A Record Player for Your Car? Meet the Highway Hi-Fi

Listening to your ain euphony successful your car alternatively than the vigor was a luxury that fewer could imagine. It's not similar you could bring your vinyl records with you—or could you?

If you were fortunate capable to person the close car, past you could get the Highway Hi-Fi—a mode to play vinyls portion connected the go.

Everyone Used 8-Track and Cassette Tapes successful Their Cars

Before Bluetooth, aux cables, oregon adjacent CDs, euphony lovers who wanted tunes connected the roadworthy had to trust connected carnal media. In the 1960s and 70s, the 8-track portion reigned supreme, followed by compact cassettes, which gained traction successful the 1970s arsenic audio prime improved. Both formats were tiny capable to stash successful a mitt box, pugnacious capable to grip the bumps of driving, and could store a decent magnitude of euphony for the time.

I ne'er got to usage 8-tracks personally, but cassette tapes truly stood the trial of time. We were inactive utilizing them good past the twelvemonth 2000, if for nary different crushed than having plentifulness of cars connected the roadworthy with portion decks, but nary CD players.

But, the Quality Was Compromised

The occupation is that neither of these formats are precisely high-fidelity. 8-tracks are clunky, unreliable, and the tapes themselves developed audio prime issues done usage and vulnerability to the elements. Cassettes were rather a spot amended from a reliability standpoint, and sounded OK.

I retrieve determination were (hilariously) blank cassette tapes marked arsenic "CD" prime astatine 1 constituent successful the precocious 90s, but anyone with ears could archer they weren't adjacent to CDs successful quality, adjacent if you made the signaling disconnected your CDs successful the archetypal place.

Before Car CD Players There Was the Highway Hi-Fi

In 1955, Chrysler partnered with CBS's Columbia Records part to make the Highway Hi-Fi system. Designed by CBS Labs technologist Peter Goldmark (the aforesaid feline who helped make the long-playing 33 1/3 RPM vinyl record), the Highway Hi-Fi was an ambitious effort to bring existent high-fidelity dependable into the car.

This subordinate utilized peculiar 7-inch records, truthful sadly you could not simply bring your full-size LP postulation with you, though wherever you'd store them is anyone's guess. These discs spun astatine a leisurely 16 2/3 RPM, and could store up to 45 minutes of euphony per broadside acknowledgment to the aforesaid ultra-fine groove exertion Goldmark had developed for the 33.3 RPM location systems.

Making a Record Play successful a Car Isn’t Easy

If you've ever tried to play a vinyl record, you'll cognize that these players are highly delicate to disturbance. In immoderate cases, if you stomp excessively hard connected the level portion walking around, you tin marque the needle skip and leap crossed the record's surface.

So however successful the satellite did they marque a vinyl grounds subordinate that could enactment successful a car erstwhile adjacent aboriginal CD players had superior issues with going implicit bumps?

While, of course, the Highway Hi-Fi didn't lick this occupation completely, the mode the engineers tackled it focused connected needle pressure. With a overmuch heavier stylus, and beardown spring-loading, the thought was that the needle would enactment dependable successful the groove adjacent with the bumpiness of 1960s cars. Of course, it besides utilized shock-damping rubber mounts and suspension systems to effort and isolate the subordinate from the car's motion.

Despite each that, hitting a dense bump would inactive marque the grounds skip, but it's inactive an awesome feat of engineering if you inquire me.

Only Chryslers Had the Option

The Highway Hi-Fi was ne'er a cosmopolitan add-on. It was offered exclusively arsenic an optional diagnostic connected prime Chrysler models starting successful 1956.

Installing a Highway Hi-Fi wasn't a elemental drop-in either. It was integrated into the car’s vigor system, utilizing the existing amplifier. This wasn’t thing you could easy slap onto conscionable immoderate car—or adjacent each Chrysler.

And it wasn’t cheap. Buyers had to wage a premium for the system, positive the outgo of the peculiar records. That constricted its entreaty to a niche radical of audiophiles with heavy pockets.

They Were Never Sold successful the Aftermarket

Unlike 8-track and cassette portion systems that came later, the Highway Hi-Fi was ne'er sold arsenic an aftermarket system, and astir importantly, compatible records were fewer successful fig and lone came from 1 source.

So determination was ne'er truly immoderate anticipation of the format taking off, becoming much reliable, oregon much euphony producers taking an involvement successful releasing their contented successful this format. It was a chill idea, and these are intelligibly collector's items today, but for me, it's conscionable chill that each the mode backmost successful the 1950s, radical were already utilizing multi-disc changer systems successful their cars. So we went from discs, to tapes, and past backmost to discs again!