Art & Inspiration Remember Car Radio Reverb's ?

In the 60's I remember putting a reverb on my car radios, If I remember correctly, it wired in between radio front and back speakers, which I added, was a delay, made radio sound like a Stereo or so we thought and was told, as I never had a Stereo anything until 70's. All the Rock & Roll was on AM, the 2 stations, WRIT and WOKY, Larry the Legend & The Space Cowboy, Johnathan Green were the 2 big time DJ's that I listened to for many years. Funny when you're young the the radio was a big deal, last 20 years in a car, never turn it on, if wife turns it on, I can't hear it, if I adjust sound level, she's unhappy, makes for some interetesting conversation, TV watching and the mufflers I put on my toys, she has worn ear plugs in some of them, not loud to me. LOL

 

Still have a reverb for my '55 Chevy. You were hot stuff if you owned a reverb. I always had the radio turned up. Now my hearing is shot. Not because of the radio. Rock bands did their damage.

Out our way, we had KJR and KOL as radio stations for rock. Pat O' Day and Red Hamilton Walker III were the two DJ's respectively. Emperor Smith joined the KOL staff at some point also. Fun times indeed.

 

Remember the sound from the reverb, when driving over railroad tracks ?

 

Yea I remember them ,My brother bought a new 64 pontiac Grand Prix and it had one in it.What I really liked about that car was that it had a 389 Tri power with a 4 speed and 411 posi.I had to wait 3 years before I got to drive it.That car could really haul the mail for a car that big and heavy.

 

"I had too much to dream last night" sounds real good with a reverb ...

 

I remember hitting a dump in the road or bumps and it made a bbboooiiinnnggg sound.

 

That's the sound ... happened over the railroad tracks, as well !

 

I had a reverb in my 61 Starliner, remember listening to **** Biondi and Art Weber on WLS.

 

The Beach Boys Good Vibrations was the ultimate sound on a reverb, always cranked it up when it played.

 

Angel Baby by Rosie and the Originals

 

That part of the reverb memory's gone, Do not remember that fact, But at my age, I'm thankful for the memory's that do pop in.

 

I have a Motorola Vibrasonic in the trunk of my '65 Falcon Futura, it was in the car when I bought it back in '71.

 

It's a factory option I have on my '63 Thunderbird.

 

I'm with you on this,I don't recall the reverb acting like that but I sure remember the record player needle sliding across the record when I hit a pot hole or railroad track. HRP

 

Might have been used mainly for interstate or new pavement. Tricky changing records while driving along with traffic....the 2 hour supply of 45 rpm records would help before hittin' the road

 

I had one of them. I got it for the cool red lights. It had red oval lights that look like the old time tunnel T.V. show. It would pulse sate with the music. Sometimes I also had lights in the rear view mirror too. But they weren't as cool. lol

 

My 68 gto had a factory adjustable lever on the dash.

 

I still have the old Vibrasonic on my shelf that my brother used in the '60's in several of his cars

 

My buddy Tom has it in his 66 GTO

 

I had a factory reverb in my 66 GTO.

 

Yes 2935ford! Our 63 Galaxie has a factory option one as well. Actuated by a headlight dimmer foot switch. Both the dimmer and reverb switches are close together on the floor so it's easy to get 'em mixed up! It's out right now as it quit working. Several years ago there was a guy in town who could repair them, along with vintage car radios. Regards, Dave.

 

Never had the record player deal, you were $$$ higher end than I and my cars tended to ride poorly due to rising up (spacers) or cutting coils to go down.

 

I don't know how to turn mine off!

 

the problem with the reverb boooooing on bumps was due to the springs that gave it the unique sound.I still have one in the ba*****t along with an rca record player.it sits along side a chrysler 8 track player.I am pretty sure most young people would have no idea what they are.they would look for an Ipod dock or ask if they an pick up cirius radio.

 

When restoring a '59 Caddy it had a knob by the drvers' knee and speaker wires went to it. The radio had 'Transistorized' right on the front of it and each speaker got 4 wires! I crawled under there ans connected the whole mess, crawled out turned on the radio and nothing happened, crawled back under and reconnected the wires different, turned it on and nothing happened, crawled back under byp***ed that switch , reconnected the wires and turned it back on, nothing! Dammit! I crawled back under to reconnect back to the original way I had it, came back out and turned it on, still nothing! I was sitting there trying to figure out what I was doing wrong when I started to hear something as the radio came to life and I tweaked the dial to hear Patsy Cline come out of those speakers as if she were the all the time! It was the most beautiful sound, just perfect. I'll never forget it.

 

My first car with a radio was a '48 Chevy. It took about five minutes of buzzing and popping noise before it warmed up and music came out. It, like the lights were wired direct and if you left them on for maybe fifteen minutes the battery was dead.

 

I get they were called spring reverbs (guitar amps had 'em too) and they have actual springs in thar. How did work exactly? These reverb units came as factory equipment!?

 

Yep, my uncle bought a new '64 Ford with the better AM radio and a reverb. Neatest thing I had ever heard.

 

Had a vibrasonic in my 56 Ford. In N Y we listened to the Hound on WKBW or Roger Christian on WNIA. **** Biondi Came later in Buffalo. In Rochester it was WBBF or WSAY. That was late 50s early 60s, before many of you were born.

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Yikes! Wish we had that problem! The repair guy I mentioned at the time told me there were two types, mechanical and electrical. Don't know what type ours is.