Those of us who had our first cars in the 1970s probably had some kind of aftermarket sound “system”. I’m not talking about a fancy integrated stuff with Bose speakers. I mean a factory AM radio in the dash with an 8-track player mounted underneath somewhere. There were all sorts of these players on the market, and I don’t remember ever spending more than $40 on one. Made by Automatic Radio, the seller has a “Grand Boss” 104 8-track player, which also has FM radio capabilities. Likely made in 1973, this vintage music maker can be found in Poland, Ohio, and is available here on craigslist for $55. A shout-out goes to Rocco B. for this tip!
Most of the tape decks I had were off-brand units, but a Realistic from Radio Shack comes to mind. Mine only played tapes (first 8-tracks and then later I upgraded to cassettes). But none of mine were wired for FM tunes like the Grand Boss the seller has. It came out of a 1957 Ford Thunderbird, which wouldn’t have had such technology when it was new. I’m not familiar with the Grand Boss 104, but I get the impression it may have been one of the better units on the market back in the day. The plus is the FM-MPX radio that comes with it.
Features of the player should include automatic track selection and – if you have a good tape rather than a bootleg – maybe you won’t listen to two tracks at the same time! We’re told this music accessory is in excellent condition, but it seems to have the kind of scratches you would expect from having to hook it up under the dash (the mounting bracket is included). If you’re looking to recreate your cruising ride of the 1970s, would you want to plug this into the fuse box?
I have this exact 8-track player in one of my cars! It’s a decent quality unit and nice having an FM radio built-in so a separate FM converter is not needed. Another nice feature is the “fine tuning” for the tape head position. It helps on tapes where the alignment is a bit off. I don’t remember where or when it was purchased, probably a flea market decades ago for a few dollars.
All I’ve ever had to do to keep mine working is clean the switches and slider controls, clean the tape head, and do some cleaning and lubrication of mechanical parts. Though at this point a new drive belt would be a good idea, sometimes I have to finagle the tape cartridge a bit to get it going.
Never had an FM 8 track set up like this but i did have a FM converter back in the late 70’s before I got my first AM/FM 8 track in-dash unit. I am pretty sure that it was a Pioneer, It was a 66 Ford 1/2 ton, had the 6×9 speakers in the headliner behind the heads of the driver and passenger. When I ran into that farm truck that backed out in front of me that headliner piece couldn’t take the jolt and I had that heavy speaker hit me in the back of the head, I got the ticket as I was 17 and Fred was an old time farmer that everyone knew and the cops said I had time to stop. I also had a concussion and a reputation of being a troublemaker so anything I babbled made no difference
Even though it’s been done, it’s always fun to see something we actually had in our lives. Lambos, not so much. Remember I said on the previous tape player post, how I had a tape player in my ’58 Volvo? When I told my brother about that,, he said, he still has that tape player in his basement somewhere! Being 12V in a 6V car, required a 12V battery in the back seat. I wasn’t alone in that regard, every VW had one. We had a tough time wondering if the battery was dying, or our present state of mind,,,at the time( cough) Oh, come on, we all listened to Black Sabbath in altered states on back roads, now it can be told. I mentioned on the ’64 Ford wagon post, it couldn’t be an 8 track, came out in ’66, but may have been a 4 track, I think came out in ’64. Anyway, great stuff, keep ’em coming, the new format is a bit intimidating, but you’ll see, you’ll get a lot more attention( and comments) with features like these.
I had one of these I installed in my ’69 Charger. Played well, and I could also play it at home with an adapter/converter.
Lord, love a duck! What’s with the new format? Are there too many of us burnt-out gearheads who can’t read small print anymore? Well, maybe we won’t have as many complaints over sore eyes.
Anyways, I remember a few of these amongst people I knew back in the day. One of my friends had one in a ’65 Dodge sedan we affectionately called “The Bruise,” because it was black and blue. The ‘Eject’ spring wasn’t up to properly eject the tape so my friend took it all apart and found a spring in his collection that was up to the task. That done, when you pressed Eject, the tape was likely to wind up in your lap. I might add that it automatically ejected the tape when you either drove down a washboard road or hit a major bump.
The funny thing is, I owned three 8-track players but I can only remember the Lear Jet. It always had a funny smell to it, like burnt-out wiring. Maybe it’s more the smell of something that was lit up after you plugged in Jethro Tull…
Here’s one for you
I have a 1979 Chev c10
Factory 454 that I bought new.
It has a factory delco am fm 8track.
I installed the factory AM/FM, 8-Track in my ’79 GMC K-1500. Worked very well all the time I drove it. Still in there today…
I can still remember 8 track tapes on the side of the road with the tape blowing in the wind! Good memories!
I had a Radio Shack 8 track player in my 70 Chevelle and later a Craig 8 track player in my 72 Monte Carlo named the Spaniard because of it’s color.
If anybody out there has a use for it, I’ve got an 8 track recorder that I’ve had since it was new. Got no use for it now, and would like to give it to somebody that has a use for it.
I’m interested, I would gladly compensate you for your time and shipping.
I have two that need repair but nobody local wants to work on them anymore.
Keep the recorder (deck) as a token gone past. Put it on your mantel for display and conversation. I now own around 35 home 8- track players and some recorders. I have all my original stereos I bought for my Cadillacs in the 1970’s and in excellent condition plus around 25 more and over 200 8-track tapes that I repair and play periodically. In addition, maybe 40 CB radios, not to mention turntables, record changers etc. I did finally buy a warehouse and house connected and many are on display in my mancave.
