Thread: Car Radios and Stuff .. Do You Remember When?

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I decided to upgrade the Stereos and GPS in the 3 cars I usually drive back to the Midwest once a year (the Ram 50, El Camino and 57 Plymouth). The GPS is simple, just a new unit to replace the 12 year old one. For the Stereos I’ve decided to install add on Satellite radios. Getting ready to install the first Satellite Radio I got to thinking about all changes we’ve been thru in the last 50 years and it brought a smile to my old face. I thought I’d share some memories I suspect a lot of you can relate to.

AM Radio: When I grew up in the 50/60s if you had tunes in the car it was generally the factory AM radio and a single speaker. That was pretty much OK as (at least where I was) there were very few FM stations and if you did get them they were either elevator music or talk radio.

Track Players: Then along came the 4 track player…..followed almost immediately by the 8 track. I knew a couple of guys…the ones who had to have the latest and greatest who were just a bit upset after going out and buying/installing a 4 track player and tapes only to have it obsolete in 6 months . I remember hanging more than one of those early big old boxes on a bracket under the dash and then doing speakers in the package tray or door panels …..and yeah, I’ll even admit to butchering a couple of dashes to dash mount them (still feel bad about that). How many of you remember repairing tapes that had come apart, would double track when switching tracks, or had gotten unspooled when the player decided eat the tape? My favorite was the song fading in the middle, switching tracks and then coming back on. Then there was the small suitcase sitting on the floorboard that you used to hold all the tapes.

Cassette Players: And then came the cassette players. I remember in the late 60s people starting to migrate to the smaller and longer cassettes. A lot of the first ones were like the 8 track players, a unit that hung on a bracket under the dash. For a while in the 70s I even had a unit that played both 8 track and cassettes ….wow what a big ugly box . I had 2 suitcases of tapes on the back floor board.

Then came the in dash AM/FM Cassette players. Compared to the under the dash units they were fantastic. Admittedly they were pretty basic by later standards but even the cheap ones now had front and rear speaker outputs (as opposed just 2 speakers). Analog tuning …….you know the dial that you tuned all the way thru the frequencies with and the little red pointer going across the radio face. The cheaper ones ( which was what I could usually afford) didn’t have an auto reverse function. When you came to the end of the side the cassette would click off and the radio would come back on….you had to manually flip the tape over to hear the other side. I actually dug one of those old style tape players up and installed it in my 37 Dodge when I built it. Brings a smile to me when I turn it on


FM Convertors: I had one of these once. It was basically just a little box that wired into the car antenna. You’d tune the factory AM radio to a certain frequency, turn the box on and use it as a tuner to listen to FM stations. The one I had worked pretty good and it was a cheap alternative until I could afford a proper AM/FM Cassette player.

CBs: God I think everybody my age has had at least one of those. Early on it was only 23 channels and you had to have a license. At least they usually had a built in speaker (that you could understand sometimes) but you still had to run all that cable to install the antenna on the outside of the car that screamed “I have a CB….come break into my car and steal me” which was why a lot of us used the slide in mounts so the radio could be taken out.

Reverbs: I first heard a reverb unit around 1970 (they had been popular in the early 60s and for a short time around 70-71 they made a short lived come back. I really loved that echo sound. Running the cable and speaker wires to the box (usually mounted in the truck) is not a lot of fun however. I do have one of these in the 57 Plymouth and really enjoy it. Of course it’s hooked to the AM/FM Cassette player (with the suitcase of tapes on the rear floor board ) I suspect I’ll enjoy the add-on satellite radio upgrade a lot in that car, especially on the cross country trip.

CD Changers: About 15 years ago I upgraded to AM/FM/Cassette/CD Players in a couple of cars. I really enjoy throwing a cartridge with 6 CDs into the player and just driving for 6-8 hours without having to change anything (especially going thru the western states). Finding a place to hide the CD changer box where it’s out of sight but still accessible is about as bad as some of the installations though

I’m usually at least 10 years behind whatever the latest technology in car audio is so I’m going to stop there,


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I came across a NIB RCA digital AM FM 8 track player on eBay, snagged it for about $40 and enjoyed it for a while. But I discovered that even though the unit was virgin, the tapes were still old, and they would break down when used.

Don't forget to include: FM radio adapters for cassette players, which looked like a cassette with a wire attached. It would slide in to the player like a regular cassette, and feed a radio signal to the unit.

And a lot of people probably never heard of under-dash record players. I understand they were prone to skip.

The four track player is news to me.

i use my phone and bluetooth . no need for cd player these days .

