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Old School Clarion Rack Car System - 1980's

A

alydon

New Member
Old School Clarion G-80 Rack Car System - 1980's

New member to this Forum. Below are pics of my 1980's vintage Clarion G-Series rack car stereo system in my 1984 Mercedes 500SEL AMG. This system was installed by AMG in Germany as part of my car's total conversion. I was able to source a 2nd back up system (for parts and cosmetics - just in case). 2nd system included a pair of NOS amps. The two amps are 80w each (back when that meant something!). AMG's audio work included modifying the rear "parcel" shelf with 8 speakers and a 2nd shelf about 1.5" above the speakers - this shelf was solid, so the speakers fired directly into the shelf! I modified this 2nd shelf adding 4 rectangular holes and had custom speaker grills made.

This Clarion system includes the Controller G-80C, Tape Deck G-80D, Tuner G-80TVF and pair of amps GA-505. System also includes a joystick fader.

Anyone on this Board have one of these systems?

Al
Atlanta, GA
 

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I remember those clarion systems. A guy in my unit had one set up on his bench with a beefy power supply as his sound system in the late '70s.
 
Thanks for the comments. Will post some pics of the car tonight. Sound out of this system is impressive. The speakers in the rear are original from 1984 and still sound great.

Maybe someone on this board can help from a service standpoint. My tape player is not working properly - when a tape is inserted, the play continuously switches from forward play to reverse play.

Not that I have a cassette collection, but would be neat to have the tape player work properly (and play some 80's Hair music, like Motley Crue or Def Leppard). Getting the tape player out of the stack would be a challenge, though. Are there any repair shops in the US who would work on vintage 1980's car audio tape decks? When I got the car almost 2 years ago I made some exploratory phone calls off internet searches and didn't get much help.

Are there some repair shops someone on this forum could recommend?

BTW, one nice success story with this system was getting a 3.5mm jack hooked into it so I can play my iPod through it! All of the rear component plugs are 6 pin DIN plugs and was able to source a DIN to 3.5mm jack lead and (luckily) there was an extra input into the tuner. However, since there is no Auxiliary switch on the unit, I was able to press a short-wave frequency button on the tuner (there are 2 of them) and, since there is no SW activity, the iPod input feed is clear with no background noise or static - amazing good fortune! Current technology run through a classic 1980's stereo with no modification to the units. Awesome!

Thanks,

Al
 
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Model Electronics (somewhere out East) does refurbs of factory gear for dealers. Might be a possibility.
 
Very cool looking system. Why would the speakers on the parcel shelf originally have been installed to fire into a solid panel though? Didn't that sound terrible? Your cutouts and custom grills look very well-done.
 
Full AMG mods - engine to 5.4L, suspension (springs and shocks), exhaust (headers and rear muffler), front/rear spoilers, side skirts, AMG wheels (staggered 8's/9's), full interior (Recaros, door wood, steering wheel, speedometer, mats, and the stereo). Will post a couple of pics tonight.

Al
 
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pics of the car...
 

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310hp and 350 lbs of torque. Not bad for mid 1980's.

Stock 5.0L engine was 237hp, so a 30% increase in hp. Extensive porting/polishing of the heads and intake manifold along with AMG aggressive cams, larger valves and the headers/free flow exhaust generate the hp gains (plus the increase in displacement to 5.4L).

Al


Jailtime said:
That is a beautiful car. Those headers are awesome. Any idea what kind of power it makes?
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Love those 5-spoke Ronals! Car looks awesome and you've kept/ bought it in great shape. Like the rear 'hat shelf' speaker treatment as well.

Are you active on any MB user boards?
 
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jmela said:
Love those 5-spoke Ronals! Car looks awesome and you've kept/ bought it in great shape. Like the rear 'hat shelf' speaker treatment as well.

Are you active on any MB user boards?
Click to expand...

Benzworld.org - W126 forum - is my main hideout.

Al
 
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