The Vanishing Point: Part 4 Dad's Magnificent Radio Collection with an 8-track player (a work in progress)

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All I know about this contraption is that it is a steel or iron external speaker for one of the radios. It's metal and it's heavy. Maybe it works on all of them. Built to last and probably not the smartest thing to grab while escaping from a house fire.

This Marconi table top radio from 1961 would be a better bet.

This cool Westinghouse radio from 1962 looks like it could deliver refreshing air on a hot summer day.

If short wave radio signals were still being broadcast, this heavy duty Philco from 1946 could pick up signals from all over the world.

Grunow model 468 Cathedral from 1935, Hmmm. What were people listening to then? Lots of foxtrots I bet and classics like this one.

This Stewart Warner Tombstone bake-lite radio from 1939 (model 03-5E1) sounds as warm as it looks.

That's not an electric space heater below. That is a maroon RCA Victor with a metal grille from 1949.

RCA Victor 1956

Ah, now we're talking about something I'm familiar with. 8-tracks. Nothing is more 70s than an 8-track player. They dropped out of sight in the early 80s while cassettes carried on for the next couple of decades.

More effort was put into making better quality cassette tapes. 8-tracks ended the way they began. But some people preferred them, probably because they were bigger. Bigger was better, right? Just like those over-sized El Dorado style cars they drove in shows like Hawaii 5-0. Sure, they were major gas guzzlers but they were cool. I know, from having hitched some rides in a few, riding in those cars was like floating. With a big car like that, you would definitely want a big tape player.

With 8-tracks, you didn't have to turn them over for side B. They would continually loop until you were satisfied.

Naturally, this Realistic (Radio Shack) player works. Dad would make sure of that. He went digging for a tape but all he had was the Carlton Showband from The Pig and Whistle. You won't find any Rolling Stones or Mahogany Rush in Dad's music collection.

This is the Realistic FM-AM Radio 8 Track Stereo Player Model 14-908A. Nobody on the internet seems to know the year so let's just say the 70s. Ooooo. Someone called it the cube model. Yep, that fits. It's a sturdy machine with some heft to it but that faux leather handle can take the strain.

A lot of people with 8-tracks never knew that, for a while, you could record on these things. I found out around 1980 when John Fraser pulled over to give me a lift into a town. We were rocking to the Rolling Stones "Get Your Ya Yas Out" on his car stereo when the track clicked over to part 2. 8-tracks had 4 sections and the heads would reach a little piece of foil and physically shift to another level of the tape strip. Every time the track changed, the music would fade out and fade back in again. This 8-track clicked. The music continued. But no fade out! It was a home recorded Memorex tape! What a revelation! John told me you didn't get the fade-out on home recorded tapes. This is what you wanted for those 70s albums that were one long continuous song like Passion Play.

The 8-track player below is not in Dad's collection but I picked one up just like it at a police auction in the late 90s for 5 bucks. After the auction, I went to yard sales and bought as many 8-tracks as I could for no more than 10 cents or a nickel each. It didn't matter what they were. Anne Murray? Why not? I could tape over anything I didn't like with something cooler. If that Carlton Showband tape had fallen into my hands, it might have become The Sex Pistols.

I even found a couple of Memorex tapes still in the wrappers.

This Sony looks like we're still in the 70s. This is the Sony ICF-9740W AM/FM (1978)

I know nothing of the brand or year of this nifty little wind up radio. It belongs here to make the collection complete. Great idea to have something like in the house in case we ever see another hurricane like Fiona.

This lunch box style phonograph must use those extremely old cylinder records. We will have to spin one of them some day soon.

Westinghouse 1953

Florida table radio LW MW SW and FM. That's a lot of waves. Florida seems to be just the brand name. According to the Radio Museum, it was more likely manufactured in Yugoslavia around 1965

Here's a wooden Westinghouse with 6 push buttons and four knobs from 1941.

Airline table radio, 1941

For the people who had everything in 1946, this is the wooden Philco table radio and record player from 1946.

This is the Philco 46-1201 "Bing Crosby Special" Radio & Record Player. It was called the Bing Crosby special because Bing Crosby promoted it on Philco Radio Time. Click on the link and the nightly advertisement begins at the 3:29 mark.

The door at the bottom pulls down and you slip the 78 record in the slot like a cd or an 8-track. The record locks in place and the music fires up as soon as you close the door. Watch this demonstration of the record player in action. It's very cool.