The Best Retro Head Units

The best retro head units – for older cars. For all our overcrowding and traffic jams, we Brits are a nation of car lovers. When the sun shines, all sorts of beloved vehicles appear that would never risk getting rained upon. Also, car clubs exist for just about every kind of treasured ride. Folks drive them to shows ranging from huge ones with hundreds of clubs filling racetracks, to local classic park-and-admire outings. Some go to show off their superb detailing. Some go in full era-dress, from forties to nineties – to whatever time their car comes from. Then there are the mega-community shows like the Mini Fest and the VW Bug Jam folks.

And as their running gear and engines vary from preserved ancient originals to massively resto-modified powerhouses, so do their radios. Their original audio kit dies and needs replacing. Having a radio that is on-era is crucial but that doesn’t mean you have to put up with horrible sound. Because there is a whole breed of radios made to make old cars happy. From high end German, to needing to blend into a serious Yank classic in a mass of chrome. How about fitting perfectly into the odd space in a Karmann Ghia?

These are mostly single-DIN but there is also a kind that can fit all sorts of old spindle-type cars and has a wardrobe of front panels and knobs to choose from. Retro Sound have patented a system called InfiniMount to alter the spindle width to fit anything. These are the best retro head units available.

Caliber RMD120BT  (£120.00)

In the early days of expensive CDs, it was considered glamorous to own lots. Today, my wife took delivery of a new bluetooth record player. Yet CDs are truly considered quaint and a relic of the past. Some retro car units like these, have look-alike pretend slots, vestigial reminders of older technology. On this Caliber RMD120BT, it is a CD-alike bit along the top. The Blaupunkt Bremen has a pretend Cassette slot. The RMD120BT is a chrome-shiny creampuff and will look a treat in any car that has significant chrome edges to items on the dash. A whole selection of cars will love this.

A modern technology face-off deck, a button enables you to remove the chromed face when you park. Once removed, you can see the SD card slot on the main body of the unit. This SD slot and the USB socket on the face panel can read up to 16GB file stacks. That’s still over three thousand songs, twice! The radio preset buttons are flanked by little covers. One hides the USB and one hides the 3.5mm aux-in socket. Bluetooth streaming by pukka A2DP and AVRCP protocols means it works crisply to play tunes from your Spotify or whatever you press play on.

Just 125mm deep, as it has no disc player, despite that look. It will go in a lot of cars that won’t house a full size unit. There’s one RCA output on the back, keeping cost down and yet leaving big audio systems possible. Caliber might be being a little enthusiastic about their power rating of that 4x75w amp on board but it’s still one of the best retro head units. The biggest chip amps are roughly 4x23W rms and many makers quote this as 4x50W, using a peak rating. But it’s as loud as you can get before a ‘real’ amplifier is used.

• Single DIN mech-free FM radio with single RCA output. Blue illumination
• Onboard Power: 4x75W quoted, likely to be a 4x50W chip amp
• Plays MP3 & WMA files via USB/SD/Aux and Bluetooth, Four-band equaliser with presets
• Detachable front security panel, revealing SD card slot

DIETZ RETRO300DAB/BT  (£159.00)

On the face of it, DIETZ’s Retro300 looks like it may have the same innards as the cheaper Caliber. It is a single DIN mechless unit with a lovely chrome clad fascia. It does not, though, despite the same layout of six buttons with the Aux and USB-A socket covers flanking them. They happen to be the other way around but more crucially, you now get a digital radio. A posh DAB+ one, making it one of the best retro head units. For telephony, there’s a microphone hidden on the front panel too. You also get a wired microphone included. Instead of just one pair of RCA outputs, you now get front, rear and a mono subwoofer out. They are close to the SMB connector – for the digital antenna, that supplies phantom power to the aerial.

The file reader system can deal with 32GB, so the lack of another 16GB SD card reader inside is obviated. The display has white lettering, the buttons are red LED lit. You also get a little seven-button infra-red remote control, making this an awfully more posh deck for the money. Still looking like it would look great in a chromed-bristling dash, it has a full set of modern music and telephone options. The Bluetooth streaming is A2DP/AVRCP and the phone gets the HFP Hands Free Profile tech. The seven equaliser functions are named but not described but I reckon will be Rock, Pop etc. type settings.

