oldzzy

Lately I've seen a few 1970 Cutlass cars with an antenna in the passengers side front fender. I thought they all had the antenna in the windshield.

oldspackrat

I think I'm safe in saying ALL '70 Cutlass A body cars had the antenna in the windshield from the factory.

oldzzy

I wonder if people thought it was easier to install one on the fender, instead of fixing the lead up under the dash.

Fun71

Back in the early '80s I installed a fender antenna on my '70 Supreme so I could get better FM reception. The stations in my town sucked and there were really good stations in other towns that I couldn't catch with the windshield antenna but came in well with the fender mounted antenna.

cjsdad

Those windshield antennas were cool as the other side of the pillow when they fist came out, but many of them developed problems. Such as cracks at the base of the winshield that would separate the antenna leads. Dirty contacts on the "button" that connected to the windshield antenna. Replacement winshields without the built-in antenna. Cut off or ripped off coax because of stolen stereos. The early '80s also introduced many youngsters to FM Stereo radio transmissions and the windshield antennas typically didn't have the reception capabilities of a vertical metal rod of the proper length. The dirty contact syndrome wreaked absolute havoc on the AM band. The simplest solution for all of the above was a fender mounted antenna. Back then the cost was about $20~$30, parts and labor.

cjsdad

Easier and cheaper!