Established stereos in cars have become the norm, but once everything was different. 80 years ago, motorists could only be content with radios, and listening to records could only dream of. Everything changed with the advent of the first players - one of the types of such devices were vinyl systems for cars.
Let's tell their story.
/ Wikimedia / sv1ambo / CCHow Highway Hi-Fi worked
In the 1950s, serious changes occurred in the audio system of Chrysler cars. To begin with, the world's first fully transistor car radio appeared in the famous Imperial. The next step was an even more powerful breakthrough - in 1956, the
first Chrysler
audio player had the
first record player , Highway Hi-Fi.
The release of the new device was
written in newspapers - its appearance was a whole event - now you could take records of your favorite performers with you on the road.
Responsible for the development of the American broadcaster Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). He was engaged in the release of records. Especially for Highway Hi-Fi, a unique vinyl format was developed. CBS engineer Peter Goldmark took part in this.
Highway Hi-Fi reproduced music through the speaker of a car radio and used its own amplifier system. The rotating platform was protected by a shock-resistant casing, mounted just below the center of the dashboard. The device also included a sound pickup, a sapphire needle and storage space for six plates.
The system can be evaluated
on this video .
For this player, the format of the records was chosen more slowly than usual - 16⅔ turns. Up to 90 minutes of music could be recorded on such a record - twice as much as usual vinyl of that time. CBS took this step because the 12-inch records with 33⅓ revolutions per minute
were too bulky for the car, and 45 turns seemed too small for long trips. In addition, 7-inch Highway Hi-Fi discs
were heavier than usual - 135 grams versus 70 grams - and the grooves were more densely arranged than on regular vinyl.
Something went wrong
Highway Hi-Fi was delivered as an optional kit in
Desoto , Dodge and Plymouth from 1956 and
according to some information until 1959. The demand for the player fell as rapidly as it appeared. After a year, American consumers became disillusioned with the new device. On the one hand, this is strange - the technology was breakthrough, until the first cassette systems
remained for years, and Highway Hi-Fi had no competitors.
However, there were good reasons for this. The main one - the player did not provide the promised freedom to listen to music. As mentioned above, the production of records was done exclusively in CBS. The company produced only 42 records with songs of popular artists at that time, but this was not enough. In his autobiography, Goldmark
notes that Chrysler and CBS did not sufficiently promote the idea of recording new records by order of consumers. Without the possibility of choosing from a wide range of records, the sense in the player disappeared. In addition, a modest collection of affordable records was useless without Highway Hi-Fi. Selling his Chrysler, the man was forced to give with him all the vinyl for the car.
The second limitation - the player was available only to owners of Chrysler cars. Highway Hi-Fi could not, for example, be bought separately from one car and installed in a Buick. With the repair and maintenance of the player also had problems. If something happened, you had to contact the dealer - auto mechanics, as a rule, could not help with the new device. On top of that, the novelty
was not cheap - $ 200 (taking into account inflation - $ 1,700 today).
In addition, car owners very quickly found a rather obvious disadvantage of the player - the needle jumped off on a rough road and had to be corrected. It distracted from driving and prevented enjoying music. As a result, the shortcomings of the unique format led to the fact that after several years, Chrysler refused Highway Hi-Fi.
Who else was making record players for cars?
In 1960, Radio Corporation of America (RCA) entered the market for audio systems for cars. The development of this corporation was called "Victorla" - it also had the eponymous
music label . RCA
took into account the main shortcomings of Highway Hi-Fi and did the work on the bugs. The player played popular record formats, and the driver did not have to be distracted from the road. In addition, the device was four times cheaper than Highway Hi-Fi. However, RCA ceased production of "Victorla" in 1961.
Another development in this category was created by Norelco, the North American office of Philips. With its design, Norelco Auto Mignon
resembles our usual CD recorders. For the sake of compactness, the developers
sacrificed a place to store records - car owners were forced to solve this problem themselves, which did not play in favor of the player.
The final chord for car players was the emergence of cassette recorders under the format
Stereo 8 . This happened in 1965. Chrysler began to offer such audio systems since 1968.
/ Wikimedia / CZmarlin / CCIt is difficult to imagine that someone today will decide to replace their audio system with something like Highway Hi-Fi. Closest to this idea in spirit can be called the concept of a portable player. This, if desired, can be taken with you and into the car. An example for this category of audio devices is Audio-Technica AT727 (
video ). On it
equal later development.
There are more innovative concepts than the traditional needle platform. For example, Kickstarter recently collected funds for a portable player
RokBlok . A small block in this case acts simultaneously as a needle and a speaker. Judging by the demo video, RokBlok can be adapted to play in the car, if you put a record on the seat or dashboard.
Years do not spare the bold development, turning them into strange inventions in black and white photographs, but the popularity of vinyl as a format and the desire of people to listen to records remains.
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