MGs were always delivered to the USA without radios, leaving it to the customer or dealer to choose and install a radio of local source and appropriate type. The British Radiomobile units are excellent radios but usually have European type settings incompatible with US radio standards. More common models in North America would be Motorola, Bendix, Philco, Delco, and others.

At 12:15 PM 12/6/2008 -0800, Bill Haglan wrote:
>> "Here is a picture of the 12 volt positive ground AM radio in my 1958 MGA. The radio faceplate says "Al Davis Custom". I have seen a few other MGA's with the same faceplate. It is a period piece but not factory.
>>
>> Al Davis Radio was located in Torrance CA and installed radios in VWs and other cars. I have no idea if they did installation for dealers. I don't know who made the radio as I am to lazy to take it out."

This Blaupunkt "Frankfurt" model radio is a fairly rare period type, one of the few with FM band which would work in North America in the late 50's and early 60's, and shortwave band to boot. The decor is also a very good match to the MGA dash appointments with black and chrome knobs and trim, closely matching font face, and plain white light for the dial face. See the Jim Paul website for more information.

This is a "Motorola Transistor Powered" AM Radio unit with built in speaker that was installed in a 1958 MGA by an Authorized MG dealer. This is a positive ground radio, which may be a little rare for a transistorized model.

At 12:18 PM 7/28/2006 -0600, Jim Mackin wrote:
"Let me add a second confirmation for the Motorola radio you show. My 1958 'A' had the exact same radio installed. I now have two of the radios, one works well, one doesn't. I'm considering having the non-functional one converted to AM/FM."

Below is a push button model Motorola AM radio from the same period.

Below is another Motorola "All Transistor" AM radio, found in a 1962 1600-MK-II.

This is a vintage 1950s UK Radio made by World Radio Limited London. When you turn the radio on, it says "Playmate" in the middle of the dial. Apparently World Radio Ltd had many models of these, such as radios that said Jaguar and Aston Martin in the center of the dial. This is similar to the Radiomobile radios of this vintage and is 12V positive ground. This is an AM only radio, made for the US market with dial numbers reading left to right. The radio is shown in an under dash mount but can easily be removed to mount into the dash of the car. The 2 front knobs are missing.

This is a vintage 1950s UK Radiomobile radio made by World Radio Limited London. It is 12V positive ground. The large lump on the back is an amplifier. The dial frequency range is 0.6 to 1.5 MC/sec reading right to left, as a European model (not for the North American market). Note that this radio would need a larger adapter faceplate to mount in the MGA dashboard.

Original accessory radio by Sylvania. According to the tag it was originally configured for 12 volt negative earth. According to the hand writing (in Spanish), it was reconfigured for positive earth for use in the MGA.

Here is one for the Down-Under market. This Australia exclusive radio appears to have every radio station in the country posted on the dial plate.

On 12/26/2009, Tom Aczel wrote:
"This is the original radio out of my Australian assembled '62 MGA 1600 Mk2. The radio would have been manufactured in Australia, but there is no logo or identifying mark anywhere that I can find. It's as you can see, very large, and it's very heavy. (It weighs 5 lbs!) Local car radio manufacturers of the period included AWA (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia), Ferris and HMV. I'm almost certain this radio would have been sourced from one of these companies.