Yo oppo!

Kinja'd!!! "traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn" (el-peasant)
11/01/2015 at 09:30 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!1 Kinja'd!!! 9

I see in a lot of ‘40s cars, these giant silver bars that take up a good portion of the middle dash. What are they? Methinks its part of the radio.

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DISCUSSION (9)


Kinja'd!!! jkm7680 > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
11/01/2015 at 09:39

Kinja'd!!!1

Uhhhhh the speaker.


Kinja'd!!! Rainbow > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
11/01/2015 at 09:40

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AC maybe? I have no idea.


Kinja'd!!! LongbowMkII > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
11/01/2015 at 09:43

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Radio. Tubes take up a bit more space than transistors.


Kinja'd!!! Dunnik > jkm7680
11/01/2015 at 10:01

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Heh, yea, that’s the speaker (singular: stereo sound hadn’t been invented yet) The bars are guards to protect it.


Kinja'd!!! desertdog5051 > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
11/01/2015 at 10:21

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Provides for air flow for cooling the tubes and houses the speaker.


Kinja'd!!! Textured Soy Protein > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
11/01/2015 at 12:33

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That’s not part of the radio, it is the radio.


Kinja'd!!! ly2v8-Brian > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
11/01/2015 at 12:46

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Speaker and Art Deco design.


Kinja'd!!! TheAnswerIsAlwaysCitroën > Dunnik
11/01/2015 at 13:10

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Stereophonic sound had been invented, as had stereophonic radio. Neither were in any way common, though.


Kinja'd!!! ranwhenparked > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn
11/01/2015 at 13:52

Kinja'd!!!1

Generally, the radio. The speaker and tubes take up a huge amount of space - the tuning bar and knobs on the top are only the tip of the iceberg, as it were.

However, some cars without radios still had a similar looking chrome grille - either as part of the ventilation system, or as a block-off plate to cover the space where a radio would otherwise be, so some of it was purely about style.