a quick question...

i am wondering, because i havn't really found any thing on this subject. is there any one out there who is takeing the route of this 15 year old and putting an 8 Track player in their cars? or is any one out there going to show us up and put a fabled car record player in one?

 

I've seen a few cars at shows that have a 70's vibe and still have an 8 Track player but the truth is 8 track tapes in decent shape are hard to come by and they weren't that reliable when they were new. I watched my Muntz eat plenty of them

 

the only way I'd put an 8 track in a car was if it was a car that came factory equipped with one. I picked up a factory 8 track for a 68 Olds a few years back, sold it for big bucks on ebay.

 

I have a couple of eight tracks that I plan on using in something. One is a Lear. I have a Sony 5-303 micro TV (introduced in 1962) that I plan on using...probably in my '63 Fairlane.

 

I think bill Lear's 8 track is cool. Plenty at yard sales. Keep the player clean:

from wikipedia:
Stereo 8 tapes and players developed a reputation for unreliability, mostly because of failures of splicing tape and the phenomenon of having the player "eat" the tape (which was actually caused by insufficient maintenance of the capstan, heads & tape path). The automobile environment, with its temperature extremes, vibration, dust, and so on, caused many failures as well.

I think the 8 track is better audio that the later c***ette.

 

This post is kinda funny.8 tracks are pretty cool if the car came equipped with it,and 8 tracks are cheap around here at swap meets and such.A guy I worked with years ago said he had a record player and it didn't skip like you'd think it would.Pretty amazing to me,since I went from tapes to CDs and then back because the early CD players skipped so bad.Would love to see a car record player one of these days.I'm told the key was the mounting system.

Jimmy D

 

my dad had a record player in his edsel that played 45's, It was made for the vrhicle to be mounted under the dash. The mechanism was suspended inside the casing to keep it from skipping. Maybe someone has heard of these? Or has a pic?

 

The Highway Hi-Fi was the original.

http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Accessories/HiWay/invent.htm

 

My Hi-Tech sound system in my Studebaker will be the factory AM push-****on radio, an FM converter and an NOS Realistic 8-Track tape player (NOS or not, I'm still having it gone thru). I'm still looking for a reverberator.



The tapes I'll have in the car are all 1968 and earlier. My current collection is;

Days of Future Past - The Moody Blues
Sgt Peppers - The Beatles
Rubber Soul - The Beatles
Crimson & Clover - Tommy James and the Shondells
Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield

I'm hoping to score other artists of the period such as the Doors, the Mommas and the Pappas, The Turtles, The Byrds, etc.

Watch the tapes before using them. Check out the pinch rollers, the foam pads and sensing foil. All three can be fixed. I'm practicing on some extra tapes that I wouldn't plan on keeping (Lawrence Welk, etc.). I rather learn now than not be able to fix my good ones.

Check out these sites to learn more about the tapes and the players. I'm looking for a nice home unit to record my own tapes.

Kate's Track Shack
8-Track Shack
Underground Albums
Quarter Inchers
8-Track Heaven

Kate's Track Shack is great because they can do repairs, sell supplies to do
your own repairs, they sell tapes, convert to CD (and back) as well as make new 8-tracks.

The only newer item in the system will probably be the speakers. But only one in the front and only one in the rear, just the way Studebaker intended.

 

Actually, it would be more accurate to install a 4-track player, since they were out first. I would think it would be very difficult to find 4-track stuff. There also was at least one reel-to-reel player available for automobiles, too. I'll have to scrounge around in my literature collection.

 

But there is so few 4 track items out there that you'd have a hard time finding music. I guess it would depend on the era of the build. I was looking at late '60's so that's the music and player. If I was doing a '50's car I'd have a Town & Country radio and a record player if it would fit.

 

just found out that my ''new camper'' a 66 airstream came with an 8 track player, and still has it.

 

i still have a hundred or so tapes. they don't get eaten much. i still know how to fix them any way. not to much of a problem.

 

yeah i would like to see one my self, i heard though, that after about 4 plays through, your record was trash. not good.

 

that is what i was hopeing to find on this posting, do you know where to find one?

 

Yep, I wasn't bashing ya at all (or in particular)...just thinking that if memory serves, the first available players were in the very early '60s, '62 I think, and were four track...the Muntz Stereo-Pak, or something like that. Then Lear developed the 8-track in '64 and Ford offered them in late '65 for the 1966 models.

As we both said, it would be a miserable job to find 4-track stuff, though I haven't really tried- maybe there's more out there than I thought.

 

I have 2 car 8track players and a few for the house . I also have about 200+ 8tracks too ! I am planing on installing a 8track in my 55 Ford . Always some good music to listen to on the good old 8tracks !

Retro Jim