





I was my understanding that the purpose of those removeable-front-panels
were to make the radio useless, and thus discourage theft (that is if the 
cover were removed by the owner and taken along whenever the car was left.)

If those covers were sold for anything remarkably less than the radio 
originally costs, or even sold at all,
then the above discouragement wouldn't be so great.

I personally would be unhappy, if I bought a radio like that, thinking that 
removing the cover greatly depreciated the radio's value, and the covers were
sold by the company (or other legitimate source) cheaply.