Radio Cassette Players
Discussion
What year did cassette playing functionality get added to car radios? I'm guessing mid 70's.
Did their introduction cause much of a change with drivers replacing their 60's/70's radios to radio/cassettes or did radio/cassettes players only really get their foothold as manufacturers started to put them in as standard?
Did their introduction cause much of a change with drivers replacing their 60's/70's radios to radio/cassettes or did radio/cassettes players only really get their foothold as manufacturers started to put them in as standard?
Hi
I remember helping my Dad wire in a cassette player to our family Hillman Hunter estate in about 1978. I doubt if we were early adopters!
Grandfather's Rover SD1 had a cassette player as standard, my grandmother's metro only had a radio. That must have been late 70's and ealy 80's respectively.
Seems like only yesterday and yet a lifetime ago.
I remember helping my Dad wire in a cassette player to our family Hillman Hunter estate in about 1978. I doubt if we were early adopters!
Grandfather's Rover SD1 had a cassette player as standard, my grandmother's metro only had a radio. That must have been late 70's and ealy 80's respectively.
Seems like only yesterday and yet a lifetime ago.
Edited by Stuart70 on Saturday 22 November 10:27
According to Car & Driver - the history of car radios the first radio cassette units appeared in 1970.
The combined radio and cassette player was a rare and expensive item during most of the 1970's.Even FM stereo radios weren't that common either.Having said that the Blaupunkt Bamberg was a combined stereo radio and cassette player/recorder which provided the unusual ability to record from the radio in a car system.In general the usual most common choice in the day was the push button MW/LW Motorola and a seperate PYE auto reverse stereo cassette player.Which at least provided the ability to make stereo recordings from the radio at home and then play them back in the car.While in most cases it was usual to remove the radio/cassette when selling the car and therefore find none in it when buying often even factory fit options were removed when selling unless advertised with it all left fitted and priced accordingly.
Edited by XJ Flyer on Sunday 23 November 02:27
A problem back then would have been fitting a combined unit into a slot designed for a push-button radio. I remember back to 1988 and having to hack bits of plastic out of a panel to fit a unit into my 1981 Datsun Cherry. People also had them slung under the dash somewhere.
My current 1980 Datsun Laurel (I don't progress much do I?!) was a bit posher and had a radio and cassette player as standard. However, these are actually separate units, the radio playing through a mono speaker in the dashboard and the stereo cassette (with auto-reverse!) hooked-up to a pair of speakers in the rear parcel shelf. There is no link or cut-out between them, so it's possible to play the radio and listen to a tape at the same time...
I found several boxes with old radios and cassette players just recently when I was sorting out the garage and I picked-up quite a nice period, boxed Sanyo set-up from an autojumble for a very modest price. I was pleased to find that my recently acquired 1996 Lexus LS400 still has a tape player in it.
Another question might be to ask when did people start fitting graphic equalisers?
My current 1980 Datsun Laurel (I don't progress much do I?!) was a bit posher and had a radio and cassette player as standard. However, these are actually separate units, the radio playing through a mono speaker in the dashboard and the stereo cassette (with auto-reverse!) hooked-up to a pair of speakers in the rear parcel shelf. There is no link or cut-out between them, so it's possible to play the radio and listen to a tape at the same time...
I found several boxes with old radios and cassette players just recently when I was sorting out the garage and I picked-up quite a nice period, boxed Sanyo set-up from an autojumble for a very modest price. I was pleased to find that my recently acquired 1996 Lexus LS400 still has a tape player in it.
Another question might be to ask when did people start fitting graphic equalisers?
The date of 1972 seems a trifle uncertain judging by my research. Here is a Pye advert from Autocar show edition 1974.
The price is equivalent to about £575 today, so extremely expensive. However, in the three sections of this show edition there was only one advert for a radio cassette, so it must have been a pretty new thing then. In the October 1973 edition I found this one:-
Sanyo were also advertising radio cassette and separate cassette player as an option. But going back to the 1972 show edition I can find no adverts at all for cassette player. But it would be a "wrench" if I didn't share this advert
The price is equivalent to about £575 today, so extremely expensive. However, in the three sections of this show edition there was only one advert for a radio cassette, so it must have been a pretty new thing then. In the October 1973 edition I found this one:-
Sanyo were also advertising radio cassette and separate cassette player as an option. But going back to the 1972 show edition I can find no adverts at all for cassette player. But it would be a "wrench" if I didn't share this advert
Edited by lowdrag on Monday 24th November 15:48
It must have been around that time though because I fitted one of the Pye Auto Reverse Cassette players to my MGA in 1974 which I bought 2nd hand in a electronics shop in Turnham Green for about £25.
I remember it would occasionally chew up the tapes when it did its auto reverse trick! Most annoying...
I remember it would occasionally chew up the tapes when it did its auto reverse trick! Most annoying...
AIRC, throughout the 70's most British and European cars came without even a radio. You would spec the level of sounds you wanted (as an optional extra) and then the equipment was fitted at dealer level.
As a 'user chooser' of my company car at that time I had 2 Capris, Mk 3 Cortina and a Dolomite, all supplied without a radio in order to get the car I wanted within the budget I had available. That would have been 1973 - 79.
Aftermarket ICE was big business then! People like Pye and Radiomobile offered cassette players from about 1970 and combined units a little later. Then Binatone and Elpico lowered the price point.
The big revolution was Datsun and Toyota having a radio, usually with a cassette player, built in to the dash even on the basic models. From say, 1972 Radio cassette was more or less universal in Japanese cars.
In 1970 I recall buying a gadget which fitted under the dash to enable a Philips 3300 series, MONO cassette player to output via DIN plugs, through the amp of the car radio.
As a 'user chooser' of my company car at that time I had 2 Capris, Mk 3 Cortina and a Dolomite, all supplied without a radio in order to get the car I wanted within the budget I had available. That would have been 1973 - 79.
Aftermarket ICE was big business then! People like Pye and Radiomobile offered cassette players from about 1970 and combined units a little later. Then Binatone and Elpico lowered the price point.
The big revolution was Datsun and Toyota having a radio, usually with a cassette player, built in to the dash even on the basic models. From say, 1972 Radio cassette was more or less universal in Japanese cars.
In 1970 I recall buying a gadget which fitted under the dash to enable a Philips 3300 series, MONO cassette player to output via DIN plugs, through the amp of the car radio.
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