GRAND PRIX Original Radio, 86 GP

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RDR89

Apprentice
Jul 25, 2020
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Manassas, VA
The panasonic in the dash is so well strange looking. How hard is it to find a original cassette radio Delco for a Grand Prix? I do not like the aftermarket. I saw an aftermarket with Bluetooth for $350 wow that is nuts. I would like to put my new to me Grand Prix stock.
 

ck80

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Feb 18, 2014
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It's as easy as asking for one when the time comes. Many of us, myself included, stockpiled original radios.

The biggest question is, what do you want?

There's also guys who refurbish them and add aux input Jacks that are factory appearing to the 1.5 din radios so you can use mp3 players and such.

Beyond that, you can choose plain factory am/fm/cassette, one with an equalizer, or, even go with something newer like the monsoon radio from a 4th Gen pontiac firebird and have a cd player.
 
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Neill

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Mar 7, 2014
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Roanoke ,VA.
The panasonic in the dash is so well strange looking. How hard is it to find a original cassette radio Delco for a Grand Prix? I do not like the aftermarket. I saw an aftermarket with Bluetooth for $350 wow that is nuts. I would like to put my new to me Grand Prix stock.
 

Neill

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Mar 7, 2014
114
98
28
Roanoke ,VA.
I believe I have one, 80's Delco, with pushbuttons and cassette, that you are looking for, but it's across the state, in my other house in Roanoke , and I may not get back there for weeks. There should be sellers and rebuilders of these Delco radios on the internet, they are my choice as well. I like cassettes, they got too much of a bad rap. My old ones still sound o.k. after many years of heat and dust, Frampton still comes alive.
 
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ck80

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I also forgot to include, not all equal appearance radios are in fact equal either.

Some light up with amber numbers, some bright green. When I got my firebird some numbskull swapped in a green light radio and removed the pontiac orange... annoying at night when all the gauges were amber/red toned and there's this couple inches of neon green blazing out there.

Took care of that one as soon as I got home.
 

PBGBodyFan

G-Body Guru
Mar 3, 2009
792
1,220
93
Wisconsin
The Retrosound units are nice, you can get them for about $300 I believe, if that helps any. There are a couple people who take stock radio's and as mentioned modify them for aux inputs, I have that in my 87' and a Retrosund in my 86' and LeMans. I prefer the bluetooth but the aux/cable input works pretty well in the stock radio, if you are really set on the stock look. I think it was under $100 for him to go through the whole radio, repair/replace anything and add the input.
 

RDR89

Apprentice
Jul 25, 2020
74
23
8
Manassas, VA
It's as easy as asking for one when the time comes. Many of us, myself included, stockpiled original radios.

The biggest question is, what do you want?

There's also guys who refurbish them and add aux input Jacks that are factory appearing to the 1.5 din radios so you can use mp3 players and such.

Beyond that, you can choose plain factory am/fm/cassette, one with an equalizer, or, even go with something newer like the monsoon radio from a 4th Gen pontiac firebird and have a cd player.
I understand and thank you. With these classic cars wow you can go far down the rabbit hole :)
 

ck80

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Moderator
Supporting Member
Feb 18, 2014
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I understand and thank you. With these classic cars wow you can go far down the rabbit hole :)
Absolutely, I like to call it project creep.

You start off with a simple goal, but, then you say 'well, as long as I'm doing x I may as well do y too, it won't cost much more and it'll be better in the end and...'

These days I've almost given up on just fixing the one thing and just plan for massive undertakings. In a case like your radio it means I do something ridiculous like the radio, plus speakers, plus a small amp, plus adding the extra missing speakers from a different factory package... satisfying when done, but, it gets expensive! :ROFLMAO:
 

popeye1978

Greasemonkey
Jul 4, 2014
235
208
43
Two years ago I contacted a bunch of radio restorers that advertised in Hemmings for quotes to repair my cassette deck. The only one who replied told me that repairing a cassette deck was difficult as decent replacement parts are becoming more difficult to find ... if/when I get to replacing the radio I am leaning toward a CD player variant
 

MrSony

Geezer
Nov 15, 2014
6,793
6,678
113
Des Moines, Iowa
You'll no doubt need a new harness (or at least the plugs that plug into the back of the radio plus some length of the harness' wire). Any junkyard that has anything from 1984+ will have a bunch of fwd 90s gm cars with those radios. Just make sure the one you pull out has the right display and has the right plugs. maybe bring a battery with you so you can push the volume knob in to see the display.
 
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