Rattling Radio Antenna

When I bought this car in 1974 it was still pretty much original. That included the radio antenna. That was until some neighborhood vandals decided to break off the antenna mast. I went to the local Ford dealer and purchased a replacement. I immediately noticed that the original antenna had a round base and the Ford replacement kit had a rectangular base. The round bezel didn’t fit the replacement antenna, so I swapped out the original antenna with the round base for the new antenna with the rectangular base. That was around 1974 or 1975. That antenna remained in place until I repainted the car in 2013.

Here are what the two different bases look like.

After the car was repainted I purchased a reproduction antenna with a round base as the rectangular bezel was corroded and I really wanted to put the car back closer to original. I installed the replacement antenna and thought I was done with it. However after a few years the antenna developed a loud rattle and would no longer remain extended.

I did some research and found that the rattle was a well known problem with no good solution. I was unable to find a new Ford round base antenna, and the only reproduction I could find that mentioned rattle cost 5 times as much as the other reproductions.

Since my replacement rectangular base antenna still functioned and did not rattle, I decided to purchase a reproduction rectangular base antenna and use the new bezel with the old antenna. The replacement antenna should be arriving tomorrow. I hope the bezel fits the old antenna as I’m not 100% certain that it is the same size as the original.