Car Audio: Fixing a 1979 Porsche 924. What would an "audiophile" setup of roughly that era look like? I'm a noob.

[Zerimas]

I'm not super sensible, but I bought 1979 Porsche 924 (4-speed, NA for those who care) for pretty cheap. Cosmetically it looks terrible, but mechanically it seems pretty darn good. It's a project for own amusement/edification.

On of the things I want to do is have a super sweet, cassette-based audio system that would be roughly contemporary to the car. I don't care about getting the exact stuff it would have come with in 1979 (because it ain't no museum piece ), but I do want a "nice" setup that one could have had in that sort of period (roughly 1980s).

I know nothing about car audio. Whatever is in there is basically destroyed (along with the interior). The replacement Sony deck/radio does output some sound, but there's only 1 speaker there. It seems like I have to start from scratch.

It'll be a long time before the car is ready for niceties like that, but where I do start in assembling a "cool" 80s sounds system? They only things I really care about "vintage" are stuff that you can see and touch. For things like speakers, and amplification whatever gives best performance for the least price (I'm broke) and can be acquired easily. I believe the car has a 75A 1050W alternator (if that matters). The car doesn't have A/C, power windows or power steering. The only significant "power drain" would be the big motor for hidden headlamps. haha.

Apologies if this is the wrong forum. I'm new at this whole "car repair" thing, so any is advice is good.

 

[Webninja]

What I have done with older vehicles is find the original stereo, tape deck or whatever, installing, but not hooking up. Then in the glove compartment, or some inconspicuous place, install a Bluetooth capable head unit that I can stream off of. For speakers, get whatever budget you can, and you can use stock locations, or, again, some inconspicuous location, like fiberglass speaker mounts in kick panels, if there is room.

 

[Inner Space]

I've seen ads in the back of classic car mags for refurbed or remanufactured period-correct head units, with Bluetooth capability concealed inside, to pick up your phone. I don't know how many speakers a '79 924 had, but probably only two, so you could replace like for like. Good luck, Z. Something tells me you're going to need it!

 

[PierreV]

On of the things I want to do is have a super sweet, cassette-based audio system that would be roughly contemporary to the car. I don't care about getting the exact stuff it would have come with in 1979 (because it ain't no museum piece ), but I do want a "nice" setup that one could have had in that sort of period (roughly 1980s).

Factory install would have a Blaupunkt auto-reverse cassette / tuner. You can still find them on ebay.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Blaupunkt
Or from the 80s Nakamichi or Alpine or Pioneer or Clarion.

 

[a2lowvw]

I've got a buddy locally that mod's all his old car radio's to either accept bluetooth or usb inputs.

In my older Volkswagen I have a Nakamichi CD-45Z and it fits well with the 80/90's styling. They seem to have gotten expensive in the last couple years.

 

[milw50717]

All you need is the engine and exhaust sounds

I think some of the previous answers are correct. find something that looks period correct but has modern bells and whistles behind the scenes.

Here's a site that gives you some idea of the radios available in the porkers of that era - https://www.turbosition.com/en/service/radios

 

[thewas]

By the way Blaupunkt has recently re-released their classic look Bremen which was THE top choice in many German 80s-90s cars with DAB+ and a media slot and it suits from the looks in 80s-90s Porsches better than anything else currently produced:

https://www.blaupunkt.com/en/nc/products/car-multimedia/car-radio/products/single/19059/

I will get one for my youngtimer '92 BMW E34 where it will replace the current too modern look Bremen MP76.

 

[SKBubba]

Alpine cassette/FM player. Had a really nice one ripped out of the dash and stolen from my Z car back then. I still miss it. The Alpine. Maybe the Z car, too, but I can't remember which one it was of the seven we owned over the years.

 

[Wes]

or a Becker

the new Bremen is likable, but the digits are very small

Continental makes a few unit that cost less, have big displays, look right, but... IIRC they have NO pre-outs for a separate amp

I bet https://rennlist.com has a forum for you (I'm a 911 kinda guy)

Good Luck!

 

[pwjazz]

By the way Blaupunkt has recently re-released their classic look Bremen which was THE top choice in many German 80s-90s cars with DAB+ and a media slot and it suits from the looks in 80s-90s Porsches better than anything else currently produced:

View attachment 97017

View attachment 97012

https://www.blaupunkt.com/en/nc/products/car-multimedia/car-radio/products/single/19059/

I will get one for my youngtimer '92 BMW E34 where it will replace the current too modern look Bremen MP76.

That reminds me a lot of the unit I had in my mid nineties GTI. The feel of the volume control on that thing was awesome. I don't remember much else about it.

 

[Zerimas]

I've seen ads in the back of classic car mags for refurbed or remanufactured period-correct head units, with Bluetooth capability concealed inside, to pick up your phone. I don't know how many speakers a '79 924 had, but probably only two, so you could replace like for like. Good luck, Z. Something tells me you're going to need it!

I believe it had 4. There appears to have 2 up front, and there is a grille on the pillars on each side in the rear seat. They sure aren't too big though.

 

[Zerimas]

Alpine cassette/FM player. Had a really nice one ripped out of the dash and stolen from my Z car back then. I still miss it. The Alpine. Maybe the Z car, too, but I can't remember which one it was of the seven we owned over the years.

I really like the first generation of 300ZX (all the Z-cars are pretty sweet), but they seem to be more in demand and Nissan at that period doesn't seem have the same quality of galvanization on their panels so I guess a lot of them have maybe rusted out? I live in Canada (snow, and salt on roads) so cars to tend to rust out and die.