As well as this chromed version, there is one with a black chrome finish, having the model number Retro301DAB.

A chromed throwback with a somewhat more up to date soul.

• Single DIN mech-free FM/DAB/DAB+ radio, Bluetooth. MP3, WMA
• Onboard Power: 4x50W
• Plays MP3 & WMA files via USB/Aux and Bluetooth. Full hands free telephony
• I/R remote. Unit can be set to switch off after 30, 60 or 90 minutes for show use

Classic Car Stereo CCS 200DAB  (£269.00)

A really rare bit of knowledge is the difference between DIN-D and DIN-E size car radios. This is a spindle radio and is a DIN-D size, needing an adaptor to install into a DIN-E space. (180x53mm) It has a main body and a then a set of chrome knobs and a timeless-looking fascia on the spindles. There are no covers for any sockets on the front. It is pure retro, with no visible controls apart from the two knobs and just five preset buttons between them, like the older best retro head units. The rear has ISO connector sockets for power and speaker wires then the rest is on hanging cords. There is a USB-A, a mic input socket, RCA input as well as RCA outputs and another subwoofer out. Classic Car Stereo make the point that this is for negative earth vehicles since this is SO retro compatible. As a result they sell an electrical adaptor to help if yours is so old, it’s the other way around! They also supply a little round panel with a 3.5mm audio input and a USB socket. This can hide wherever and allows a panel mount extension of the rear input connections. A bit more pricey than a basic-looking unit as we are getting into some pretty specialised form-factor areas here. CCS supply a DAB antenna but it is a glass mount type. Recognising that a classic might not look good, they even have a special hidey DAB module you can use, too. It converts your existing car aerial to offer up DAB signals, as a splitter function.

Truly intelligent thought has gone into making a retro unit work well, even in really old cars. And the look is somehow pure fifties, even with the groovy newer display in the middle.

• DIN-D spindle-mount FM/DAB/DAB+ radio, USB/Aux input on rear cords, single pair RCA and subwoofer outputs
• Onboard Power: 4x45W, Green LCD display
• Bluetooth (V5) streaming and telephony, iPhone and android compatible
• Includes DAB antenna and external microphone

Retro Sound Hermosa M2 Karmann Ghia style  (£300.00)

Retro Sound are an American outfit that has been around a while. They are the absolute daddies of this market. Their stuff is all based around a selection of four radio bodies that start at a basic FM set and soon get a lot more tech-loaded. The body is compact and the spindle knobs are sophisticated rotary-plus-push controls, rather than mere potentiometers. You choose your level of unit and the pick the front panel and knob combination that fits your ride the best. The mounting is not as simple as a cage-and-fling regular DIN unit, needing a bit of assembly into your dash. The front panel allows the unit’s nose to poke through and you bolt on the knobs. There are some special panels for old and classic American cars and specially built ones to go in things like MGBs.

What we have here is the Hermosa grade (M2) radio body with the ivory colour buttons nose piece option. The front plate and knobs are Karmann Ghia style. Each level of back body unit has two or three button-look options for the nose.

There are two huge features that make this weird and different versus normal radio units. One is that the old cars are exported and loved worldwide. So the FM radios can be set to read the airwaves in USA, EU or Japanese frequency bands. The second is that the radio tech-lump and the face and knobs are connected on little phone wires. They also sell a nine foot loom to enable you to hideaway the radio and remotely install the knobs and front panel.

While this reads MP3 and WMA files from the rear corded inputs, it won’t deal with your iPhone is all.

So it looks like an oldie, is one of the best retro head units, but but it has some clever guts.

