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One of the features I always loved about my 1965 Roadster was the lovely blanking plate with the MG logo. The style continued until the introduction of the rubber bumper cars with a revised dash whereupon an embossed plastic style was used that lacked the classic look in my opinion.
However, many of us fit a radio these days and consequently lose the classy blanking plate. Worse, many of today's modern units might not look right on the dash!
Whereas a classic radio might look right, it may not be up to scratch these days with the move away from MW and LW!
The key benefits of a more modern radio in our older MGs is the better suppression, RDS which minimises re-tuning the stations on a longer run, Traffic and News Updates, and of course, the ability to plug in a multi-disk CD player. However, with newer radios now having SD or USB flash memory slots, and the firmer suspension of the MGBs, then maybe a CD player isn't such a good idea! Also, some new units have Bluetooth for hands-free mobile use , but again, that is a mute point in an MGB, if you will excuse the pun!
There are several possibilities for dealing with this.
One option is to use a radio that looks unobtrusive or the other is to use the blanking plate to hide the radio.
This photo below shows a simple modification to hide the radio which is also good for security. It even has teh nicer logo on the front to maintain the classic look.
In the case of radios, the choice is really unlimited, and if you are looking at the classic radio and want modern technology for the iPOD to plug in the Vintage Wireless in Manchester can do a conversion to your old radio. Most of these old radios were built to a standard look.
VINTAGE WIRELESS COMPANY (Manchester) Ltd, 174 Cross Street, Sale, Ches., M33 7AQ (0161-973 0438)
There's also the incredibly eye-wateringly expensive Becker Mexico Unit that will do everything from radio to sat-nav and everything in between for £1000...whilst still looking 60/70s period!
MG Radios
A number of radios appear on Ebay with the MG badge on. You need to be aware though, that not all will fit easily as I have found.
RV8s...I bought my first one, a Panasonic unit, for £10 and then discovered it came from a Japanese import RV8. The FM frequencies are all wrong and at best you will pick up Radio 2. The problem can be sorted by fitting a Frequency band expander as detailed on the V8 website.
MG Fs...The second radio I bought off Ebay again, but this is the easiest one to fit. You need to make sure the seller provides the security code although I believe the code can be provided for a fee from other Ebay sources. The radio is a Philips unit with detachable front face that is again a better security risk. In addition to being a standard DIN size and therefore fitting easily into the dash slot, it also benefits from having an ISO connector. What's an ISO connector? The industry has generally standardised on this type although other connectors exist. but for ease of plugging in a unit, this is the simplest! Halfords can supply a std lead set with the appropriate connector to fit the back of the unit.The wiring colour code is as follows for an ISO
connector:
Main positive power - Red
Memory positive back-up - Yellow (needs permanent power feed to store codes etc)
Aerial switched power - Blue
Dial illumination - Orange
Ground - Black
Speakers are a solid colour and a solid colour
with black trace as detailed below.
Front Left - White/White Black
Front right - Grey/Grey Black
Rear Left -Green/Green Black
Rear right - Purple/Purple Black
MG ZR/ZS...this is a little more retro looking in my opinion and is the type I am going to use finally. Bought for £5 from a fellow MGOC ZT owner.
However, all is not what it seems, as I discovered. This is a German VDO unit and has a BMW type connector on the back. Halfords did not stock an ISO to VDO lead which would have made plugging it in a little easier. I finally tracked down a lead from a 75 owner in Shropshire at a pricey £15.
The difference between the ISO and VDO can be seen below:
However, you will note that the dimensions of the plugs are similar and a fellow MGOC owner pointed out to me that he regularly opens the units up and then with careful soldering is able to swap the sockets over.
As mentioned, a few things you need to bear in mind with these units is that, as with all modern units, you need a permanent live feed from the battery and if you have an isolator switch fitted then you need to bypass that otherwise you will lose the memory settings.