As seen on Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars

Salvage Hunters Classic Cars presenter, Paul Cowland, believes that nothing finishes off a car like having the right radio for the year, so we were delighted when he paid us a visit. It was great to meet the Salvage Hunters Classic Cars team and help them out with the upgrade of a Continental Edison R43 classic car radio to complete their beautifully restored 1972 Citroen DS.

Watch it on QUEST at 9 pm 6th January 2021 and also available on Discovery+ from 23rd December 2020

We're passionate about classic car radios, and it's our mission to restore their beauty and functionality so they can be enjoyed for many years to come. We are experts in British, European and American valve radio as well as transistor and hybrid sets, covering everything manufactured from the 1930's through 1970’s. 

Operating from our purpose built workshop in the heart of Yorkshire, we have customers in over 20 countries and a worldwide reputation for excellence.

Agenta Audio office and workshop in Ilkley, Yorkshire ...

We take your original car radio and re-engineer it, whilst retaining its essential period correct qualities.  

Cosmetically restored to the highest standards the radio is then converted to AM/FM (4 X 45W RMS) stereo, using modern technology to bring functionality up to the levels expected from a modern in-car audio system. Optional Bluetooth, USB and DAB/DAB+ modules can also be added at this stage.. 

1947 HMV Smiths Radiomobile 100  

Quality and reliability are assured with the use of exciting new products from US manufacturer Aurora Design LLC that open up a new world of possibilities for early automotive radios. 

At the heart of the upgrade is the Aurora FMR-2 Converter. Engineered to meet automotive OEM and SAE performance specifications, the FMR-2 represents a no compromise design and is built in the US. All critical components are full automotive OEM grade parts, not lower cost, lower quality parts designed for aftermarket/consumer products. Every aspect of the design and operation of the FMR-2, no matter how insignificant, has been carefully scrutinised, resulting in a product that performs way beyond the expectations of even the most demanding user.

When reinstalled in the dash the radio looks totally original, there are no visual changes. All controls and switches operate as expected. However, turn it on and it sounds superb! 

1962 HMV 500T 

The restoration and upgrade process can be seen in more detail here.

If you need advice with any aspect of the installation process, Positive to Negative ground conversions or operating a 12 volt radio in a car with a 6 volt system, we're here to help. Please do get in touch to discuss your requirements.

Repair to original specification

We repair classic car radios to original specification if required, however, due to the age of the electronics, this is time consuming and costly. Even when working as intended, performance is vastly inferior to an upgraded set, and the radio is still inherently unreliable as many of the original components are retained and could fail at any time.

With this in mind, unless there are specific restoration goals that require the original electronics to be retained, we strongly recommend an upgrade. However, please do get in touch to discuss your requirements as we can offer a full range of classic car radio services.