• Compact InfiniMount format Spindle-Fit FM/DAB+ radio with Bluetooth
• Onboard Power: 4x45W, 32,000 colour display for matching your car’s dash lighting
• Plays MP3 & WMA files via USB/Aux and Bluetooth. Full hands free telephony
• Aux in, USB in, 1x RCA output, tuner can be selected for USA/EU/Japanese frequencies

Retro Sound Europa M6 Mercedes style  (£430.00)

While the unit above was made to look awesome in a Karmann Ghia, this unit is all about Mercedes. Especially those from the 60s, and 70s. That said, Retro Sound also reckon that BMWs and Jaguars of the same era will look good with this panel. The back unit is the Retro Sound M6 body. That has the same 4x45W power chip but now offers front/rear/subwoofer RCA outputs rather than just the one. You also get a crossover for the subwoofer out. You get double the USB input and the Aux inputs, two of each. The same MP3 and WMA file reading skills are joined by iPod and iPhone bossing abilities. So you get AAC file reading by default.

The big feature of this unit are the classic fat button controls. Along with the multi-function stealth knobs and throwback digital display, it feels dead DeLorean.

As well as these units there are accessories to make it possible to add radio and USB connectivity on the stealth.  How about a hidden FM aerial? We already know about the unit to make your FM twig work with DAB as well. That was about avoiding a glass-mount antenna showing in your classic.

The main thing is, that no matter what era or look your classic old bus or limo has, the Retro Sound stuff will fit it. Retro Sound make up to date electronics. But they are properly invested in knowing about the older dashboards their radios will be fitted to.

A little more expensive for the features available, versus a 21st Century model. But like Emmet Brown’s DeLorean-replacement train in BTTF three, you get Bullet Train performance from what looks steam powered.

• Compact InfiniMount format Spindle-Fit FM/DAB+ radio with Bluetooth and iPhone control
• Onboard Power: 4x45W, 32,000 colour display for matching your car’s dash lighting
• Plays MP3 & WMA files via USB and Bluetooth, Full hands free telephony
• 2x Aux in, 2xUSB in, 2x RCA outputs + Sub out, tuner can be selected for USA/EU/Japanese frequencies

Blaupunkt Bremen SQR46DAB  (£400.00)

The Bremen SQR 46DAB was made to be ‘retro’, from the box it comes in, to its front cassette-looking slot. The model name is a reboot from 1986 and Blau call it a cult unit. It has that frankly boring look that the old car radio thieves were not so impressed by. Made to match the dash of the German cars that were all black and grey. They didn’t get nicked as much when one with dolphins on the display would sell more easily. But Blaupunkt have always had a fervent following due to their Teutonic high quality. Like Alpine in Will Smith’s ‘Summertime’, Blaupunkt, as Blue Spot, is carved in car audio media legend. The car from Robocop, the 6000 SUX. It had a Blaupunkt radio and ran 8.2mpg. It was a joke about a Pontiac 6000. “And make sure it’s gotta BLUE SPOT!” shouts the villain.

That cover – just the right size to be a cassette deck flip-up door? It opens to reveal the SDHC card slot, USB-A socket and 3.5mm jack socket for stereo audio input. The SDHC card reader can handle up to 32GB and that’s a shedload of tunes. There isn’t a mad list of every readable file kind you ever heard of. The Bremen is ‘limited’ to MP3 and WMA files only, so no FLAC nor any of the other odder ones.

There’s another corded USB-A socket on the rear, with a 3.5mm mic socket and the steering wheel remote control input.

Variocolor display, FM/DAB+ radio, ‘Made for iPhone/iPod’ and android Bluetooth streaming. Seven-step bass/treble controls, three-band semi-parametric EQ.

DAB antenna and 18-button card-type remote included. Last of all, it’s stumpy. No disc-mech means a shallower-depth chassis that fits in more cars.

Not just Germanic and amongst the best retro head units, but quality audio, too.

• Single DIN 1980’s Retro DAB+/FM radio with SD, USB/AUX under a mock-cassette slot
• Onboard Power: 4x50W @4ohms; High quality 4V RCA outputs – audiophile grade
• Card type remote control (18-Button) and DAB antenna included
• Short-chassis: Only 110mm body depth, making for easier installation