Before you take another drink of your morning coffee, read slowly. What we have up for grabs today is a Sapphire VI ’67 Beetle radio; which is quite rare. Why might you ask? It’s both AM & FM. Most of you likely have the Sapphire V. (AM only, myself included)
I’ve only ever seen two in person, and they were installed in someone else’s ’67 Beetle. Below is the information we have from the seller, as well as a full media gallery of photos below. Check out those internal shots; truly a work of art.
Note: tested, and currently does not function. I have resources that could easily restore this unit, or simply bring it back into working order. I too had to restore my own ’67 Beetle radio. Restored and complete, these go for over $600. The faceplate and knobs are easy to source.
Greetings Eric,
Doing some research and came across your website. I have a 1967 Sapphire AM/FM 12 volt radio. I got this radio about 15 years ago at an auction in ABQ., NM. A friend of mine who is an auctioneer was liquidating a car radio business that was started back in the 50s. I probably bought 150 plus radios. I’ve sold them all except this one. I forgot I had it and found it a few days ago. I read that there were two models made in 1967. One had output transistors over each shaft and the other, second one introduced that year had the output transistors combined and over one shaft. I have the radio with one transistor over each shaft.
Status: SOLD
Price: $200 + freight
Contact: John Day – 480-678-1705
Who’s going to grab this gem? Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below; I’ll be happy to answer if I can.
Comments are closed.
Is this period correct for a 1967 Karmann-Ghia?
I believe so, yes..
Yes, should be period correct for type 1,2,3 and Ghia.
I believe the first year for the VW Bendix-Sapphire AM/FM was 1965, and 1966 in some places. Interestingly, this AM/FM radio was Mono on the FM side, making it even more rare from a strange technical standpoint. At the time in 1967 the addition of a standard Beetle AM radio was about $45, add $25 for AM/FM, which the vast majority of buyers did not include. FM radio in 1967 was in its infancy, although FM has been around since 1933.
I have this am/fm radio in my 67 beetle but was told it didn’t work when I bought the car a couple of years ago. Any idea where I could have it serviced? I live in the Reno area. Thx!
Checking some sources….
D. as for your question. It is definitely correct for a ’67 US delivery Karmann Ghia. Euro cars would’ve most likely had a Blaupunkt Wolfsburg (X-series) in ’67 but US cars would’ve had a sapphire V or VI .
Dave, to answer your question. Nick stokes is regarded as the authority on Sapphire radios and their repair. His website is
http://vwradios.com/FAQs.html
Thx much!