61 hawk instrument/radio repairs

[Jeffry Cassel]

I have had fairly good luck with "The Clock Works" They'll fix it or convert to quartz. I am old enough to remember that a working car clock was a very rare thing. Any car over 1 year old did not have a functioning clock because they were so poorly made. Yes, it is the Mickey Mouse winding mechanism that fails. Clean it oil it refinish the points and it'll last about 3 mos.

[Snoop]

Thanks Harryhawk great idea! Will do that if my attempts fail.

[Harryhawk]

Snoop, the clock in my 62 GT Hawk wasn't working so I removed it and cleaned the points and got it going but only intermittently, so I took it to the local Watch Maker along with my battery charger, he serviced it and it doesn't miss a beat now, or should I say tick. Cheers Harryhawk

[Snoop]

Thank you guys for all the tips and leads. My car was assembled in Melbourne Australia and I live in Sydney I didn’t recognise the abbreviations on the radio dial because they are Melbourne stations and yes your right Skip Lackie they put a 3 in front and in Sydney we put a 2 in front. Thanks radio Roy I’ve tracked down a guy in Sydney ( from your website)that uses the same parts as you that sound superior. Will have a go at diy on my clock had no idea how they worked ( fascinating) thanks Rockne 10 for description. I will pm you ndynis if I cant find the link to radio repairs
cheers again
Snoop

[Skip Lackie]

Interesting looking radio. Appears to be short wave but with no numbers on the dial how do you know to what frequency you're tuned? A check with the googles shows that Astor Radio has been bought by Philips.

Agree about interesting looking. Am no expert, but suspect that the two-letter codes on the dial are the last two characters of radio station call letters. Australian radio stations have three-character IDs with the first character being a digit. Snoop would probably recognize them. I remember some 1940s-era radios with the New York-area radio call letters engraved on the dial or their push buttons. Handy only if one stayed within range of NYC stations.

[RadioRoy]

Here is the website for the FM conversions. The "dealers" tab will tell you who does these down under.

https://www.tech-retro.com/aurora-design/home.html

[rockne10]

The clock issue is usually just dirty points; clean them and you are normally good to go.
These clocks are NOT electric, in the sense we usually associate with the word. They are "electrically wound."
If they received constant current they would run down the battery of any vehicle that sits for any length of time.
Instead they have an internal spring that needs to wind up, just like any old clock or watch. The spring runs the clock for about five minutes, and when it unwinds it closes a set of points that shoots a current that winds the spring. So every five minutes it is using less than a half second of battery power.
If you put your ear to it you can hear the tick-tick-tick as the balance wheel rocks, and a little ZIP when the points close; IF they are clean.

[rbisacca]

A search of "vintage automotive clock repair" will show many companies that specialize in repair of instruments, clocks, and radios.

[rbisacca]

Interesting looking radio. Appears to be short wave but with no numbers on the dial how do you know to what frequency you're tuned? A check with the googles shows that Astor Radio has been bought by Philips.

[ndynis]

Radio Roy will fix your radio with any or all the upgrades you want.
There is a good DIY piece by Ray-Lin and the BCOIE Chapter of SDC has made it available on their website I believe. If not, let me know by Private Message and I'll send you a pdf file of it if you give me your regular email. I don't have much luck using the PM for sending anything.

[Snoop]

Hello Again fellow members, and thank you son of lark and studerich for your help re How to access steering wheel Securing nut ( it was a bit loose) so after tightening the steering wheel does not wobble side to side feels so much better.
I’m am now looking at trying to get my non working radio and clock working I’ve noticed on the forum there is a member that I think replaces the insides of the radio with modern parts but the external appearance remains unchanged.
Also my clock doesn’t work so any tips would Be appreciated on how to go about Diagnosing what’s wrong and also if I can’t fix it who I could contact to carry out repairs.
cheers Snoop. (Some pictures)