Art & Inspiration This was about as cool as one could get when I was a teenager

A Pioneer SuperTuner that could literally suck you into the speakers and send you on a journey thru it's inner dimensions.

 

Very cool indeed !

 

I had never paid much attention to the 4 and then 8 track tape players in the 60's and got drafted in July of 67. Move to January 69 and I am on the way to Fort Hood Texas and because the short route was having serious snow storms I took the long way through California, Vegas Phoenix, Tucson and El Paso to get to Central Texas probably adding 1000 miles.
When I was at a gas station in Tucson I picked up a kid hitch hiking back to Fort Bliss on Sunday afternoon and we headed out. about way dark thirty I pulled into a gas station somewhere in the middle of nowhere and got gas and went inside to pay and that station had the back wall behind the counter filled solid with tapes for tape players. We had been trying to find a station on the radio for almost an hour and there was no radio reception in that area at all any time. I didn't get a tape player until after I got married and it was just a small under dash unit that I think I still have out in the shed. Real 1969/70 stuff .

 

While still in high school I worked at Muntz Stereo City in Salem Oregon installing first 4 track then Combination 4 & 8 track and straight 8 track units. Muntz would send out one of a new model when they were getting ready to launch a new one to try out to try to increase orders. My two bosses had stereos in their cars they didn't want to change out so they gave me a new model to try out in my car. It had a special "theft proof" mounting bracket with special fasteners so I mounted it under the dash of my 64 Comet Cyclone, sounded great! That night while on a date at the local bowling alley went out to the car and the stereo was gone, but the bracket was still there. Next day told my boss what happened and that they also took all my tapes and some other stuff. Went out to the shop and went to work, couple hours later over the intercom I heard "GET YOUR ASS UP HERE NOW! I run up front to see my boss has some kid by the coat collar and my stereo laying on the counter. He brought it in to try to buy a mounting bracket. Because it was the special pre order unit there wasn't another one like it in town. My boss took his wallet with his drivers license in it and told him he had 30 minutes to bring back everything else that was stolen from my car or else! He came back in twenty minutes with two huge boxes of tapes and stereos they had stolen because he didn't know exactly what had came from my car. The officer that was waiting with me out in the shop was very interested in everything in those two boxes, I hope he wasn't given a slap on the wrist AND learned something! Sorry for the long story. Mark

 

I'd say at the least, that hopefully ended the kid's theft career.

 

Wow, a memory for sure, I bought a 8 truck super tuner and had it for about a year, then started getting cassettes, bought a cassette super tuner2. After 40 years I don’t know what happened to either of them.

Edit: Still have my gas pedal “foot” and somewhere I have my high beam switch foot.

 

It is cool though…

 

Around these parts it goes " I may have to grow old, but I refuse to grow up"

 

Switch the 8 track for an alpine 2 knob tape deck and that was me in high school .

had Boston on cassette !!

sad thing is manual transmissions are going the way of the doo doo bird .

buddy just bought an o/t euro car with a manual and was told this is the last year it will be offered across all the lines they sell .

said it before and I’ll say it again I’m so dang glad o grew up before computers

manual widows
Manual steering
And
Manual trans !!

vroom f$&@ing vroom man

 

Man would of had that Robin Trower tape in.

 

Wondering just how many dashes got cut up/butchered for the install of a tape deck back in the day? Or door panels or kick panels for stereo speakers?

 

I'd like to add to this thread but I have no pics of a 4 track unit in a 62 Ford 500xl with a 390 and 4 speed, a 64 Fairlane with a hipo 298 and 4 speed and a Pioneer 4 / 8 track player and a 65 Mustang fastback with a Craig 8 track that was removable with a 289 and 4 speed. None of those cars had an am/fm radio even though they were available in a 1961 Ford.

 

Looks even better in color.jmho. Snowman ⛄️

 

The 8-track was a thing of the past by the time I was in highschool ('80-'84), but I did have a Pioneer Supertuner with cassette. Friend of mine had what was at the time a top-of-the-line Blaupunkt (not sure if I spelled that correctly) system in his car; didn't have it long as someone managed to steal the entire setup late one night.

 

I like that you could always have one rewound and ready to go too.

 

I would never fall for that cassette crap, those guy's always sat around with a pencell winding them back up.

 

Yeah it was!!!

 

Ditch the Boston...keep the Trower.

 

That's one of the reasons that aftermarket stereos never appealed to me... I hate cutting shit up! I also don't like the 'added on' 'didn't know where to hang it' afterthought-look. And the sound quality in a running, moving car (unless it's a Rolls Royce) isn't that great. Most guys installed them just to impress other people.

 

I’ve got a muntz blue light 4 track player somewhere in my stuff…

 

Back in the 60's the best I had was an AM radio, bringing in KOMA Oklahoma City, & KAAY Little Rock Ark. Had to park on the hill to get a good signal.

 

The quickchange, injectors and no roof made it hard to listen to music. Actually, I kinda thought the Cyclone was music of sorts.

 

Do people still steal car radios? It was a common occurrence, at least Down Under, right through the 80's and 90's. Spent a lot of time making brackets to hold stereos back onto the firewall to make it harder to remove in a hurry.

I figure that car audio prices have dropped so much that no-one steals them anymore, but perhaps I'm wrong.

Cheers,
Harv

 

It's true and it's understandable.
A lot of badass cars couldn't shouldn't wouldn't didn't don't and won't benefit from a stereo system. Cuz they make their own bad ass rock and roll.
Literally. Bam! LOL
The rest of us... we can and do and gotta have some tunes.

 

You are one sick puppy.

 

I don't think stealing car stereos is a thing anymore, no. I got a jvc with all the bells and whistles for my dd pickup for like a hundred bucks, so probably not much money in it now.

I do have a stereo in my shoebox, but certain cars I agree shouldn't have one. There's nothing in my Chris Craft either, and that also makes its own 'music'. If I want tunes, I sing....