The riocar/empeg is eurocentric!

Actually, it's the other way around. The original player had just 4 buttons on the front, all in the left hand side just as it is now. Considering most of the time I am using the buttons and not the knob, I much prefer the existing layout.

And as tman stated, it's all easially feasable, but you have to deal with an upside down facia design, and the fact that the drives will be worse off then when mounted properly.