In Car Record Player

[human-potato_hybrid]

Has anyone heard of anyone using these in the modern day? I heard they did not work very well and would damage records, but we all have records we don't care about...

 

I would have to assume that buying these is pretty expensive, but I've never really seen any for sale. Does anyone have recent experience with them?

[zepher]

I have seen a few in cars at shows but have never heard of anyone actually using one while in motion.

[human-potato_hybrid]

Thanks for the help

[Bhigdog]

I beleive they were a mopar option. I saw at least one in a 56 new yorker and heard it play. They used a special rpm record. If i remember it was 16 rpm. It had a bad reputation for skipping if the car was in motion.

They are little more than curiousities......bob

[TTR]

16 2/3 RPM, Highway Hi-Fi.

I've restored a couple and they seemed to have worked fine.

Many years ago, some guy name Jay called and asked if I had any records for one. I didn't. 

 

The later (1960-1961 ?) Chrysler record players featured 45 RPM and had more problems.

[TerryB]

RCA manufactured a record player for cars in the 1950s

 

 

[TTR]

1 hour ago, TerryB said:

RCA manufactured a record player for cars in the 1950s

 

Except that advertisement is for 1960 Chrysler Corp cars. First year they offered 45 RPM Players (as I noted in my earlier comment) 😉

[TerryB]

21 minutes ago, TTR said:

Except that advertisement is for 1960 Chrysler Corp cars. First year they offered 45 RPM Players (as I noted in my earlier comment) 😉

Yes, CBS (Columbia Records) was 1950s and RCA was 1960.  

[Andy J]

Many years ago a family friend had one in his '65 Impala.I remember it working quite well.

[Reynard]

I recall installing a used 45 rpm record player in a '57 Ford F-100 back in about 1962 or 1963. It played well when the truck wasn't driving. With the fidelity of a cheap am radio, it may have been tied into the truck's radio speaker, I don't remember.

However, with the stiff suspension of the truck and my generally erratic driving, it was unfortunately useless in motion. Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis had to stay at home in the Hi-Fi.

[human-potato_hybrid]

13 hours ago, TTR said:

16 2/3 RPM

I know 16 RPM records were made for things like piped in background music where play time was more important than fidelity. Also audiobooks.

 

Wonder if they were the same physical size.

[7th Son]

 

Here's more than you want to know about 16 rpm records:

 

https://bloggerhythms.blogspot.com/2011/05/slower-than-slow-16-rpm-records.html#:~:text=The system used 16 RPM,to 40 minutes per side.

 

...and the record players:

 

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/1956-chrysler-highway-hi-fi-a-record-player-for-your-car/

 

 

Chrysler Corporation created Highway Hi-Fi, an audio format that enabled the 16 RPM records to be played in their cars from 1956 to 1958. The system employed a sapphire stylus with a ceramic pickup on a turntable that was installed below the instrument panel.

 

 

While the player was offered across the  Chrysler model lines from 1956 through 1959, it never caught on—due mainly to poor reliability, high warranty costs, and the limited variety and distribution of the Highway Hi-Fi record catalog. The record player was never more than a novelty, although a healthy number of the units are still around in the Chrysler collector car community.

Despite the first misfire, Chrysler revisited the auto record player concept again in 1960-1961 with a completely different unit produced by RCA and known as the AP-1.  Offered by both Chrysler dealers and RCA Victor retailers, it was also marketed by Sears under the Allstate brand. This player took popular RCA-style 45 rpm singles and played them upside down—much like many juke boxes of the era. As each record in the changer finished, it dropped into the floor of the unit. While the RCA player was also less than ideal, it spawned a host of copies and competitors from Philips and others, and no doubt inspired new and improved in-car musical formats, including four-track and eight-track tape cartridges.

 

 

 

 

Is this Lawrence Welk?

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by 7th Son (see edit history)

[Crusty Trucker]

6 hours ago, human-potato_hybrid said:

I know 16 RPM records were made for things like piped in background music where play time was more important than fidelity. Also audiobooks.

 

Wonder if they were the same physical size.

Most, but not all, 16s had big holes and were 7" in diameter many of them were mistaken for 45 RPMs and at that size the speed allowed for up to 20 minutes of playing time per side. However, there was no true standard size and they were also manufactured to be 9, 10, or 12 inches in diameter and these larger records played even longer. Just like the other speeds and formats 16s could be played one record at a time or stacked on a changer for continuous play.

Radio stations often used the discs for pre-recorded radio shows containing interviews, dramas, and documentaries.  More frequently they became the first "Talking Books" for the blind.

[TAKerry]

Ha, I remember when CD's skipped while driving down the road!

[Twisted Shifter]

4 hours ago, TAKerry said:

Ha, I remember when CD's skipped while driving down the road!

 

 

Ha, I remember when AM radio vacuum tubes worked their way loose on a rough road!

[Oz Dodge 4]

A friend had one back in the early seventies in a late 1950s Chev, but it was different to the ones pictured, and was operated like a "toaster" ! It used 45s and you pushed them into a slot on the top  and they auto ejected when finished. It worked OK (sort of) but would skip on a sharp bump and was very hard on the disks. I think it put excessive pressure on the tone arm to keep the stylus in the grove. He used it a bit but mostly just to brag to the rest of us that he had something we didn't have and how much better it was than our cassettes. It got sold when the Chev went and his next car, a Buick had an 8 track that was even more superior to us.

 

 

 

[Billy Kingsley]

I have no knowledge to add to this post but I have to say the thread starter may have the best username I've seen on my 23 years of message board posting 😂

[human-potato_hybrid]

On 12/29/2023 at 3:57 AM, Billy Kingsley said:

I have no knowledge to add to this post but I have to say the thread starter may have the best username I've seen on my 23 years of message board posting 😂

Finally, I can die a contented man 😌 (I'm 25)

[Rivguy]

My cousin had some type of under dash record player in his '58 Coupe de Ville. This was in the mid '60's. He never let me sit inside his car, but he let me look through the window.