Classic/Antique Car Repair: Orginal radio, 1956 chevy, flashlight battery, antenna connection

Question
Mr. Benjamin, hopefully you can help me with  this
Question. My car is a complete original 56 convertible.  I reinstalled my original radio after some restoration. It previously worked fine. When turning it on the tubes seem to be working,  the vibration tube is buzzing normally but I cant seem to get any other sound.  I am not getting any radio stations.  The antenna is attached.  There are two wires coming from the speaker assembly side. I can not find where they connect to. I'm sure this must be the problem area.  Any advice?  

Answer
It may harm the radio to operate it without a speaker connected, so do not turn it on again until you resolve the speaker connections. Of course, if the speaker wires are not connected, there can be no sound from the speaker.   Beyond suggesting that you slither under there with a good flashlight and find out where things are not hooked up, I really have no brilliant suggestion!

If you determine that the speaker is connected, and still hear no sound, there are a couple of things you can do.  First, turn everything off and disconnect the speaker wires.  Take a flashlight battery (it doesn't matter which size or which polarity) and connect it momentarily between the two wires that go to the speaker.  You should hear a click from the speaker - if you do not, either the wires are not making contact or the speaker has failed.  If you do, and you are sure you previously had them securely fastened to the radio output, reconnect them and turn the radio back on.  When it warms up (give it a minute or so), rotate the volumn control all the way up, and pay attention to whether or not you hear ANYTHING at all out of the speaker. If still there is nothing at all, not even a buzz, the radio output stages have been damaged, and it will have to go to a service place to be repaired.  If you do hear some buzzing when you turn the volumn all the way up, the problem is most likely that your antenna has failed.  You can inspect the antenna connection to make sure it is all the way plugged in, and also you can substitute another antenna (just lay it on the seat), and you should at least get a local station, if the radio is OK. If you do, and the car's antenna won't get anything, you'll need to replace the antenna, the antenna cable, or both.

I hope this is some help,

Dick