It’s a problem that many classic car owners – including yours truly – has run into at least once: how to switch out an obsolete, often busted dinosaur of a stereo head unit from a vintage machine’s center stack, without completely ruining the period-correct aesthetic. Porsche Classic’s solution: to create a vintage-appearance head unit with modern audio functions and satellite navigation, tailored specifically to blend with the rest of your classic Porsche’s interior.
The resulting Porsche Classic radio – which fits perfectly into the standard DIN-1 console space in all older Porsche models – has appropriate-looking “Porsche” lettering above a 3.5-inch touchscreen. The knobs, buttons, and entire front surface of the unit are offered in two different period-correct styles, says Porsche, and a release claims that the Porsche Classic radio will look quite at-home in any vintage P-car from the original 1960s 911, all the way up through the 1990s type-993. That includes older front- and mid-engined models like the 944 and 914.
And besides having a modern unit that looks every bit the part, this Porsche Classic radio also offers useful modern tools like Bluetooth connectivity, internal and external microphones, satellite navigation with map storage via an 8gb microSD card, and electronics suited specifically to the typical telescoping-mast AM/FM antennae of yesteryear.
But there’s a catch, and as with most Porsche things, it comes in the form of dollars and cents; this Porsche Classic radio costs an ungodly 1,184 Euros in Germany, or upwards of $1,340 US. For that kind of money, you could just about cover half the cost of a second 944, and have too damn much fun to care about not having a working radio.
Just be sure and grab your TomTom or Garmin before you leave.
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