Muntz 4-Track Auto Tape Players

I see a lot of posts and reference to 8-Track tapes but rarely see anything about 4-Track tapes. I remember the first tape player I had in a car was a Muntz Blue Light 4-Track and was pretty awesome at the time. Here is what a 4-Track tape looked like.

 

Yes, my first 4 track was a Ranger that was only about $30. I had it before I got my license in July 68. I had a Muntz (chrome) after that and several of them before switching to 8 tracks. I got them all at swap meets, including many of the tapes. The 4 tracks sounded better to me.

 

hmm...never saw one.

 

I remember buying may 4-Tracks and 8-Tracks at swap meets and they were all bootlegs. There many vendors who had 1000's of them. This was the early to mid-70's.

 

They would have been the earliest way for folks to have tunes (other than radio) in their groovy hippy van. Cassette format was originally envisioned as a dictation only media, not thought suitable for music playback. Somebody did sell 45 RPM record players for auto use but I don't think they ever caught on.

 

I want to live dangerously and tempt fate. 13-track for me.
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Mine were from the 60s and yes there were a lot of bootlegs, but also some seemingly legitimate releases. Often the bootlegs sounded better than the factory releases.

One time I was at the swap meet and ran into Bob Hite who was cracking down on bootleggers. I guess some things have not changed.

My 65 GTO got broken into while parked at the SDSC dorms my freshman year and that was the end of tapes in the car for me. That was in 1970 or 71 and I didn't have another tape player into 1976 when I built a custom system for my new BMW. It was based on a Nak 250 with a Crown D60 amp drivng 4 ADS 200 speakers. I built a power inverter to power the Crown.

 

We had a Muntz 4 track in our car. I never understood the need/appeal of 8 track because 4 was formatted just like an LP and preserved the running order of the album.

 

Before this thread, I'd never heard of this type of four track cassette. I'd only heard of 4-track compact cassettes--a specialty derivative I suppose of the standard compact cassette.

Then, I'm looking at eBay and this comes up as a suggested auction I should watch.

LOT OF 21 MUNTZ, DECCA, ENCORE AND OTHER 4 TRACK STEREO CARTRIDGES | eBay

So weird. Big Brother? I think I might have checked eBay after seeing this thread and that might be why it came up? I dunno, but for the 4 track Muntz afficianados out there, this looks like a nice auction, though some of those titles are a bit out there.

 

Hey needlestein -

Just wanted to warn you, referring to 4 or 8 track cartridges as "cassettes" raises the hackles of us collectors as much as referring to LPs as "vinyls". Just a heads-up.

BTW, those Muntz 4 track machines were mostly made by Clarion, and weighed a lot.

Cheers,
Larry B.

 

FOR 8 track: It used half as much tape as a 4 track, and tape was expensive. Also, 4 tracks didn't change tracks automatically like 8 tracks. Also, 4 tracks required inserting the tape and throwing a lever to engage the pinch roller; not a good idea while you're driving. 8 tracks just required shoving in the tape, nothing else.

AGAINST 8 track: Reduced fidelity because of narrower tracks. Increased crosstalk possibility because of narrower guard bands between tracks. Less of a positive pinch roller engagement due to variations in brands of cartridge shells.

The bottom line is that no one was really behind nationwide marketing of the 4 track; it was primarily a west coast phenomenon, with slightly less on the east coast. Bill Lear rejiggered the design enough to get it patented, and threw his marketing muscle behind it, enlisting Ford, RCA and Borg-Warner to support it.

Cheers,
Larry B.

 

Got it - thanks!

 

I remember the 4-tracks quite well. Muntz was the king! I bought some 4-tracks to play in my 8-track deck with the aid of a snap-in roller.
The 4-track type cartridge survived atleast a couple more decades in radio stations. At first, they were just used for commercials but expanded in music as radio stations moved away from playinjg records in the 70's. The sound quality was excellent with the carts running at 7 1/2 ips, twice the speed of the 4-tracks. Radio stations either used the carts full-tracking or 2-track for stereo.

