Because the junkyard is really a boombox parts store.
The original radio in the Jerry Brown Suede Denim Secret Police Boombox came from a 1999 Volvo S70. It’s a high-quality Mitsubishi-built unit (with both CD and cassette capability) that went into the nicer Volvos around the turn of the century.
This 2003 Kia Sorento provided the access/switch panel on the rear of the boombox. It’s a fuel pump cover.
The Aisin door strikers used to protect the electrical connectors and switch on the rear access panel are Aisin components from a 1980s Toyota like this first-generation Camry.
When I stripped and sold off parts from the 1992 Lexus SC 400 suspension donor for my 1941 Plymouth Road Racer project, I saved the passenger-side inside grab handle. This turned out to be ideal for use as a boombox handle.
The Acura Legend and its successor, the RL, got some pretty good package-shelf speakers over the decades. These factory Bose 6x9s came out of this 2000 Acura 3.5RL. Price: $11 for the pair.
The other two speakers are Pioneer aftermarket round 6-inchers, obtained with many others at the All You Can Carry for $59.95 sale at U-Pull-&-Pay a few years ago.
When I build a car-parts boombox, it must have a cup holder. The cup holder came from a high-trim-level 2000-2004 Subaru Legacy, like this 2000 Legacy Outback sedan.
The LL Bean and VDC Outbacks got this cup holder, complete with slick fold-out action and semi-convincing faux wood.
I needed a compact and reliable switch to actuate the audio source switcher and Bluetooth power supply, so I looked for a 1990s Lexus LS or SC. I found this 1998 LS 400 with “Moorish Nobility” plates in a Denver yard.
The dome light buttons are very good for boombox use, since they are small and easily removed. Mounting required cutting an odd-size hole in the Sorento fuel-pump cover, but that was simple enough.
This exponential six-sided die (generally used as a backgammon doubling cube) appeared among the cigarette butts and guitar picks on the car floor when I removed a Legacy Outback front passenger seat to remove the butt-thumper subwoofer for another boombox project.
When making an audio source-switcher relay set for a junkyard boombox, I prefer using the nicely compact and power-efficient SPDT relays from a 21st-century Hyundai product. Most of them are made by Omron, a reputable Japanese electronics manufacturer.
Jerry’s hypnotically whirling eyes— which must have been the means by which he managed to woo Linda Ronstadt even while driving a fleet-grade 1974 Plymouth Satellite sedan— are replicated in the JBSDSPB using the dash clocks from 2005-2007 Mercury Montegos.
These clocks are nearly identical to the ones in the Montego’s Ford Five Hundred sibling, but with a darker face that’s easier to pry off for Jerry Hypno-Eyes conversion.
The Mitsubishi-made HU-655 CD/cassette/AM/FM head unit in the original version of the JBSDSPB was very powerful, but I wanted to be able to use AUX and Bluetooth inputs without resorting to an FM modulator. I found an AUX-equipped radio in a 2009 Hyundai Accent.
Here’s the MOBIS-made Accent radio that I bought for the JBSDSPB Mark II, perched next to my trusty S-K junkyard toolbox on the decklid of a 1985 Cadillac Cimarron at a yard next to Pikes Peak.
Some materials for the JBSDSPB came from non-car sources, including the denim fabric of some retired Kirkland blue jeans I used for my judging duties with the 24 Hours of Lemons race series.
The plywood used for the case of the JBSDSPB has a great deal of 24 Hours of Lemons provenance; it was my cutting board for dozens of BRIBED stencils over a decade-long period. Here it is being used to create the Patty Hearst-themed stencil used at the 2016 Arse Sweat-a-Palooza at Thunderhill Raceway in California.
That piece of plywood got retired after I picked up a sewing-grade cutting mat, just in time for the crazy rise in the price of new plywood. Here it is getting some more X-Acto cuts during the making of the Denver International Airport Conspiracy Theory stencil for the 2015 B.F.E. GP race in Colorado.
Keyword: Parts Sources for the Jerry Brown Suede Denim Secret Police Car-Parts Boombox