Friday, Feb 26, 2016 at 10:36
Chris,
I'm old enough to remember the Astor Diamond Dot radios. Can't recall what cars they were in, but probably Holdens and a Valiant?
Another worthy Australian brand was Ferris. They made some good car radios, as
well as some portable units. On my 18th birthday, my parents gave me a Ferris "Super 8 Portable Car Radio", which I still have. When I bought my first ute, I purchased a Ferris cradle for this, and it did good service in 2 Holden Utes.

Ferris Super 8

Ferris portable in car cradle.
In the early '80's, I was wandering through KMart in Mt Isa, and spotted a Ferris car radio on the shelves............$20.00. Why not I thought, so purchased it, and fitted it in an old HJ45 ute that we were given to use in our job at the time. Matched it with one of those 6'(1.8M) fibreglass aerials that were all the rage about that time.
We were doing earthmoving work S/W of Mt Isa, so we were a bit remote. That little radio, very light, so probably had a minimum of components, could pick up the commercial station in the Isa all day, as
well as the ABC station(10kW) from
Julia Creek. In early morning, the number of stations it could receive, and quite clearly, was amazing.
Anyway, to the punch line. :-). A bloke had a Mack Superliner with which he'd cart cattle off the station, as
well as doing his vet duties, TB testing etc. He happened to hear this little Ferris going in the ute one morning, and was really p!ssed, as he'd spent hundreds of $$$$$ on a Jensen sound system in the Mack, and he was flat out hearing the ABC!
Eurovox were another highly sensitive brand, but they've sadly "left the building". Couldn't afford one years ago! :-(
Bob
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