It’s MY collection and MY Heaven. Doesn’t matter what anyone thinks about it.
I still have a couple of 8 track players (car and home) and a steamer trunk with a couple hundred tapes. but I also have a handful of 4 track tapes… just no way to play them. How many of you remember the old “shove a book of matches under the 8 track cartridge to shim it” trick?
God, I’m old.
Hey Bob matt here. What would you want for all that and I would pay for the shipping unless your within 4 hrs from Cincinnati?
Had a couple Craig FM 8 tracks when I first started with cars and stereo systems. The cars and tunes got more expensive as time went on!! Same here Bob P.
16 years old, 67 SS 350 Camaro, Kraco 8 track, Bass 48 speakers in the rear window, Beaker Street on AM after 10, full tank of gas, pack of cigarettes, six pack of beer, and a $20 bill in my pocket.
Talk about setting yourself up for success! Didn’t get any better then that!
I hada Blaupunkt with mike/speaker jacks I was proud of. This was before DIN (a churman name) was a standard term w/car sound system (mid 80s) formats. Was AM/FM, may be short wave? Must have been a mercedes. I never got it ina vehicle as it meant hackin a dash. Must be sittin under the bench (same spot) 50 yrs? Car or truck’s nevah been ‘a living rm’ for me/my customers.
I still have my Boman, FM 8 track, Quad. That was top of the line, back in the day, problem was not many companies made the “Quad” tapes and the only “Quad” signals were from the radio, but then again, not many had the signal either. They were cool to listen to when there was a “Quad” signal. Each speaker had their own sound.
Really cool I have several of those definitely one of the cheaper ones made but mine are in perfect operating condition. However I prefer my Craig PowerPlay or my pioneer. This automatic radio had a full four watts(RMS) each channel. That was pretty standard back in the day. I serviced hundreds of them back then as well as CB radios (having my FCC license and I still do occasionally.
It was always fun, pulling the tape out and having most of the tape staying inside, still wrapped around the capstan.
Craig 8 track for me in my 1970 Camaro. After I moved on to cassettes I used a 120 volt to 12 volt transformer so I could play my 8 tracks in my house. I think I can still hear Steppenwolf doing Magic Carpet Ride if i close my eyes and enter the way back machine.
Yeah, but do you still hear the tracks change in your head when you listen to the same songs today? The Eagles “One of These Nights” and Sir Elton’s “Honky Chateau” 8 tracks are permanently burned into my head…I have both of those LPs today and still hear those fade-outs and tracks change in the middle of a song…
I always think of Led Zeppelin: “And she’s buying the stairway—to hea-ven…” Click-Click.
Can’t remember the brand name, but had an 8 track under dash unit in my 1965 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 convertible. Listened to “The Doors” tapes all across the country driving to California from NJ.
Parked the car in the open garage at the apartment complex with the top down one day. Bye bye 8 track. Never had another one
Where have you been? We sorely need a PM system here. Don’t forget “Frankenstein” ,,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDvK7LVlxDM
Oh Howard, you old softy!
Funny you mentioned “Frankenstein” by The Edgar Winter Group. I just replaced my copy of it a couple months ago. Bought the album off eBay.
Rock on! 🕺💃
Thank God, for CD’s. I built a box attached to the floor of my van, to hold all 20 of my tapes. Now, I can store 50 CD’s, in my center section on my seat.
neat but i would not go as far as to say its NOS. looks more like used with the electrical tape hanging off it
One of the reasons I bought my aftermarket (Sanyo) 8-Track player was it had four tiny lights when it changed channels.
Those four lights are always cool. I remember I took a set of them out at a parts 8-track and I built them into the dash of my first 65 Cadillac and each one would tell me which door was unlocked after I installed switches in the doors.
For Christmas of 66 I received a Borg Warner (Motorola) 8 track player kit with the 2 speakers which was shown In the Bennett Brothers Blue Book catalog….. it was very sturdily built and lasted several years until casettes took over. Lear Jet was the first but cost considerably more… There were dozens of brands on the market soon after.
There also were FM adapters / converters which plugged into the 8 track slot and played FM into the AM radio. Mine had a 9 volt battery and and a piggyback fitting to the car’s antenna lead. It worked ok on the local station…
I am wrong here…. the FM adapter I had was an FM receiver that connected with the tape reading head and played through the tape player and its’ speakers. It was powered by the 9 volt battery…the dial lit up by pushing in on the knob that changed stations. A coiled cord from the antenna piggyback plugged into it. It’s been 60 years….
Mountain Live – Nantucket Sleighride also had the 2 track ‘click click’ 1/2 way thru the song…i still have a few 8-tracks… :)
All these 8 track memories are great. Surprised no one mentioned the real concert sound that a “Reverb” added!
Also in a 2 speaker or 4 speaker system(stereo) if you added an extra speaker connected between the left channel
(+) and the right chpannel(+) you would get a different sound that added depth to the music.This worked on all stereos with 2 amps.
Hey everyone,
Angel Cadillac Diva here to wish all and everyone of you, including the Barn Find staff a very happy and prosperous New Year! May this year bring you joy and a new classic car for your garage!
Love to all! ❤️❤️❤️🎉🎊🎉🎊🥂🍾
Happy new year to you as well.