Landfill Find Stereo Equipment

[AMCHornet]

Vintage stereo equipment is another hobby of mine. I don't venture newer than about 1979 on this stuff. Really any vintage electronics. I do fans, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, alternators, starters, generators, clocks...

The local landfill has a hazardous waste disposal area. Part of that area is for electronics. People drive up in their trucks, push their old electronics off the back, and drive off. Workers there throw the old electronics into bins and piles. You can find anything from old TV's to CB radios.

I found these sitting on the ground. They'd probably been there for about a week, judging by the amount of dirt, snow, and leaves inside them.

All they needed was cleaning inside and out, some fuses, and some light bulbs. A vacuum cleaner followed by electronics cleaner solvent, a soft brush, more electronics cleaner solvent, and canned air to dry cleaned the insides really well. Non-Ammonia glass cleaner for the exteriors. I cleaned and lubricated the controls and did some bias checks too.

Lo and behold they all work perfectly. It blows my mind the things that people throw away. There was nothing wrong with any of these units. Oh well, more free stuff for me. I get most of my old stereo equipment for free like this. I have four receivers, and I only paid for one. The other three were free salvage.

Akai AA-1135 before and after treatment.

Akai before.jpg

Akai after.jpg

Harmon/Kardon "Twin Powered" 430 after treatment. This is the little receiver that could. I did not expect it to work because of how beat up it was, but it not only works, it sounds beautiful! That faceplate is broken though. I'll have to locate another one.

HK After.jpg

Yamaha GE-60 after treatment. The cassette deck on top of it was free salvage, too.

Yamaha After.jpg

I dug through some of the bins at the Landfill and found this 1956 Ford radio. I have not started reconditioning it yet, but I figure I'll recondition it, wire in an aux input, and sell it for a pretty penny to somebody with a 1956 Ford.

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[Junk Yard Dog]

You want to start a collection of old car radios just contact me, I have been selling them on eBay for over a decade. Got a bunch of 50's ones down in the Old Man's basement, they are pretty cool once you get past the asbestos dust...

You don't have to tell me about the shit people toss out, perfectly good vehicles, tools, furniture, lawn and garden equipment. Guy just dumped off a nice MTD Yardman riding mower, 22 HP , 47" deck, hydrostatic drive, cup holder, and not a thing wrong with it. I even have guns that were thrown away, ammo also, other military equipment, and even memorial flags. Guy just drove in a 2007 GMC Envoy, I asked what's wrong with it, brakes, tires, drivetrain? Rust? Nothing except 195,000 miles. Vehicle running perfectly, driving and stopping without issue, nothing leaking, no rust or body damage, year old tires, recent battery, AC works, even the oil was clean and half a tank of gas. Sold for $150 as scrap

[mogunner]

I've got the original AM/FM/cassette deck in my 1985 Chevy K10. The cassette player works but the radio doesn't, I'd like to find a repair shop that could go through it and make whatever repairs are needed to it. Most of your new decks require chopping the dash up in these or mounting them under the seat, or in the glovebox.

[SA1911a1]

I just donated the Nivico stereo receiver that I bought in 1975. I had used it until recently. A lot of rock and roll has bounced through it's innards.

[AMCHornet]

I've got the original AM/FM/cassette deck in my 1985 Chevy K10. The cassette player works but the radio doesn't, I'd like to find a repair shop that could go through it and make whatever repairs are needed to it. Most of your new decks require chopping the dash up in these or mounting them under the seat, or in the glovebox.

Electronics repair guys often paid a lot of money for a degree in electrical engineering and want to make more money fixing electronics than they'd make flipping burgers at McDonald's. They like to afford to live in their own house, not rent an apartment with five roommates. They believe they should live more than a subsistence-level life for the skills they have. So, they'd want several hundred dollars to fix that radio. They can make $100 a day at McDonalds, and they'd probably spend a day or two at the least restoring your radio.

It's up to you.

[racerguy00]

Nice finds. Once things are dropped off at the scrapyard here they stay there. No picking allowed. Plus they charge by the pound to take it to begin with.

We recently went to a huge sale of vintage items that were used as props and set pieces for the Netflix show Mindhunters. Electronic equipment, reel to reel machines, coffee machines, appliances, you name it. Nothing newer than about '77. Even had the interior of a 727 airliner. Neat stuff, you would have loved it. Most was what I'd call cheap too except for things like signage.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Not this scrapyard, you walk in here with cash and you can buy whatever you like. I will shake your hand and maybe help you cart it out to your truck. What you don't buy will be up on eBay for somebody else. We have regular pickers who come in for all sorts of stuff from rusty gold hunters to the crazy cat lady's who hunt down the feral kittens and cart them home. Yesterday I see some potential customers out front looking over some cars, I head out expecting to sell a nice Toyota Corolla. They come up asking me how much for the truck? Takes me a second or two to realize they mean the frame rusted, body rusted, three different colors 2000 Chevy S-10 sitting over by the mailbox waiting to be hauled to the crusher. Are you fu...why sure, lovely vintage vehicle, bit of a fixer upper, could be a perfectly good truck for you....how about a thou..... I mean fifteen hundred? Sold, rust is king.

[mogunner]

I've got the original AM/FM/cassette deck in my 1985 Chevy K10. The cassette player works but the radio doesn't, I'd like to find a repair shop that could go through it and make whatever repairs are needed to it. Most of your new decks require chopping the dash up in these or mounting them under the seat, or in the glovebox.

Electronics repair guys often paid a lot of money for a degree in electrical engineering and want to make more money fixing electronics than they'd make flipping burgers at McDonald's. They like to afford to live in their own house, not rent an apartment with five roommates. They believe they should live more than a subsistence-level life for the skills they have. So, they'd want several hundred dollars to fix that radio. They can make $100 a day at McDonalds, and they'd probably spend a day or two at the least restoring your radio.

It's up to you.

$195 is the quote I got from a company that specializes in old car radios. Worth that to me to not chop up the dash in a classic vehicle.

[Darryl]

Hey, I just cleared out the attic the other day. Anyone have any idea if a

SAE TWO A14 is worth anything. Damn thing weighs about 500 lbs! It is left over stuff from my old equipment I used to have. Forgot it was up there!

Right now it is in the garage ready for the next load to the dumps. OH, it still runs!

Darryl

[Ironnewt]

Funny story about car radios. We used 1977 Pontiac LeMans 4 doors as marked cars in the late 70's. The powers that be decided we were not going to be able to listen to the am radios that were standard equipment so they all got pulled out of the cars and went one the shelves of our city operated repair shop. When we decided to sell the cars, the plastic cover pieces were to be removed and the radios replaced. Trouble was out of 400 radios, they found maybe 3 dozen.

[Darryl]

Here is my SAE TWO A14. Amp and pre amp. Very powerful

Wish you were close and could pick this up for free. They go for about $75 to $150 on ebay when they are working. This one is working and is in great shape. Going to Goodwill!

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SAE TWO A14.jpg

[Junk Yard Dog]

I have pitched truckloads of this crap into the scrap bins, at one time old stereos were a two dollar item at tag sales, I was just gifted with a reel to reel set, probably early 60's, and rumored to work. It's identical to one I have had since 1978 that stopped working a few years ago, bad tube probably. I recall having a Centrex back in the late 70's, it had two big speakers and 8track. I know I have a huge LA Sonic boom box from the 80's stashed away someplace. I bought that one to hook up as the sound system for my Panasonic Omnivision 4 head VCR, it worked good for that.