Dammit! Quit Putting Holes in My Car!!!

[Andrew Mace]

I had both AM and 8-tracks both. AM was and is always staticy...

As opposed to FM: <span style="font-style: italic">no static at all</span>!*

*Apologies to Steely Dan

... when that was what there was you didn't seem to care. Worse was in N. Oklahoma maybe 8 or 10 stations. After dark on a good day you might get WLS in Chicago, what a treat.

Yeah, those were the days, especially for me back in the 1960s in Eastern NY, waiting for dark to hear WLS or WCFL in Chicago, WKBW in Buffalo, WABC New York, WTOP, etc., etc. Didn't hurt that my grandfather's old Philco 39-30 wooden table radio was a very good radio! But I digress....

Look close you'll see my dad's radio option.

Neat!

 

[apbos]

"Those were the days".............. Back in the late '80's I would get out the AM radio after dark to listen to Boston and (WABC NY, NY) radio while I was living on Prince Edward Island, Canada to keep up with US news and sports. It was a nightly routine while going to school. Now I feel old! LOL
Paul

 

[TR_Jim]

The first car I bought was a '60 Austin-Healey and someone installed a huge 4, yes I said 4, track player under the dash. I only found two 4 track tapes to buy, in a bargin basket, but the heads had to be the same as my reel-to-reel because I would make tapes on the reel and then wind them into the 4 track case. Never sounded very good, but it was a novelty.

 

[TR3driver]

If memory serves me correctly, the 8 track was originally designed for playing commercials on the radio

Way I recall it, the radio stations used 4 track rather than 8 track. Still an endless loop system, but the 4-track drives had a pinch roller that pushed up into a hole in the cartridge, rather than having it integrated into the cartridge as the Lear Jet 8-track did. The 8-track version was designed for the consumer market, primarily automobiles; and was considerably less expensive (as well as smaller).

The radio station 4 tracks probably used 1/2" tape (all I recall is that the cartridges were huge), but 8 track used 1/4". I think the radio station version must have also used a higher tape speed, as they didn't hold much at all; only 3 or 4 minutes per (mono) track. In high school, I was friends with the engineer at the local radio station, and he let me hang around sometimes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_tape

 

[71MKIV]

When I was in high school I made a fair amount of gas money "rescueing" eaten 8 track tapes. Up to the point of having the whole thing on the floor and rewinding it one-turn-at-a-time, only to find out what Black Sabbath really did say backwards.

It worked reasonably well if you kept the pinch roller and capstan clean. A little sticky on the capstan and munch munch.

 

[UmmYeahOk]

Think of it like a dancing bear ... What is amazing is not how well the bear dances, but that it dances at all. Compared to nothing at all, 8-tracks were pretty darn amazing!

So just like with a carburetor... ...Whats not amazing is the performance it gives, but that it give any at all.

If 8tracks=bear and bear=carbs,
Then 8tracks=carbs!

I was sucked into 8 track tapes initially in the late 70's by the great Columbia House deal.

They had that crap back then too?!?

There are still quite a few music stations on AM, but they tend to be very segmented: oldies (especially 1950s and 1960s), "Music of Your Life" stations (all that wonderful Ray Coniff and Steve and Edye, and the like.

I wouldnt mind much the oldies, but theyre worse quality than the talk radio! I serious think the only reason people listen to it, is because either thats the only thing their radio can pick up, or the dial is broken!

Reminds me of when I lived in VA for a few years (88-91). We were an hour south of DC and an hour north of Richmond. All stations were staticy, even FM. But there was one station that we got loud and clear. It was an oldies station that only played 50s and 60s. The only new music I heard was on MTV. So, I tend to associate some of this old junk with my own childhood. In fact, we used to play a game where my parents would ask me who sang what was currently playing. I was right 50% of the time, which is quite impressive considering that I didnt own any "albums." Its not like today when you see a 7 yo playing Beatles Rock Band, and failing miserably at the singing part because shes hearing the song for the first time.

Whats sad, was when I was really little, I used to think that everything I heard was live. When requests were made, the last group would leave, and the new group would step up to the mic. Whenever I found out that one of the Fab Four was not only dead, but dead before I was even born, I didnt know what to think.

Oldies stations make sense in cars like this. I may have not been alive back then, but the car was.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]For some models, such as the Spitfire and GT6, there were factory "blanking" plates as well as the same plate with the typical "standard" radio chassis cutout. The blanking plates seem to be much rarer nowadays![/QUOTE]

Found one that had been cut out, but its so bad that even though its for classic knobs, I dont see any triumph or custom autosound unit fitting and looking right. I need one. I wouldnt mind one that had been cut, so long as I can get it to work with what I want.

If memory serves me correctly, the 8 track was originally designed for playing commercials on the radio while the cassette was designed for dictation. Due to the wider tape and greater speed the 8 track was better for playing music. The “endless loop” was created by joining the ends of the piece of tape with a metallic tape. When this tape went across a set of contacts the head was moved to a different track. There were eight tracks on the tape with each one having a left and right sound track, so there were sixteen recordings on the one half inch wide tape. The recordings were better, but the speed control was questionable. The cassette started catching on when the electronics got better at “fixing” the sound. The cassette had two “tracks” each with a left and right sound track. So there were four recordings on the one quarter inch tape. The recordings were not originally as good as the 8 tracks, but the speed control was much better. The 8 tracks were common for about a decade, which isn’t too bad. The reel to reel tape players had the best of both, but didn’t fit in the dash very well.

They were. They may have been 4 tracks. I dont remember because they tend to look very similar. They still use them even to this day. Well, I assume they do at stations that arent fully digitized yet.

