Saturday, August 7, 2010

What's in your 8-track carrying case?

I've been trying to straighten up the Atomic Attic, and while it's a slow slog, it gives me an excuse to dig out stuff I have in boxes.  One is my supply of 8-track tapes from back in the day.

My parents had a player in the 1968 Chrysler New Yorker we used on a couple long trips, and we listened to the same six tapes A LOT.  Anyway, when I got my first car, a 1970 Mustang convertible, I installed an 8-track player and started to build a collection, which is what you see in the carrying case.  (My musical tastes have changed and broadened since the late 1970s, so don't hold some of the selections against me, OK?  I was going for a mix of stuff I liked, and stuff to appeal to the ladies too.  Yeah, that's it.)

I've had these through many moves, and they've been exposed to heat and cold for years, so I expected the worst when I plugged them into this Panasonic dynamite-plunger player I picked up years ago.


Amazingly, the player works and the tapes I've tried so far still play!



Oops, spoke to soon, I just snapped the Led Zepplin II tape.  Oh well.

I guess I'll have to make room somewhere  to show these off and play them sometimes.  What I really need is a great looking vintage console stereo with a record player, AM/FM receiver, and 8-track player.  I've been watching, but so far nothing has shown up locally.

6 comments:

  1. Oh boy, if you had plugged in that Steey Dan tape, I might have let you get to first base. =P

    Now whether you would have wanted to or not is a different story lolol... =D

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  2. The Gap Band, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Ohio Players, And Parliament were a few 8 tracks I had as a kid. Not bad, eh?

    NICE, Uncle Atom.

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  3. Tower of Power, Brothers Johnson, Led Zepplin, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Savoy Brown.

    They were my Dads. I use them in my '77 Ford Wagon 8 track player.

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  4. Cool! Brothers Johnson, man I had forgotten all about them. Maybe that's a good thing ;-) I snapped another tape, one of my Beatles. Putting the player back to sleep in the attic now.

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  5. One of my fondest childhood memories was listening to a Ventures 8 track in this wierd toy we had that was shaped like a robot and played its own 8 tracks that coincided with a book...it played real 8 tracks too and Pipe Line by the Ventures was my fave!

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  6. From what I understand, 8 tracks have a flaw with how they were produced. I inherited a Panasonic 3-in-1 deal (8 track, AM/FM radio, and turntable) from 1975 that had never been used from a family friend and it broke all of my 8 tracks. I did some online research and the old tapes will break where the tape is joined. Supposedly, one can disassemble the 8 track and repair them, but I just decided to stick to the vinyl since I am mechanically uninclined.

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