Muntz 4- and 8-track Player

I am pretty sure that this was one of my first 8-track players and one would think that details regarding its acquisition would be remembered but that is not the case. As I try to dredge up some idea of how I came across it I have to think of which vehicle it was installed in and I am not sure it ever installed in one. I am pretty sure that my first car, a 1962 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88, was fitted with a Craig/Pioneer 3121 8-track. That may, or may not, have made it into my 1956 Ford pickup but it was around that time that I ended up with this Muntz player. I know I was using it because I bought some 4-track tapes for it. I am pretty sure that I had modified it as a recorder by marrying it to my Panasonic RS-760S so I could record my own 8-track tapes.

Around the time I went into the army the player ended up in a storage box with my other retired players and bounced around from place to place until I got it out in 2018, cleaned it up, and installed it in my 1959 Volvo 544. Considering its age it plays pretty well and actually sounds pretty decent. It lost a knob somehwere along the line but other than that it's a real survivor. The car still runs on 6-volts so to get the required 12-volts for this player, and the CD/AM/FM unit in the glove box, I installed a standard 12-volt battery in the trunk which I charge twice a year or so. The current speakers sit on the rear floor area. They are the ones I originally put together for my 1965 Triumph TR4.

On the subject of 4-tracks, back in the day I would either play them in the Muntz player or adapt them for an 8-track player. To do the latter I'd remove the tape from the 4-track cartridge and wind it into an 8-track donor. Since the 4-track only has 2 programs on it, unlike the 8-track which has 4, when I'd put the new sensing foil splice in, I'd put in an extra one so the track changer would cycle twice, moving from program 1 to program 3. There is a device that can be placed in the opening of the bottom of the 4-track cartridge that lets it play directly in an 8-track player but they are hard to find and pricey for what they are.

The two tapes shown are both originally 4-tracks. The one on the left, The Merry-Go-Round, is one that I rewound into an 8-track shell. I even moved the labels. The one on the right, Steppenwolf, is in its original 4-track cartridge.



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Updated December 2020.

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