Vinyl when riding the car

[Telecolor 3007]

Did you ever seen something like this? https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...IG0pjt_HppyDqE

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/201...the-interstate

[Electronic M]

Not in person (I may have seen the Highway HiFi once at a car show) but online. There were atleast 3 purpose made car phonos back in the day: the proprietary format Highway HiFi, that philips single play 45 unit you link to and an RCA 45 changer.

Of the 3 the RCA is IMO the most practical. It used standard 45s and could play a stack of roughly 10-20 without human intervention, meaning you didn't have to feed it a new record every 3 min like the Philips and you weren't stuck with non-standard 16RPM discs like the Highway HiFi. Also the RCA was sort of an upside-down automotive spec version of their excellent RP-168 mech so I expect it must have been quite good.
I'd love to get the hardware and compare all 3 but I'd probably have to spend a couple thousand dollars to make that happen or do a LOT more searching for them than I do.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Not in person (I may have seen the Highway HiFi once at a car show) but online. There were atleast 3 purpose made car phonos back in the day: the proprietary format Highway HiFi, that philips single play 45 unit you link to and an RCA 45 changer.

Of the 3 the RCA is IMO the most practical. It used standard 45s and could play a stack of roughly 10-20 without human intervention, meaning you didn't have to feed it a new record every 3 min like the Philips and you weren't stuck with non-standard 16RPM discs like the Highway HiFi. Also the RCA was sort of an upside-down automotive spec version of their excellent RP-168 mech so I expect it must have been quite good.
I'd love to get the hardware and compare all 3 but I'd probably have to spend a couple thousand dollars to make that happen or do a LOT more searching for them than I do.

I worked on one of those years ago! The changer was sort of an RCA 45 design, only mounted upside down. It was a tricky design, but it must've extremely hard on the records, because of the stylus pressure and it played the record upside down.
IIRC, J.C. Whitney sold them and they weren't cheap at the time.

[Telecolor 3007]

Yes, they where expensive, but they where impressive!

[Hawkwind]

Telecolor 3007 if you think records in cars is cool, check out the history of magnetic tape in cars, plus early FM radio...

[Telecolor 3007]

Didn't find to many early F.M. radios car, but you know, I know about 4 and 8 track
Here is a nice site of old auto radios: http://antique-autoradio-madness.org/

[KentTeffeteller]

Tape was far more durable and practical in cars, trucks, aircraft, and marine applications.

[Dude111]

I would think so.....A record player would skip about very easily in a car!!

[KentTeffeteller]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

Didn't find to many early F.M. radios car, but you know, I know about 4 and 8 track
Here is a nice site of old auto radios: http://antique-autoradio-madness.org/

Facts, FM was not a popular medium then. And the main USA FM radios were aftermarket for many years. Or European import cars (especially German cars like Mercedes-Benz) Lincoln in the 1957 Continental had the first USA FM factory radio in a car, but it was a separate chassis, rarely ordered, very expensive option (and said Continental was already an over $10,000 car as standard then). Most Americans in that era, usually got their FM upgrade, when they bought a 4 or 8 track tape player in that era well into the middle 1970's.

[Telecolor 3007]

But why it wasn't popular?
Could you buy an universal radio with F.M. if you had a cheaper car but still wanted F.M.?

[KentTeffeteller]

Outside of New York City, Boston, LA and the San Francisco area, FM stations were fewer and far between them. FM reception in cars was also challenging, as many of those stations would be anywhere from 50-100 miles or more away until FM began catching on by around 1966. Outside of medium to larger cities, and college towns, FM in many areas was not much. If you were a fan of Beautiful Music, Folk Music, Classical Music, or Jazz, you'd be much more inclined then to get an FM set. In my area, the big reason to get an FM set in your car was when WIVK-FM (Knoxville's big Country Station and UT VOL Network origination station was built in 1966). As their AM station was daytime only. FM like I say for much of the USA, barely began to catch on in 1965-1966, Some areas didn't get much FM until as late as 1975-1985. Remember, no USA radio manufacturer had an FM portable until 1962, when Zenith introduced the Royal 2000 Trans-Symphony.

[Electronic M]

There were also practical reception issues. FM due to its shorter wavelength was prone to reflection cancellation. Regularly at lights I stop in a spot loose reception and have to creep forward a meter or 2 to try and recover reception. AM typically won't peter out as quickly or completely in those circumstances as well as under overpasses or in tunnels.
Also 50KW and higher power AM stations have larger coverage areas so on all day/all night road trips you might be able to drive the whole way without having to change from your favorite station (this plot device was used in the film Vanishing Point IIRC). There were some stations in Mexico that ran 100KW or higher (exceeding US station power limits) that played top 40 US hits with English language DJs that could be heard almost nation wide in the USA.

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

There were also practical reception issues. FM due to its shorter wavelength was prone to reflection cancellation. Regularly at lights I stop in a spot loose reception and have to creep forward a meter or 2 to try and recover reception....

"Stop light fade"
We looked at this problem for mobile digital TV, which suffers the same way because it's in the same frequency band. One interesting thing we found was that it's worse when the local buildings are tall compared to the width of the road - the signal reflects back and forth off the buildings, creating deep nulls. But it can hapen in more open areas too when there is a strong reflection that cancels out the main signal. EDIT: the moving version of this is called "picket fencing" due to the noise made when the signal is lost repeatedly.

Tunnels are an issue for satellite radio. They have to depend on buffer length to fill in the signal. I know someone who was high up the technical ladder at XM radio and complained that he lost the signal while driving through a tunnel under LAX, and they increased the buffer length as a result.

One comedian (can't recall who) had this gag: "I went for a drive with my friend. He's an AM radio announcer. He loses his voice every time he drives over a bridge." Referring, of course, to the old fashioned steel truss bridges, not the modern open concrete ones.