I bought my first 8 track at western auto, took me 6 months to save up the money. Put it in my $50 dollar 62 Impala...lol... I also remember buying my first cassette converter, plugged that into my 8 track so I could play those new fangled cassette tapes...
I have a am-fm 8track with the turn table hooked up in my Garage with the JVC house speakers mounted on the walls, My wife says I'm an ole fuddy Duddy LOL
8-Track was available factory in 1976 and 77. MSRP in 76 was $299 and in 77 $243. I have factory 8-tracks in some of my other cars (Thunderbird, Grand Marquis, etc., etc.,) and with the help of a portable CD player (with cassette adapter) and Radio Shack Stereo with 8-track and cassette, and several blank tapes, I put the CD music onto the 8-track tapes. No joke, I really do!
The 8-Track design was prone to fail and the tape was huge (Helped w/ quality of the sound compared to cassette though) My favorite part was when it would stop in the middle of a song and switch tracks. lol They went away for a reason.
Last 8 track I saw I pulled up from 80 feet of water down rigging in lake Ontario. NO sticker left but the tape was still intact. Thought I had a fish on. LOL.
Because cassette wasn't available in stereo early one and the sound quality was not as good because of slower tape speed compared to 8-track. And narrower track width. I have an older friend who worked at a local sound shop here back in the early 70's and he told me 10 years ago, everytime someone bought a cassette player they brought it back because it would eat tapes. I know most people think 8-track was the worst offender in that category, but not early on. Cassette players for cars did not really become reliable until the mid to late 70's. In all honesty, when I do my CD to 8-track conversion, unless I turn up the volume a good bit, I can't tell any difference in the sound quality. The both sound about the same at normal volume levels. When you turn it up, you do get a bit of background hiss. And I can set my songs up to not split in the middle of a track change. I also can repair my 8-track players and I know how to keep the heads aligned. That helps.
Actually the 4 track player was released prior(midish '60s), but those weren't on the market very long before being repl by the 8-Track... There were automobile record players in the 50s long before even 4-Tracks... Those used so much pressure on the stylus(needle), record and needle life was rather short... BTW the 4-tracks had the pinch roller in the player, it flipped up into the tape that had a large opening instead of the roller... There were also combo 4+8-track units, I had one at one time, no idea what happened to it... And lastly, there were roller adapters that allowed a 4-track tape to be played in a 8-Track unit, due to cost most users moved it from tape to tape...
I put a 8-track player in the mav out of a 70's what ever it was in the junk yard. Its a quadraphonic system. Only got one quad tape though..... One day I'll hook it up.....Quad style
some fine tapes that you got there!see good seventies music,you just gotta luv it! does anyone out there have a radio eight track that came in the 76-77 car?i'd luv to have one.:bananaman