That metal splicing tape is what I was referring to when I believed that it had been eaten and fixed before.

https://8trackheaven.com/

Lots of good info there, including semi-new releases.

The first car I bought was a '60 Austin-Healey and someone installed a huge 4, yes I said 4, track player under the dash. I only found two 4 track tapes to buy, in a bargin basket, but the heads had to be the same as my reel-to-reel because I would make tapes on the reel and then wind them into the 4 track case. Never sounded very good, but it was a novelty.

Reminds me of when I purchased one of the very first indash mp3 players. No joke, 2000, and there were only two brands on the market. From 1998-2004 I was still explaining to people what mp3s were, so naturally when I went to purchase one, the audio dept at best buy was confused as he11. They kept trying to sell me a mini disk player. I was going for a huge mega upgrade. (replacing a cassette player not for a CD, not for a mini disk, but for an mp3 player that would read CD-RWs. Does anyone even remember minidisk players? I think they lastest a year or two. Sony was smart and reuse their abandoned medium to make UMDs... ..if you dont know what a UMD is, then I dont need to explain it.

 

[Andrew Mace]

I was sucked into 8 track tapes initially in the late 70's by the great Columbia House deal.

They had that crap back then too?!?

Hey, I was a late 1960s member of the Columbia Record Club, I think even before they became the Columbia Record <span style="font-style: italic">and Tape</span> Club. :laugh:

There are still quite a few music stations on AM, but they tend to be very segmented....

I wouldnt mind much the oldies, but theyre worse quality than the talk radio! I serious think the only reason people listen to it, is because either thats the only thing their radio can pick up, or the dial is broken!

I guess I didn't really make clear that many of those AM music stations are much lower power (I think there are even a few "daylight only" stations remaining as well as those with even lower power at night than during the day), where a lot of the AM "talk radio" stations are as much as 50,000 watts of power.

 

[JodyFKerr]

I guess I didn't really make clear that many of those AM music stations are much lower power (I think there are even a few "daylight only" stations remaining as well as those with even lower power at night than during the day), where a lot of the AM "talk radio" stations are as much as 50,000 watts of power.

You'd be amazed how little power AM takes. We had a 50 watt transmitter, and were picked up as far away as Detroit from Boston in my "pirate radio" high school days. Mind you, that's mainly at night when the signal can skip.

 

[UmmYeahOk]

I was sucked into 8 track tapes initially in the late 70's by the great Columbia House deal.

They had that crap back then too?!?

Hey, I was a late 1960s member of the Columbia Record Club, I think even before they became the Columbia Record <span style="font-style: italic">and Tape</span> Club. :laugh:

True Old School. I didnt hear about Columbia House until they started selling CDs. I considered it because I didnt have any CDs, only one or two, but I wasnt a fan of anything they offered. 90s music sucked, and what was worse, is 00s music. The music industry is blaming internet piracy for loss sales, but really, the music sucks. Everything Ive downloaded is from the 80s or older. Anything new is a remake. I discovered that pop music from europe and asia is good though. So as far as modern music, thats what Im into now.

 

[Andrew Mace]

According to Wikipedia, the Columbia Record Club began in 1955. I guess it was the late 1960s when I first joined under one of the "12 records for a penny" promotions, and endured a year or two of the "gotta buy at least one every month for the next 1000 years...." fulfillment.

(And I realize we're now waaaaay off-topic, but)You probably should meet my 18-year-old son; I guarantee he'd be able to recommend some current music you'd like. I was like you in my distaste for most anything from the last 20 years. He, on the other hand, likes everything from Beethoven and Gustav Holst up through Glenn Miller, Les Paul, Beatles/rest of British Invasion and Beach Boys up through Greenday, Streetlight Manifesto, lots of ska, etc., etc., etc.! Little wonder that he's now a college freshman music major!

Now, how do we get this back on-topic? Oh yeah, records had holes in the center, and some had extra holes punched in them before they were put in the remainder bins (oh, look: Boxcar Willie albums...only $1.00!).

 

[HerronScott]

I was sucked into 8 track tapes initially in the late 70's by the great Columbia House deal.

They had that crap back then too?!?

Oh yes even way back then!

Over time I not only ended up a member of Columbia House but also BMG which explains the 300 albums and 600 CDs we have. I've really slacked over the past 15 years though.

There are still quite a few music stations on AM, but they tend to be very segmented: oldies (especially 1950s and 1960s), "Music of Your Life" stations (all that wonderful Ray Coniff and Steve and Edye, and the like.

I had not touched the AM side of a radio in years and years and years (mostly listen to XM these days), but while I was waiting to pick up my son after a football game one night I decided to check it out and was amazed at how few stations were there even at night when you would expect to get some farther stations. I only found a few talk stations.

Definitely a dying medium!

Scott

 

[HerronScott]

Now, how do we get this back on-topic? Oh yeah, records had holes in the center, and some had extra holes punched in them before they were put in the remainder bins (oh, look: Boxcar Willie albums...only $1.00!).

Or cutouts in the album covers (and yes I frequented the cutout bins frequently during college!).

Scott

 

[UmmYeahOk]

Look in your local chain and independent parts stores first. Likely as not, the purchase price will be close, and you won't need to pay shipping!

The only antennas I ever see are those lame 18" black rubber antennas that always look bent. I knew a place that had a huge assortment of antennas that would have worked at a mega electronics store called Fry's Electronics. I went there today and they no longer have them!!! They phased it out!!! I always wondered just how many of those they sold. I mean typically if youre buying a car stereo you already have one, or you have enough money to just buy a new one from the dealer.