Quote:
Originally Posted by electroking
That '64 Chevy would definitely be all-transistor, not sure about the '62
Mercury. Then another question might come up: when did they finally
switch to all silicon devices? Germanium units had a number of things
going for them (proven manufacturing processes for instance).
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Not sure when they switched but I used to have a '66 Buick with an AM Delco that had germanium transistors. Chrysler started making their own radios about 1971 and they all were silicon. I would guess it was somewhere between those years and probably varied by maker. That '66 Buick with the Delco had beautiful sound.
Also in 1956 Chrysler offered the Highway Hi-Fi. That was the first car record player. It was developed by Peter Goldmark at CBS and was the first use of 16 2/3 speed records. The records came from a special Columbia catalog. Those units were very troublesome and Chrysler had a lot of problems with them. Then in 1959, RCA developed a 45 player for Chrysler. I'm sure they jumped at the chance to show up CBS again. Chrysler only offered those until '61, but they were available aftermarket until at least '64.