This has had me baffled for a while - why are some HQ air chief radios fitted with the bottom bracket but most aren't? If it was on early production cars only, when did Holden stop fitting it?

Thanks Terry, probably lazy wreckers too over the years who didn't bother keeping the bracket with the radio on the shelf.

Whilst I agree with the fact that the standard AM Air Chief was often removed in favour of a later AM/FM stereo cassette (or similar), I do take exception to this: "they were shit anyway lets be honest".

I worked in the electronics industry for most of the early 70s & the facts are that Australian made AM radios of that era (Air Chief, AWA, Astor etc.) were better than most others in the world.

It might seem strange to many these days, where we buy all our electronics from Asia, USA or Europe, but Australia was a pioneer in the radio industry. We had a very successful radio broadcasting system set-up before most other countries. We built & installed the world's first car radio (5 years before the Yanks).

The later Air Chiefs, with 11 or 13 transistors (as seen in HK, HT, HG & HQ) were very good radios especially in country areas where long distances came into play & interference from high tension lines was problematic.

I have Air Chief radios in all my early Holdens & they outperform any late model Pioneer, Kenwood or whatever, on the AM band (obviously !). Nothing built in the last 40 years will come close to those old Aussie designed & built units for AM reception.

Dr Terry

Edited by user Friday, 12 August 2016 4:03:44 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Additional info