I've had or done most of them except for 4 tracks and the fm stuff. Somewhere out in the garage there is an old reverb unit and an Alpine auto reverse cassette player. I still have many cassette tapes though I rarely, if ever, play them.
Like you Mike I'm about 10 years back in that type of technology. I quit with CD players and that's what I have in the Vette and my Dakota. I like Alpine and their 6 disc changers and the one in the Vette is behind my seat and the one in the Dakota is mounted in the factory console. I will not listen to rap or hip hop or any of that type of garbage.
I have a fairly extensive record collection of 45's and albums, but I rarely listen to either as most everything I want or have is on CD. The CD's are downloaded to my computer and some stuff from you tube and I make my own CD's using a lightscribe CD drive in the computer. Most of my stuff is from either the 50's or 60's and I rarely listen to the radio unless it's a baseball game.

one memory stick can hold more music than i'll ever listen to. i use pandora and have about 6 stations i've developed. you are using data so you need to keep track. my wifi works in my shop. my falcon will have a repo radio with bluetooth

I have over 3300 tunes downloaded to my computer and really it's just personal preference. Most of the stations around here play a lot of garbage and I guess you can say "that I'm lost in the 50's" and that's what I mostly play and listen to.

"...... FM radio adapters for cassette players......."

Actually firebird I came across those adapters to use for satellite radio......there must be some demand for them or they wouldn't make them.


I also just remembered the radar detectors that used to be popular. Most just stuck to the windshield......and cops used to love to give tickets to speeders that had one in the car. I did one in my 58 Chevy years ago that had a hidden antenna behind the grill and the main unit could be mounted anywhere you could pull the cable thru (had mine hidden in the console.



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My 36 coupe and 40 sedan didn't have a radio and I drove both across country, those were the days.

I can relate to a lot of this. My Dad's GS400 had a dealer installed 8 track. He played 8 tracks in it all the time when I was a tike. My Uncle that originally owned the 40, was a big CB nut. he had a CB that he could talk to China in his house. I've only seen 4 tracks in a couple of cars at shows. I have 2 6 disc CD changers in 2 different rides. I need to see if I can find a radio to operate one of them for something.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

I can relate to a lot of this. My Dad's GS400 had a dealer installed 8 track. He played 8 tracks in it all the time when I was a tike. My Uncle that originally owned the 40, was a big CB nut. he had a CB that he could talk to China in his house. I've only seen 4 tracks in a couple of cars at shows. I have 2 6 disc CD changers in 2 different rides. I need to see if I can find a radio to operate one of them for something.

What brand of 6 disc changers? If they're Alpines two of the best radios, IMHO, are CDA- 9856 and 57 if they are Ai-NET changers. If they are M buss that's a different story. If I can help let me know.

Like many of you I remember all of those systems. I still have an underdash 8 track deck and speakers. I had thought about setting it into the coupe. We'll see, I've still got crates full of 8 tracks! I think I have 2 cassette decks.. and boxes of tapes too.
Reverb was a blast. We'd stack 2 or 3 together and try to "overdrive the sound".. Don't remember it working to good! LOL..

Coupe doesn't have any system in it now.. not sure if I'll put anything in. In the new cars I use the memory sticks, couple thousand songs is all I need I guess.. I've been listening to the same setup for 3 years now! LOL.

"........ I still have an underdash 8 track deck and speakers. I had thought about setting it into the coupe. We'll see, I've still got crates full of 8 tracks! I think I have 2 cassette decks.. and boxes of tapes too......"


Ahhh.... but do you have an in dash AM/FM/8track WITH a built in CB?

I have an old Kraco unit sitting on the shelf and was really tempted to install it in the 37....(for about 5 seconds )


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Originally Posted by Mike P

"... Ahhh.... but do you have an in dash AM/FM/8track WITH a built in CB?

I have an old Kraco unit sitting on the shelf and was really tempted to install it in the 37....(for about 5 seconds ).

No, nothing that fancy in my possession. The setup I did want "back then" was a Pioneer Super tuner. AM / FM / 8 Track, I swear it would crank up to 11 !!!

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

What brand of 6 disc changers? If they're Alpines two of the best radios, IMHO, are CDA- 9856 and 57 if they are Ai-NET changers. If they are M buss that's a different story. If I can help let me know.

I will have to look and see but I'm pretty sure they are Alpine. My 95 F350 has a 6 disc changer in it but the PO kept the head unit and put the factory stereo back in the truck. I'll double check and get back to ya.

I remember 8 tracks...they sailed pretty good out of the car window!!!! Got a ton of cd's and don't even listen to them anymore...Like Shine, I listen to either Pandora or You tube...I can't stand listening to commercial radio anymore...too many ads and they play the same music over and over and over!!!