Looking for a 355 radio (either Becker or Sony)

They are very hard to find in Europe, I'm also looking out for one ... but they ask ridiculous prices for a tape radio

Note that a US version will not work in mainland Europe (i guess)

 

There are many European Beckers for sale on Ebay (mainly from Germany) but those that have "Ferrari" on the face plate, or shown on the display at startup, are not cheap. So, you have to plan spending about $1000 for a "Ferrari" one. The cheapest I can currently see on Ebay is $850 by a UK seller.

There is a number of cheaper ones by the USA sellers (~ $500). The radios set for the USA market will work in Europe but you will not be able to tune into FM stations having even decimal points. For example, the FM frequency tuning increments on a USA radio run 95.1 - 95.3 - 95.5 ... (no even decimal points) and the Euro ones run 95.1 - 95.2 - 95.3 - 95.4 - 95.5 ... (odd and even decimal points).

Like in the case of many other radios, Becker also has an option to change the country/region setting. The procedure is shown on page 27 of the attached Becker manual. The radio model name or number is not stated but the drawing of the face plate shows "Porsche" and it otherwise looks much like the "Ferrari" models. So, the country setting option might be available on any Becker of the same generation (faceplate appearance) but there is also a risk that certain models, although looking similar to the "Porsche" one, may not have the option.

I once bough a radio on Ebay from the USA (Alpine, for Jaguar) and I was able to easily change its country setting to Europe. The menu did not have an "EU" (or "EURO") option but it had "AUS" option which is also good for Europe.

 

A Becker unit should be binned. Ugly as hell. Those were only put on the latest model 99 cars and would not be a bonus in your 96 car. You’re better off with a better looking after market head unit.

I do have a Sony without Ferrari badge very similar to the Sony Ferrari.

 

I have a ["Ugly as hell" apparently] Becker unit (probably it was removed from a 360).

I put a Sony back in mine as it had an orphaned CD changer in it.