You seem like you’re still generally happy with your car. Paint these days is $$$, a decent re-spray will probably be $15k+ in your neck of the woods, even halfway decent could be close to $10k. I think wraps are a lot less???
I don’t know where you’re at on maintenance, but for a few thousand bucks you could change all the fluids (maybe you kept up with this), replace belts and hoses if they are dry-rotting, and so forth, and really whip it in shape for another decade. Maybe upgrade the audio!
I’m looking to “downgrade” the audio: I want the remote to control my iPod. New audio decks exclude this once-available software. Now, some kind of amp? Sure. Where would that go? Don’t need a subwoofer, but the ability to hear clearly above the auto’s noise (not a lot of sound insulation) would be nice.
I take it in once a year, and those things are taken care of. Still runs great. Has an oil leak near the top of the engine (leaks when it’s running and a little bit after engine is turned off). No heat in the winter when the heater core (GM product, I think) started leaking into the driver’s side about 15 years ago and the cost to replace it is about $2000 for about ten days’ per year of cold driving (and effective defrosting)
As in, you just want something to control an iPod, no AM/FM and all that?
Modern Class D amps (well, some of them) are quite small. The amps in the first pic are both 50w x 4 channels, so you can fit one under the seat. They are like 85% efficient so they won’t overheat.
You can buy subs that go under the seat, see second pic. And yeah, by letting the sub handle the bass, and filtering the bass from your door speakers, you can get more volume and less distortion.
It’s a lot of labor to install all of that, you might get all the equipment for like $1,500 but probably another grand to hook it up.
AM/FM is usually included.
I don’t need a CD player.
It’s just that new audio decks don’t have this software function. My current audio deck (the third) requires me to change songs (albums are my preference) by touching the iPod. While driving. Very hazardous.
Second audio deck had this function. Even had a hidden drawer for the iPod, though it resulted in a fried iPod for parking in the sun.
I don’t want to pay for any streaming services. Again, not in the car long enough to justify a monthly bill.
You may be kind of boned, head units have, as far as I know, stopped supporting iPods. Partly because streaming, and partly because the whole market is drying up now that more and more cars have integrated everything and you can’t simply swap a head unit anymore in so many cars.
Do you have your music library on your phone? You could connect that to something via wires to a DAC, or wirelessly. You might be able to get something to mount on the dash to control that.
No.
Not sure I have that much space available on my Android phone (64gB, though only 13.1 available). Time to upgrade I guess, or delete files and some photos.
I’d have to either download or copy everything from my iTunes.
Or start all over with whatever Android uses.
Current audio deck has USB, which is what I use for the iPod.
Hauled some full sheets of plywood in my minivan recently. It was raining, so I pulled up under the pro covering next to all the contractors and their big trucks (not sure who was shaming who). I also had a 10 ft piece of trim…was going to just perch it up over the center console as I have in the past, but noticed it could go right up under the passenger seat. Hauled pro-packs of 12ft long crown molding a few years ago diagonally through the inside and up over the dash. I didn’t like that it was pushing up on the windshield…now I am wondering if I could have just shoved it through the same slot. There was plenty of room behind the 10 footer, although 12 may still require the diagonal through the cabin.
Just get an iPad, put your tunes on it, mount it on the dash? You’ll need an amp. And iPads don’t have a headphone jack, but you can get an adapter thing so you can charge it while getting audio out via a headphone jack.
The main thing i like about my dash is that is no giant screen.
What i need is an old audio deck with the superior software.
Amazing how much you can cram into a minivan. We’ve done sheets of plywood and drywall and long boards angled up on the console before as well.
Might be able to find something NOS on eBay. Back in… 2010-ish, my wife had a Civic, and one day the CD player wouldn’t eject the disc (which was literally the only thing that failed in that car over eight years and 162k miles), and I swapped in an Alpine deck. It controlled an iPod, and I ran the cable into the center console so she could put an iPod in there, nice and out of the way, and control it from the head unit. It was pretty, pretty nice.
You really need to just spend some of that balla actuarial income on a $10 spotify subscription and get over this entire episode you’re having :).
I get it. I resisted spotify for a long time. Had all my songs burned to a device. It was a big purge going from CD’s to all electronic files. But the purge from there to spotify has been even bigger and better.
Music everywhere, on every device. Build your own playlists, including songs you don’t own. Get introduced to new songs you forgot about or were unaware of. The additional benefits of it being cloud based and software based more than justify the cost of a subscription - you’ll enjoy your music better.
I also resisted for several years and finally went with Apple Music for $10/mo. Totally worth it, imo, probably 99.5% of the songs I want are on there, only some very obscure things they don’t have.
Compared to the cost and hassle of trying to make an iPod work, $10/mo may be a bargain.
Well, it currently works. I just have to remember to set the album before I start driving.
How much would an audio deck that controls an iPod cost? Vs $10/month.
I also dislike very much what Spotify “thinks” I want to hear.
What I will try to do is see if I can put my wife’s Spotify account (already paying for that) on my phone, then talk to the phone re what I want to hear.
The challenge is finding one, I could be wrong but I think you’ll need to scour eBay to find a deck from ~10 years ago that is still in good shape. Which could work and might set you back like $150 or so.
Maybe find a new but unsold one in Crutchfield’s inventory? Do they just crush their inventory or something?
Might be worth a look, or call some local car audio shops, they may be aware of some adapters or what-have-you that could work.
I think the deck needs the software to be able to scroll through the iPod with the accompanying remote. Again, the last one installed did it. I think it even bypassed the “lock” of the iPod. For the current one, I have to unlock the iPod (more steps) while driving to change an album. Old one actually had a randomizer option.
I could just go to BestBuy with my iPod and a wire and see which one actually can control the iPod.
