Question about "Bose" radio

[Stefan Hudson <hudson@mbay.net>]

Greetings, all... I've been off the list for a while, but I finally
might have some time to deal with it now.  I do have a question,
however...

I just installed a new head unit, replacing the "Bose" (Panasonic?)
unit that came with my 1998 Jetta GLX.  Many thanks to Willie
Anderson for his excellent guide on the subject... Crutchfield should
include it with all of the kits they send out to GLX/Bose system
owners.  The bit with the negative speaker wire is especially strange,
especially since the factory radio has it connected... which brings
me to my question...

I'd like to use the old head unit and changer in another car, but will
it work?  Is the factory "Bose" head unit specially modified to work
with the amp in the GLX?  Will it would in a standard vehicle (a
Chyrsler Lebaron) without the amp?  I wonder because the factory
harness connects the negative speaker pins on the factory head unit,
but the amp doesn't like this with other head units.

Anyway, for those that are wondering, the new head unit is an Aiwa
CDC-MP3, which has an in-dash CD that can play MP3s burned onto CDRs.
I can finally have all my favorite music in one place without dealing
with the changer.  It sounds great to me, and seems to be relatively
imune from skipping, although railroad tracks did kill it for a couple
seconds.  The only problem is cosmetic... the trim is an odd shade of
metallic brown.  It's got a ton of blue LEDs for illumination, which
look great... the only problem is the rest of the car uses green.  I
wonder how hard it would be to change the dash LEDs to blue?  Anyone
tried this?

My only other gripe is that the clock doesn't have a 24 hour mode.  Of
course, the dash clock doesn't either, which is REALLY sad for a German
car.

Anyway, enough rambling... thanks for any input...