Does anybody here remember the 4 track tape player that was the predecessor to the 8 track? Maybe I was just to high back then but I'm sure I had one in my first car. know body I know still remembers them. the CAR Was a 65 Valiant, with no back seat ,just a mattress, WITH all the back windows painted black and a constant stream of funny smelling smoke billowing out of it when you opened the doors and inagodadivida, or the lemon song blaring at full volume. It had a screaming slant six., and we called it the Blue Streak LOL. Mothers used to cringe when I pulled up to pick up there daughters. Ok ok back to the 4 track, who remembers them, anyone?

 

I had an 8 track in my 67 Opel wagon. Don't remember the 4 track tho. I thought maybe you were thinking of a reel to reel. Had a nice Teac for a while. Till some bonehead spilled a pitcher of beer on it. I'll never forgive myself for that. A friend of mine had a Valiant, push button gear shift I think. Very similar scenario too. Hmmmm... back in the day.

 

Was that the quadraphonic deal your thinking of?

 

OOOOH I remember the 4track tape decks. With the little lever that flipped the drive wheel up and drove the tape through what? 4 or 6 songs! Not to mention the folded match book that was required to maintain steady pressure so the tape wouldn't drag to bad.
Thanks for the memories Jim! Now where is my thumb drive Gizwingle!

 

I remember the 4 track, but couldn't afford one. I did get an 8 track a few years later though. Had it and all my tapes stolen by a couple of speedfreaks (as in drugs). A friend saw them and got me, we managed to spot them and followed them to their apartment. We knocked and demanded all of it back, but one of them came out with a gun. We let them keep it

 

Only 4 tracks I have ever had are reel to reel..still have an old TEAC in the basement.

 

Memories.....I never had a 4 track, but many 8 track players. Still have one in the garage I listen to once in a while if I can get a tape to work.
Had a reel to reel once but only one tape....Judas Priest if I recall. Still have some vinyl records too.
Dang, now I feel old.....

 

I had a 4 track in my 1960 Vauxhal Viva. In fact I still have it along with some tapes. It was working when I took it out of the car so probably still works. It is stored out in a storage cabin out in the yard or I could take a picture of it. Tomorrow I will look it up and post a pic. I believe I have an Everyly Bros tape along with Sonny James, Ferlin Husky, Buck Owens etc. It was cool in its day alright!

 

My brother had a Muntz 4 track in his '65 Mustang in '67 or '68. Didn't last long in the city.... It seemed great at the time.

FWIW on edit. This player looked almost identical to an 8 track player. The tapes looked the same as well.

 

Hey Jim,
I remember 8 tracks. They had a life span of about a month - my tape deck would eat them
with very dependable regularity. Pretty much going over any bump or pothole would spell the end of that tape.

Sony Walkman, Portable cassette players, Telex machines, **** electronic word processors, Texas Instruments calculator, Slide Rules, Commodore 64, Dell Turbo Computer, Motorola Flip Phones, The Cowsills, Aquarius, Yikes...

Stay away from those forest fires over there Jimmy!

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Yes, they look pretty much identical to 8 track tapes, but nobody hardly remembers those either. My 64 had a Muntz 4 track, a nice heavy chrome unit and a few tapes like "Red Foley performs his Piano Rolls" that is probably actually pretty good but I was unable to get the player working, the belts had turned to goo. I wasn't motivated enough to find or cruft a replacement however, so it's long gone now. I still have the Kraco De Luxe CB though.

"Mad Man" Muntz was quite the character, a self taught "engineer" of sorts and used car salesman, and apparently invented the 4 Track, and he sold an awful lot of Televisions.

People living in metro areas with strong local stations didn't really need expensive, sensitive television receivers like rural folks did. Mr. Muntz capitalized on this, he was famous for snipping out parts on prototype production models till it quit working altogether. Then he'd say "Put that last part back in."

His inexpensive sets sold well and worked pretty good for the most part. His was the first (BW) Television to sell for less than $100, still a considerable sum in those days. Televisions cost an arm and a leg back in the day.

 

I am pretty sure the 4 track player or the box it came in said "not related to muntz tv" or something similar. I will have to research that. ......too hard to do on a phone

 

Cool Im glad others had one to. State of the art high maintenance entertainment at the time. My favorite was when you told your buddy not to play that one because the player would eat it, just as he popped it in and ,well it took an hour to rewind the tape back in ,split the case and use scotch tape to fix the bad part, LOL. They weren't around that long, as the 8 track was right behind them. Boy San Francisco was fun back then, Music, music, music, live and now in the cars. That was my Hippie phase to be followed by my Biker Phase, followed by a lot of bad decisions that I will forever regret. ROCK ON FTEers, Today is a new day with new decisions.

 

Hm, interesting. The WIKI bio says he invented the 4 Track player but anything is possible they were not related.

I'm more impressed you remember what was on the box from 50 years ago!

 

I still have one in my 59 Continental I'm guessing I put it in there around 1968 or 69.
It works perfectly today.