Reconnecting a Wonderbar Radio 63 Corvette

[Shelton H.]

I have a 63 Corvette convertible. A prior owner clipped the Wonderbar radio wires and left the radio unconnected.

I got all my dash out and am able today to see around the wiring which came to the radio from the dash wiring harness. With everything out of the dash, I can see that the wires to the 3 hole female plug (which connects to top of radio) which had been clipped are both dark brown/white or black/white and both hook to the middle of the 3 hole female plug in the middle hole of the plug. The plug had been clipped about 1 inch away on both wires. I can tell which wires connected there due to color and due the fact one was angle cut and one straight cut. No wires attached to the two outside and no metal clasps inside. There is a loose wire about 3 inches long attached to the frame above the plug, which might be the ground wire, and it is also black/white or dark brown/white. The former two wires mentioned come out of the wiring harness just above the radio. There is also another much smaller brown wire which has been clipped which comes out of the wiring harness with the other two wires. There don't appear to be any other unattached wires (coming from the wiring harness at this location) and neither are yellow or gray. I reattached the two clipped dark brown/white or black wires with butt connectors to the 3 hole female plug. I have not attached the 3 inch wire which may be a ground wire. Before I proceed any further and mess up the radio, I wondered if anyone might have any ideas about this. This stuff surely looks old and original even though perhaps the wrong color wires. This is an early 63 and was made on the third day of production on September 19, 1962.

[Jack H.]

Re: Reconnecting a Wonderbar Radio 63 Corvette

Lengthy post...

Basically there are two connectors on the radio:

(1) Speaker interconnect, 2-wire
(2) Power interconnect, 3-wire

The speaker is obvious, color codes match those on the captive speaker harness.

The power connector is less obvious. Center terminal is ground and the two outside terminals are main power (connecting to the fuse block) and dial lamp power (connects via the headlight dimmer switch). It's easy to tell if you get these backwards. Just turn the radio ON and roll the headlight dimmer switch to confirm the radio's dial lamp dims and brightens...

NOTE: when you see 'chopped' radio cables you should question the integrity of the radio/speaker and bench test things before you re-assemble in-car. The WB radios were notorious for aging and blowing fuses for a couple of reasons:

(A) WB seek function went 'south' causing radio to enter an infinite seek mode resulting in seek control solenoid melt down.

(B) Prior owner hooked the radio to an incorrect speaker (lacking the impedance matching transformer) and blew out the DS-501 final audio drive transistor and/or its protective, in-circuit, fuse resistor.

That's why you want to have the radio AND speaker bench tested by a competent technician before re-connecting and operating them in-car...

[Stuart F.]

Re: Reconnecting a Wonderbar Radio 63 Corvette

I have an aftermarket "Custom Autosound" radio in my 63 convertible. I, for the life of me, can't see why people clip the wires and plug off when you can connect to it with individual faston connectors as I did. I have an in dash stereo speaker which can be changed easily, as well as rear speakers mounted with velcro, same goes for my CD player. There is no need to cut or splice any original wires or permanently mount any aftermarket sound system components, save perhaps some high powered amps. My original AM/FM radio was rehabed some time back and rests safely in a box waiting for the day my heirs want to convert the sound system back to stock. I sure don't anymore.

[Shelton H.]

Re: Reconnecting a Wonderbar Radio 63 Corvette

Jack, first thanks for the reply. I have a new speaker with transformer from Ecklers, but I haven't had the radio tested yet, and it is likely in need of repair. But I wanted to see first, and I need to know how to connect it when I get it back from repair anyway.

Another thing, as you can surmise, I am not proficient in this work, but I did do mechanic work on the farm growing up. I am a CPA now.

If I understand what you are saying, it would appear someone has incorrectly connected the two black/white wires out of the middle dash wiring harness into the middle connector hole of the 3 hole connector which attaches to top of radio, and I should remove both, put one to top and one to bottom (testing to see which is light and which is radio power), and connect the 3 inch wire which attaches on the other end to the dash metal bar (since this is likely the radio ground wire), and see if it works. Should I do one at the time (other than ground) or does it matter?

[Shelton H.]

Re: Reconnecting a Wonderbar Radio 63 Corvette

I agree Stuart. I just saw an adapter plug on Ecklers that can be used to go from the existing plug to a new radio, and if at some future date I decide to go with a newer radio, I will certainly go that route. Of course, this could have been done many years ago when such connectors had not been thought of yet.

[Joel T.]

Re: Reconnecting a Wonderbar Radio 63 Corvette

Shelton;

For what it is worth, I went through similar "trials" with my 1963 Wonderbar... It is fairly tough to find someone who can fix them, properly, including the auto seek feature. If you need that, I would recommend Jerry Rudbeck who is a member of this forum... Jerry goes by the business name of Electrodesign.

On the speaker, many have the transformer but not the correct impedance. A good source for a "correct" speaker is Electro-Tech in Blaine MN. Cost is about 45 bucks. keep in mind that a speaker which works with a modern radio will be mismatched with a vintage radio with original guts.. You need to deal with them as a pair, and the point someone made about the wrong speaker damaging the radio output is true....

I went the route of having the radio serviced and installing the correct speaker and the system plays great... really great.... Just like 1963!

Have fun,

Joel

[Bob H.]

Re: Reconnecting a Wonderbar Radio 63 Corvette

Shelton:

When you bought the speaker from Ecklers you may have noticed a disclaimer saying it is 4 ohm and not 10 as original but it will work.

The Electro tech speaker is the correct ohms and will likely sound a bit better although it IS NOT correct in appearance.

I was told by Jerry and others that the wrong ohm speakers DO make a difference and can damage the radio. Just my 2 cents.