I kinda want a Japanese deck, because I've just about had it with German engineering at this point haha. The car has Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system which was quite a surprise when I started poking at it. I never imagined that someone would invent an almost entirely mechanical fuel injection system and that it would work—except in my case because some idiot (another idiot who isn't me) removed the plate from the mass airflow sensor and lost it.

 

[Zerimas]

By the way Blaupunkt has recently re-released their classic look Bremen which was THE top choice in many German 80s-90s cars with DAB+ and a media slot and it suits from the looks in 80s-90s Porsches better than anything else currently produced:

View attachment 97017

View attachment 97012

https://www.blaupunkt.com/en/nc/products/car-multimedia/car-radio/products/single/19059/

I will get one for my youngtimer '92 BMW E34 where it will replace the current too modern look Bremen MP76.

That's pretty cool. I'm only 31, so the car is older than I am. I've gotten curmudgeonly recently so I kinda wanted to keep it "vintage", but that does look like a more practical option. However, it can't play all the sweet cassettes I've picked up from the thrift store over the years!

I'm sort of sucker for technology that was super high tech, but is now hopeless obsolete. I've got a Sony PS-X800 for a turntable (which is great table and manages to do whatever the hell it does without any computers as far as I know), and I love LaserDiscs. On a technical level digital audio/video is so much better. But watching the little Pioneer (that weighs 35lbs) spin the disc up to like 1800rpm and all the cute little blinking lights as it tries to figure out what is going on is quite the experience. It whirrs, stops blinks, clicks, whirrs some more and pretty decent SD image shows up on the screen. Later LDs had digital audio, but the video was always analog. That stuff blows my mind!

I've always been too broke to have car with modern amenities. Last car was 2001 Corolla which only held a single CD. I try to sneak in an "aux-in" (they had those in 90s) to keep that passengers I won't have happy, but now phones don't have headphone jacks on 'em most of the time.

 

[Zerimas]

Something tells me you're going to need it!

Thanks! The audio stuff is a long way off. First thing I need to get is getting running properly (waiting on a replacement airflow sensor meter). I was a stroke of the luck that the thing managed get from driveway to the garage on its own power. I've been working away steadily at removing the horrible, good awful paint job. Also trying to figure out what to do with the lack of interior. I guess someone thought they were gonna race it, but didn't realize souping-up this particular year of 924 would require to make have to make some pretty substantial changes to it by appropriating for parts from later models based on the same platform. So instead of doing all that they gave it the worst paintjob ever (EVH meets tribal tattoos) and frost the rear window. Which is shame because it seems like a decent, though not especially powerful car.

 

[anmpr1]

Many years ago I car pooled with a guy who drove a 2002 with a Blau Berlin. Very cool. No idea if these would fit a 924. I did a quick search and beat up units are going for an arm and leg. A NOS would probably cost the other two limbs.

 

[preload]

I really like the first generation of 300ZX (all the Z-cars are pretty sweet), but they seem to be more in demand and Nissan at that period doesn't seem have the same quality of galvanization on their panels so I guess a lot of them have maybe rusted out? I live in Canada (snow, and salt on roads) so cars to tend to rust out and die.

I kinda want a Japanese deck, because I've just about had it with German engineering at this point haha.

In that case, +1 on the Nakimichi deck. That was THE head unit to get back in the day. You will get instant respect.
You could also consider McIntosh decks, but they’re hard to find and not cheap.

 

[Zerimas]

Many years ago I car pooled with a guy who drove a 2002 with a Blau Berlin. Very cool. No idea if these would fit a 924. I did a quick search and beat up units are going for an arm and leg. A NOS would probably cost the other two limbs.

View attachment 97078

Very cool. I don't doubt that these are going up in price, but I don't know what would be driving demand. The car was $750 CAD, those very cool units sell for almost as much as I paid for the whole car hahaha. If I get it all fixed real nice, it will be worth approximately 3–4 of those cool radios?

 

[Zerimas]

In that case, +1 on the Nakimichi deck. That was THE head unit to get back in the day. You will get instant respect.
You could also consider McIntosh decks, but they’re hard to find and not cheap.

I'm not sure who it is I'll get respect from (other than myself). I didn't know McIntosh did tape decks for cars. Their stuff always looks nice, but the specs for current stuff always seems kinda meh, especially considering they absurd price that they retail for.

Maybe "audiophile" might be stretch for my budget. The price of everything related to cars is mysterious to me. In my area it seems like the cheapest used car you can get is a low to mid-tier Audi/Mercedes from 2000–2008ish. I am pretty sure a 2007 Corolla sells for more than Audi A4.

Although the price of parts seems to drop quite a bit if you know the people who deal in this stuff a lot. Some of the parts for the car I've seen listed on eBay cost like a fraction from strange auto wreckers that all seem to live near me (for some reason).

A lot of the units I've seen listed here have power amps built into them. Is that norm? Are there cheaper units that only output at line level, which then run to a separate power amp? The car doesn't have an interior, so I can probably run some wires at some point (if the project ever gets that far).

 

[Wes]

yes, both cheaper and more spendy

you will want to do at least minimal sound dampening of the doors and other parts of the interior - I can tell you what to do if you want

however, maximizing SQ in a car is in direct opposition to maximizing handling, accel. & decell. which are what makes a sport car