Like it says on my home page Seventies Cars, Seventies Music, Seventies Media. To look the part you just have to have an 8-track player, with or without radio. You'll be glad to hear you can pick them up for peanuts.
When I first found out that Mumfords had offered the in-dash Radiomobile Stereo8 player as one of their options I knew I just had to have one. It was the weekend of the Bristol Classic Car Show. Remember when it was actually held in Bristol? A common sight at this event was the Classic Car Weekly stand. Here you could fill in a For Sale or Wanted card. Not only would it be read by everyone passing by at the show but also it was published in the next issue of the magazine.
I filled in my card on Sunday. It was published on Wednesday, the same evening I had a call from someone sixty miles away and two days later that 8-track was mine!
I have to say here that if I had been a little slower off of the mark, I could have haggled for a better price. By the following Sunday I had had seven other offers. Everyone wanted to unload their dusty old 8-track on me!
I soon had the modern Pioneer unit ripped out of the dash and my new aquisition fitted. Although it came with a couple of tapes, finding some real music to play on it was more of a problem. 8-track cartridges had not been available for some in the UK. I kept an eye on my local free ads. paper and shot off to buy every collection that was for sale.
With each box of tapes I was expected to buy an old player. Nobody would split them up because without the tapes the player was almost unsalable. This was not too much of a problem as the prices were so low anway. I began to realise I was just about the only shopper in the market place!
In every box of tapes there were two or three real finds and quite a lot of dross. Did anybody anywhere really play Herb Alpert? I decided what I really needed was a recorder, so that I could copy some more modern music onto cartridge for myself. I advertised for an 8-track recorder and immediatly had a call from a lady with one for sale. To my surprise and delight this not only had the recorder but sixty blank tapes, many still in their celophane packaging and another Radiomobile car player, still unopened in its box, with guarantee from 1972!
So you see its all out there waiting for you.
Of course some of the cartridges show signs of wear and tear but for the most part these can be remedied. The pages of Eight Track Heaven will enlighten you. Here too you will find many sales ads.
A recent blip on my horizon was the failure of my own unit after four years non stop music. This was soon fixed by classic Car Radio Repair & Restoration Service of Paulton near Bristol. Tel./Fax. (44)01761 413933.
This page prepared and presented by Geoff Hawkins. Your comments, suggestions
and contributions welcome.