Know Your Vintage Car Accessories: Car Tunes

Back in the late Jurassic, before the advent of iPods and satellite radio, Gramps still valued having tunes while driving / and or necking with Grandma on the shore of some secluded tar pit.  The technology for that came in some wondrous and weird forms. Here's a brief history.

In 1930, 10 years after the debut of the first commercial radio station, the first successful car radio was introduced by the Galvin brothers of Chicago. They called their miracle car accessory the "Motorola." It proved so popular renamed the Galvin Company in its honor, and it became the foundation of one of the world's technology giants.

By the late 30's Motorola introduces a number of new features, including push-button tuning that allowed the driver to switch stations with minimal attention disruption.

After WWII cars became glitzier and the radios followed suit. In 1954 Delco Remy debuted the "Auto Radio" with "Electro-Tuner Control" that would magically seek out the strongest signal. No dialing or push buttons needed!  This radio  later became a GM dealer option known as the Wonderbar radio.

The huge growth of LPs and 45 rpm records in the 50's meant there were millions of people with home music collections, but no way to play them on the road. To fill that niche, Dr. Peter Goldmark (who helped developed the LP for Columbia Records) came up with a design for an accessory under-dash record players for Chrysler. Known as the "Highway Hi Fi" it became a dealer option in 1955 and spawned a modest competitive aftermarket.

A reasonable stop-gap solution, but no matter how good the securing spring they worked like shit whenever your car hit a pothole. Enter another Chicago innovator, Earl "Madman" Muntz and his 4-track "Stereo Pak" sound system introduced in 1960.  Unlike the car record player, it wouldn't skip. Muntz made a mint selling the proprietary system and the cassettes to play in them.

By the late 60's one of Muntz's customers Bill Lear (of Lear Jet fame) had worked out many of the bugs in the Muntz 4-track, thereby creating the 8-track tape deck. And, as a result, the entire 1970s.

Sure it's all crude by today's standards, but don't laugh. These devices provided the back seat mood music for Gramps and Grandma, so it just might be responsible for you.