[Jeffhs]

What happened to the 8-track player? You said it was "toast", which I think means it's a total loss (I'm not up on a lot of the new slang in use these days). I'm thinking the player has a blue million things wrong with it, like a burned-out motor, mangled transport mechanism, damaged or destroyed preamp/amp circuits . . . man, that player must be a mess.

Good luck finding another 8-track. These players were popular in the mid-'60s through the mid-'80s in cars, and appeared in TVs and home stereo systems through the '70s; the last time I saw one was in 1972, in my then-stepmother's car. (I also owned a Zenith 4-mode stereo system in the early 1980s, which also had a 8-track player/recorder deck.) I don't know if you'll be able to find standalone 8-track players anywhere anymore; your best bet may be to try and find one from a junked Zenith or other 1970s-vintage entertainment center and mount it in a base. The Craig 8-track player which was originally with that console of yours, IIRC, was probably an aftermarket add-on.