C200 - 1994 no radio

[Mr Warren]

Hi all. New to this forum as I have just purchased the Company Merc. pool car (145K miles). There has never been a radio fitted....and the slot shows 4 wires linked to a round pin connector, 2 x 2 wire linked to a small rubber 2 blade connector (speakers???). I can't see any arial connection.

Questions:

a) Is radio fitting complicated?
b) Does this mean radio won't work and I need to fit a new arial, drilling the body etc?

Many thanks for your input.

 

[jberks]

If there is no ariel in the car, then yes, you'll need one fitting. C's normally had a hirschman electric arial in the rear wing.
Can't comment on the wiring but I'd expect to find all the necessary wiring behind the slot. There may even be an ariel extension built in but i don't know this for sure.
145k without a radio - how tight was your boss !!

 

[Mr Warren]

I said C......my apologies. Please read E200 - 1994

 

[Mr Warren]

For the story, this was his car back then. Instead of having a top of the range Peugeot 405 with all mods and cons he chose the bottom of the range Merc. with manual windows, no radio etc....as otherwise it would have gone past his allowance .... !!! It must have cost Mercedes a fortune to have this basic car made just for him.

 

[jberks]

I'd have made the same choice I think - though I'd have whipped the car to my local radio fitter and had oneput in. I guess he liked the silence.

In any case, I believe the same applies to the 124 - dealers normally fitted radios and ariels as they didn't normally come from the factory in those days.

 

[Mr Warren]

Is retrofitting an arial acceptable? A hole in bodywork that has not been made in the factory does not sound good to me. I have been quoted £95 + VAT for an electrical rear wing mounted system.

 

[Mr Warren]

And thank you for your input.

 

[wkradio]

Aerial fitting.

Why drill the body, just get one of the antenna that sticks to your back window (flat clear plastic with a wire embedded into it) and a couple of quid for an extension coax. Job done !!

 

[Mr Warren]

Thank you from Newcastle on Tyne. Do such plastic antenna work well?

 

[jberks]

i'd agree - ideally don't drill it, though most are drilled (inc mine) and to be fair, it's not really a problem. Window ariels should be ok, after all, my last 2 E classes have had factory window ariels and they've worked perfectly.
£100 is a bit steep but that's based on the principle that its fairly simple and I'd fit my own.
An ariel ( a good one) would be around £20-£30 from memory (its been a while) and I guess to fit and run the cables would be an hour or so. Probably not too far out for a proper installation shop, but whilst they've got it in pieces, have them fit the radio.