Hi!

Any ideas on what would make it skip so easily?

Whatever you do, DO NOT twiddle any pots or adjustments inside the player!
This may really "fix" things beyond all hope of repair.

I would start by looking for dust build-up in the player. I've pulled some
car radios out over time that were just choked with dust, even ones that
came from cars which were well kept over time. Perhaps there's a gob of dust
stuck to the lens. There might also be something stuck in the track that the
pickup runs along...and that could cause the sled assembly not to be able to
move freely, which might cause skipping in the audio. While you're in there,
see if the spindle motor is stiff or sticky when turned by hand. It too
could be suffering from dried up grease or oil.

Also worth a shot are any electrolytic capacitors in the radio. Over time
the moisture inside these capacitors could have been driven out by extreme
heat in the car. This can cause all kinds of malfunctions or strange
behavior.

I do agree with most of the other posters here--the Delco made radios are
cheaply constructed and are not really the best thing out there. This is
true even today--the radio from my 2003 S-10 is held together *only* by snap
points in the metal casing! But they do seem to keep playing (at least the
radio does) for quite some time.

William