BTTF - Make of the car cassette radio/stereo on top of the TCD in the DeLorean?

[mac malloy]

Hi there,

(sorry, forgot to add a question mark in the headline, cannot change it though)

my question concerning the Back To The Future Time Machine Delorean,

I wonder if anyone came across such a car stereo? I looked for years on US-eBay by chance and clicking thousand of pictures, but haven't thought of just asking here^^

It is not one of the original Craig or ASI the Delorean came with, they all had already a digital frequency display. Should be an after market. I cannot recall if I ever saw a matching radio or a hint for the make in one of the old BTTF boards (of which most are shut down now), neither at offto55 (where seeking for screen accuracy) nor in the other boards.

Maybe someone has a clue?

I have three pictures attached (not mine, courtesy of the rightholder, from Vivek, video grab and outatime.co.uk)



Sorry for my english, I am no native speaker. Thank you very much! Best regards

 

[ARKM]

To me the car stereo looks so plain as to be an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) stereo, not an aftermarket one. I'm not saying that it's OEM to the Delorean, just that it might be OEM to some other make/model of car. Too bad the name brand logo is not plainly visible. Maybe it's a Delco model?

 

[Psicorp7]

/\ Ditto. I was thinking the same thing. Try hitting up a local salvage yard and had a look through their old OEM stereos. Maybe also look and see if there is a vehicle radio repair shop in town. They might have the specialized knowledge you seek!

 

[toolman0701]

Not sure..kind of reminds me of a Kraco aftermarket stereo.

 

[mac malloy]

My problem may be that I am located in Germany, so I am very limited in finding that radio by chance in a shelf down the road We have tons of vintage Blaupunkt, Grundig, Becker OEM and Pioneer, Sony, Clarion, Alpine, Kenwood stuff over here at the junkyard, surplus and salvage stores, but this one does not seem like a standard model sold in European cars. But you never know, maybe it is an after market from any Oldsmobile, Mazda 323, Honda Civic or a Toyota Starlet that was parked in front of the film set, borrowed from a crew member or found at the junkyard with all the other stuff, like the Airguide dash compass...

 

[Psicorp7]

I have a radio repair guy in town I have gone to before. Next time I get that way I will show him a photo and see if he has a clue.

 

[Jintosh]

This one identifies itself as "Realistic" brand. Not right, but shows that design must have been common in the 80's.

 

[mac malloy]

That would be really, really great! I appreciate that, that would be really, really cool if you could do that! Thank You for your support!

I have a radio repair guy in town I have gone to before. Next time I get that way I will show him a photo and see if he has a clue.

 

[mac malloy]

This one identifies itself as "Realistic" brand. Not right, but shows that design must have been common in the 80's.

Thanks. Yeah, I did view (honestly!) thousands of auctions on eBay.com for years (really! I do have my Delorean for 5 years now and was a fan and collector long before...) and found very close radios, even on German eBay you can find some, but they all were not the right one. No one close enough or the real deal
As far as I remember Realistic is/was Radio Shack brand. We lived a couple of years in TN, and I loved the RadioShack and ServiceMerchandise catalogues and that heavy ComputerShopper-advert-"book"

 

[Gixxerfool]

To me the car stereo looks so plain as to be an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) stereo, not an aftermarket one. I'm not saying that it's OEM to the Delorean, just that it might be OEM to some other make/model of car. Too bad the name brand logo is not plainly visible. Maybe it's a Delco model?

The Delcos of the Era were all DIN and a half. This is a single DIN. I was thinking Realistic as well.

 

[formula388]

Are there any better screen captures? I could look in my 1980s car magazines for advertisments. I think it is aftermarket because many 80s cars were double din or 1.5 din.

 

[mac malloy]

Sorry, I don't manage to get better captures

Anyone ever heard of a company called "Pyramid"? Looks like they built car radios with similar design and without their brand name printed on the front then...

 

[ARKM]

The Delcos of the Era were all DIN and a half. This is a single DIN. I was thinking Realistic as well.

Ah. Thanks.

Not sure..kind of reminds me of a Kraco aftermarket stereo.

I totally forgot about Kraco. After Googling pics of old Kraco car stereos, it does indeed look like that may be the manufacturer. It's the words "Auto Stop" and the line shape around them that makes me think that.

 

[toolman0701]

"Sparkomatic" is another brand I remember from that era. Still trying to remember. I used to sell cheap car stereos when I worked at Zayre way back in the dark ages.

 

[sleepless]

I am looking for one of these to finish my conversion as well. Semms to be a very elusive piece.

 

[Gary Weaver II]

Yeah, it's a tricky devil. To my knowledge, no one has found the right one yet. Even the one used in the rebuilt A-Car at Universal is wrong (and VERY wrong at that).



The one that was in my old car was a hybrid. The body was a craig and the knobs came from something else entirely. I made a new backing plate and station display from laser cut acrylic (1/8" black and 1/16"clear respectively). The white graphics are actually etchings from the laser which were then filled in with white paint. I'll see if I have a better image at the house later tonight.

-Gary

 

[nosaint]

Lack of branding makes me think its a factory deck...

MOD EDIT: Please do not post ebay links, thanks.

 

[Gary Weaver II]

I've always thought it was some random overseas CHEAP aftermarket type. They didn't use the stock DMC radio. Instead they just went to one of the random electronic stores in Burbank and just bought three units off the shelf to use in the two driving cars and the one camera car. In buying three at once, they probably just went with the cheapest thing they could and it was even better if it didn't show a manufacturer.

Some of us have been looking for 10 years or more. I'm pretty convinced at this point that it has to be something really cheap and obscure at the time.

-Gary

 

[toolman0701]

This one looks really close--http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/txYAAOxyEoFSYW0y/$T2eC16RHJGMFFpboJOrzBSYW0)(-QQ~~60_12.JPG

 

[Emmet]

Seems like these things almost looked the same at this time:



This is a Pyramid phase III model 600S