Here is an ad from our downtown Roses in 1973 advertising a big sale on 8-track tapes. Although very popular for use in cars, the little plastic buggers were quite expensive compared to vinyl albums.
The Lear Jet Stereo 8 track cartridge was designed by Richard Kraus while working under Bill Lear and for his Lear Jet Corporation in 1963. In the late 60's the bulky machines were more and more prevalent in automobiles, usually bolted onto the metal below the ash tray in the middle of the front seats. Keeping a dozen or more tapes in your car meant cramming your glove compartment full or carrying around one of those pseudo-alligator leather black boxes with fuzzy red lining inside.
In case you can't read the music titles, Roses is advertising tapes by Merle Haggard, Grand Funk Railroad, Canned Heat, Sugarloaf, and The Ventures.
And those of you who know me already know this ..... I play my 8-tracks in my Beetle whenever I cruise around town today, keeping a fresh selection of a half dozen or so in that same black carrying case I just mentioned. Believe it or not, they sound great!
Hi there, I'm doing very basic research for a presentation on the 8-track. Do you know for sure that it was Richard Kraus who developed the device? I know it says so on Wikipedia but I found no other more reputable sources supporting the statement, everyone else says it's Bill Lear.
ReplyDeleteI found the Wikipedia article on 8-tracks to be very thorough and in alignment with a lot of information I already knew, therefore it seemed pretty credible to me.
ReplyDeleteRichard Kraus worked for Bill Lear. They discussed what features he wanted in the Stereo 8 and Mr. Kraus designed it with input from Mr. Lear.
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