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A Personal History of Car Radio
Mr Ted Sibley, who booked in the work and carefully inspected the
finished installation, paying great attention to the level of interference,
ran the service garage. Each car was taken on a road test as wheel
static was also often encountered, especially in dry weather. To
overcome this it was necessary to fit spring loaded carbon brushes
to all eight brake shoes and bond them to the chassis. We would
place resistors between the distributor lead and the coil and fit
capacitors to the coil and alternator. Sometimes bonding the exhaust
pipe to chassis and bonnet lid to chassis would also help reduce
engine interference, as there was very little in the way of inbuilt
interference rejection in the receiver itself.
There were ten mechanics attached to the service garage, all of
whom were required to travel to any part of the country in order
to rectify a problem should the need arise. Each carried a toolbox
containing a complete set of valves and spare parts to cover any
radio encountered, along with noise suppression equipment and spare
aerials. This caused no great problem for those of us with cars,
but those without used public transport and the toolboxes were heavy.
Car dealerships in those days would hold Service Weeks and would
call in their customers for a free check-up on their vehicles. The
suppliers, such as Jaguar, Morris Standard, Austin Rootes and Rover,
would each send at least one engineer, and Lucas, SU Carburettors,
Ferodo, Girling and of course ourselves would do likewise. We normally
all stayed at the same hotel for the five days and all got pie-eyed
every night. Great times were had.
Not everything always went smoothly, we did have the occasional
cock-up. On one Monday morning, Mr Sibley instructed one mechanic,
a Mr Paul Chavis, to attend a Service Week in Kings Langley, just
outside London. At four in the afternoon the garage telephoned to
ask where our man was. At 5.00pm Paul rang the office to say he
couldn't find the garage anywhere, what should he do? "Where
are you?" enquired Mr Sibley. "I am in Kings Lynn, Norfolk".
Mr S was not amused.
In those days none of us had very modern transport. I had probably
the most reliable car, a 1937 Flying Standard 12 and, therefore,
was required to undertake the more distant journeys. Paul drove
a 1932 Austin 7 which overheated regularly. It was minus its radiator
cap and in its place was fitted a large cork attached by string
to the sidelight. We all knew when Paul arrived in the garage, as
he would be accompanied by a loud bang as this blew out.
He drove on his provisional licence, which was permitted at that
time, and continued until he applied for his full licence. All went
well on his test run until the examiner tried the emergency stop
procedure by hitting the dashboard. The speedometer promptly fell
out and the brake cable, not used to such pressure, snapped, causing
the car to run into another parked nearby. His car never recovered
and Paul was grounded.
There was great camaraderie in the service garage, with practical
jokes being played continually, and one could quite often find their
tool-box soldered up or screwed to the floor. On one occasion I
was driving to Manchester with my sunroof open and was stuck behind
what I thought to be a fish lorry. The aroma was so strong that,
although it was August, I had to close the roof and all the windows,
and it was impossible to overtake. There was no M1 in those days
and the drive to Manchester was an all day journey. After sitting
behind the lorry for some 20 miles I was relieved to see it turn
off. Unfortunately, the pong remained, in fact grew stronger. Arriving
at the dealership I examined the vehicle, by which time had become
barely approachable, and found a beautifully constructed aluminium
bracket attached to the manifold containing the remains of a kipper.
Nice one boys.
Radiomobile had at that stage produced a receiver suitable for
coaches, although the early versions were an adaptation of the Model
100. These were usually fitted in the driver's cab, mounted in a
central position above the driver's head and coupled to four loudspeakers,
two on either side of the main coach. To obtain sufficient volume
the power and output stages of the receiver were doubled up, making
this a very heavy unit indeed. None of us enjoyed working on these
due to the cramped space in which to work and the weight, which
often had to be balanced precariously whilst being serviced.
Due to the construction of this double power unit it was also possible
to create a 450 volt potential between the two sections should they
become separated. Another hate was to be called out to meet a coach
at a pub somewhere in the country, usually at the half way point
of a works outing. Not so bad on the way out, but a surfeit of inebriated
faces, proffering advice, on the way home.
The later coach radios were designed around the Model 4200 using
miniature valves, which made them lighter, less bulky, and easier
to install.
Music on the move was beginning to take off and it was at this
time Mr Ron Dudeney, The Radiomobile Sales Manager, was demonstrating
the benefits of coach equipment around the country. A West Country
coach operator had just taken delivery of a new vehicle fitted with
a Radiomobile receiver and Ron had invited a number of prospective
purchasers down to hear this new concept. That same day Stanley
Holloway's son, John, joined RDM and was immediately sent down to
Bristol by train to assist Mr Dudeney, who promptly introduced John
Holloway as "The Acoustical Expert from Radiomobile, London".
In order to impress the assembled VIPs Ron said "Mr Holloway
would you be good enough to cast your critical ear over this radio
installation?" John, of course, instantly fell into his new
role and moved down the coach pausing at each speaker in turn, nodding
approval in a very commanding manner and pronounced, "From
my experience this installation is perfect". To which Mr Dudeney
reverently thanked Mr Holloway for his expert opinion and said "You
may switch if off now". This caused some embarrassment as neither
knew how.
A favourite service call was to Odells boat yard, Walton-on-Thames,
which was always good for a day out. We had installed four of their
river pleasure boats with coach radios, with loudspeakers in the
main cabin and four pedestal speakers on deck. After their winter
lay-up the equipment needed to be serviced ready for the start of
the season at Easter. Mind you, not all were up to this work, as
the main amplifiers were mounted in the galley below and the combination
of river swell and fried food proved too much for some.
All the royal state limousines were equipped with Radiomobile radios,
the early cars employing miniature valves. Each vehicle had two
units, one for the passengers and one for the driver. The valves
used were Emitron, manufactured by EMI. Specially tested for the
royal cars and labelled "Trustworthy". We would visit
the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace and Clarence House on a regular
basis to ensure everything was satisfactory.
We would often receive panic telephone calls from the chauffeur
of a VIP asking for immediate assistance, generally from some remote
place or more than likely a racecourse, saying their radio had ceased
to function. These jobs were always given priority, although some
of their problems were self inflicted, as when an aerial had been
demolished by driving under trees. Another problem with some earlier
limousines was that they were fitted with under chassis aerials
and these suffered from wet grass or packed snow reducing the radio
signals to virtually zero.
One car in particular I had to be extra careful with was Sir Bernard
and Lady Docker's, who insisted on a gold plated electric aerial
to match the gold plated bumpers and trim. At that time we also
did our own hole cutting in the walnut fascia in some vehicles to
accommodate the radio, although a carpenter was later employed for
this task.
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