:(

Wish we had someone that worked in the Corvette plant at St. Louis and Bowling Green as two of our members...:L

I'll keep digging and will post what I find...thanks Bud and Dave!

[Nut]

Gerry,

My '81 had the factory AM/FM/CB radio. It came with the power antenna. Although the radio is gone the power antenna still works great.

.............. Nut

[Yoda]

As a side note:

When I ordered my 1984, I was told that I could not order it with a Standard Transmission. I had talked to Dave McLellan at the Black Hills Corvette Classic about ordering a new Corvette, but I wouldn't order a new Corvette until they decided to put standard transmissions back as an option. He said they would be available in Late Production and go ahead and place my order at my local dealership.

I went around and around with the Chevy Dealer, until they final called to confirm the standard transmission was an option. The Dealer didn't have it listed in the literature. The '84 I had came with the OD switch in the console, so it was one of the first 300 or so made. Later models had them in the gearshift.

I traded it a few laters later at the same Dealership in Omaha Nebraska ;)

Bud

[GerryLP]

I guess that Chevrolet figured that the only way to make the stereo / CB combo appeal the customer was to offer a power antenna...:L

Bud...I can see how that experience would have been frustrating...

Nut... I am glad that I am not alone on this CB issue. I still have my radio, but the CB requires a new load coil on the antenna to work well.

[Nut]

Gerry..... Congrats on still having the radio. The guy I bought mine from years ago, who is an old friend and the ultimate gear head, sold it at Carlisle before I bought it from him. But since my '81 will never be stock, I figured why bother looking for an original. I have a nice Sony CD player I'm mounting in a spare gauge bezel I got at Carlisle last year. Good luck on hunting for a coil.

............... Nut

[eanderso]

Does the coil look kind of like a small radiator cap? My 78 has the AM/FM/ 8track (Which still works) and an adapter that looks like it would connect one side the radio and one side to some coax thing.

[GerryLP]

Does the coil look kind of like a small radiator cap? My 78 has the AM/FM/ 8track (Which still works) and an adapter that looks like it would connect one side the radio and one side to some coax thing.

The load coil looks like a plastic cylinder with rounded ends and its gray in color. It is approximately 3" long and 1/4" bigger diameter than the middle portion of antena rod. If you recall, the power antenna telescoping segments retreat into one another (the slimest one inserts itself into the next bigger in size of antenna segment). Then, the middle one retreats into the thickest rod. When this happens, the load coil pushes onto the bottom segment of antenna and retreats all the way until is flushed with the bezel on the car surface. The load coil acts as a plug of sorts, so the opening of the bezel is bigger (than standard automatic antennae) to accomodate the coil.

GerryLP:cool

[eanderso]

I replaced mine years ago with what I thought was an OEM. It didn't have the coil on it. Did I not get an OEM antenna? The one I purchased has replacable masts instead of buying the whole antenna. No way to buy a new I suspect.

[GerryLP]

Nut,

You're right! Its hard to find someone who would bother with repairing these radios. It's like taking a VCR for repair -why bother when one can buy one for $60 bucks, and as a result, no one advertises VCR repair except in very small towns.


eanderso,

Yes! If you had a CB radio, then it was almost impossible to find a replacement mast for the CB radio. I have seen load coils on the internet, but these are high capacity type of coils. It will be hard to find the correct size one.

GerryLP :cool

[John Ulrich]

My '81 was built with the power antenna/CB/8track. The head was gone when I purchased it but I found a CB/cassette head at a Caddillac salvage yard (15 yrs ago) I installed. The CB is great on club runs.

I found the name of United Radio in my file 800-634-8606. Not sure how current the info is, but they would rebuild these units and add more power etc.

Later,
JU

[GerryLP]

My '81 was built with the power antenna/CB/8track. The head was gone when I purchased it but I found a CB/cassette head at a Caddillac salvage yard (15 yrs ago) I installed. The CB is great on club runs.

I found the name of United Radio in my file 800-634-8606. Not sure how current the info is, but they would rebuild these units and add more power etc.

Later,
JU

Ju,

Thanks for the information. I had purchased another radio, as well, for parts source. One of the guy's where I work (Avionics-type guy) swapped the display module for me, but it's still not illuminating some of the clock number segments. He felt that it could be a weak path on the radio chassis, but I was not ready to yank that radio back out (it's a big pain, as you know).

I'll call United Radio tomorrow. I had a chance to speak with Custom Audio's owner during a car show in Albuquerque last year, and he did not seem to want to get into the restoration part of the business. He told me to call him whenver I was ready to replace the radio. I have not had a chance.

GerryLP:cool

[Diane/white 1981]

My 81 originally came with the cb/radio/cassette plus auto antenna. It has a pioneer radio in it now. My husband tried to have the radio fixed, but they couldn't find out what was wrong with it. The antenna doesn't work either. The guts are rusted and have to be replaced. I guess we would have to send the radio out to Oregon to have it fixed. Jo-di's sound center couldn't fix it! It would be nice to have the original radio in the Vette since it is basically all original.