Despite the popularity of resto-modding, the practice hasn’t been extended to every facet of classic cars yet. Old car phones, for example, remain just as lifeless as they have since their networks were shut down. But, classic car phones can still be brought back to life, and in better shape than their original splendor, as shown by the owner of a 1993 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4.
After three years of work, Lau restored the device’s functionality using a custom Bluetooth adapter. Lau engineered the adapter to piggyback between the stock phone transceiver and hands-free control unit located under the trunk carpet. That let Lau tap into modern cell networks with his 1993 car phone—but he didn’t stop there.
Paired with a smartphone, the stock handset displays the name of the paired device and the signal strength of the smartphone’s network. It gets better: When plugged into the stereo via an AUX cord, the car’s hands-free microphone feeds the smartphone voice commands (to Apple’s Siri in this case). It’s pretty much all the functionality of a 2023 hands-free system but without the distraction of a touchscreen.
Obviously, that isn’t about to become a widespread resto-mod trend soon. The lengthy dev time, low take rate of car phones in their day, and uniqueness of individual cars’ systems mean we’re probably not about to see off-the-shelf car phone restoration kits soon. But the fact that bringing car phones back is possible will hopefully inspire someone else out there to resuscitate theirs—maybe even one of those retro Chrysler VisorPhones will ride one day again. Or ring, I should say.
Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: james@thedrive.com