 

So this is my father's 4-Track player. He has all of his original 60's stereo equipment. This particular unit will play 2 different sizes of 4-track cartridges. We have tried to find information about it online, but almost all references to 4-track players are for cars, not home stereos. There was one post from about 12 years ago where someone else was seeking information about this same brand of player, but that is the only one I have come accross.

 

That's a rare bird you've got there - first one I've ever seen! Especially unusual since it will accept 2 of the three sizes of original cartridge styles - the so-called "300" and "600" (so named for the maximum amount of tape they would hold). The larger "1200" carts were almost exclusively found in background music devices.

Craig, originally a mostly west-coast company, imported Pioneer tape equipment way before Pioneer themselves entered the market. Having that relationship put owner Bob Craig in a good position to introduce 8 track (and combo 8/4 track) machines when they came along in the mid-'60s.

Your machine is in beautiful condition. I'd guess it dates from roughly 1962-1963 or so. Other than Muntz (manufactured by Clarion), there wasn't much else in the way of 4 track home equipment.

 

Thanks for the info I wasnt actually aware of the 3rd size on the cartridges. It's pretty amazing all of the obscure equipment there is out there. The deck only needs a new belt. Other than that it should work. I need to track down some cartridges for him though. He hasn't had any in years. Here also has this nice reel to reel with the 8-track player in the side. I heard it a few times growing up, but my dad liked talking about his stereo equipment more than actually using it.

 

Update: I've found some info that says Craig Electronics was founded in 1963, so your machine very likely dates from that time period.

Another update: More searching suggests I was a bit off...1965-66 is more likely. This could be why your unit is so rare - coming along just prior to the 8 track becoming popular. Must have been quite expensive at the time, too.

 

It's crazy just how little info is out there about it. You would think there would be an article or image...or something.

 

I remember those days:

 

If you've got the model number 516, it was introduced in 1965 or early 1966:


A grass-roots company, Muntz had taken the 3-track radio station cart (one track for signaling), and given it a four-track head.



Lear went for the car companies and the Jugular, from the same 1966 CARtridge special issue:



1969, record companies started releasing on casette, and a year later, cassette was beating 8-track sales, and 4-track was of little mention.

 

So here is some more info:

Model number: 3301
U.S. patent # 287600
Serial: Ml30384
As you can probably tell from the picture, it was both a player and recorder. It also had a built in amplifier.

My father purchased it from an individual in 1968 who indicated at the time that it was a rare item

 

The most common tape-based background music systems were the 3m Wollensak. They played 2-track mono tape cartridges which were actually 2 conventional reels inside. They ran at 1 7/8 ips. They were auto-reverse. Starting with track 1, when it reached the end, it would reverse directions playing track 2 and continue back and forth until switched off.

 

Not what I was referring to. These were large machines that used what was essentially a Fidelipac-style cart, but much larger than commonly seen. Sometimes called "Type C", they held 1200 ft. of tape as opposed to the 300 ft size that was what the consumer market used. I remember seeing them as early as 1958 or so.

From Wiki:
"There were three sizes of Fidelipac carts available — the 4-inch-wide A size (Fidelipac Model 300, 350 and MasterCart), which was a standard 8-track size cart with maximum 10 1⁄2 minute playing time at 7.5 ips (this was the most common and widely used size of Fidelipac cart); the 6-inch-wide B size (Fidelipac Model 600), a larger cartridge designed for holding longer programs; and the even larger 8-inch-wide C size (Fidelipac Model 1200), often used for background music applications like the Rowe Customusic."

That Revere/Wollensak system came along around 1964 and was a big flop.

 

"That Revere/Wollensak system came along around 1964 and was a big flop."

Oops. Before you tell me I'm wrong - I realized I am. I was thinking of the miniature cartridge system from Revere/Wollensak. The 3M system you're referring to came along quite a bit later, I think - and was completely different.

There still were an awful lot of those Fidelipac-style background music players before that, though...

 

That's not really true. When the first Philips cassette recorder was introduced in 1963, reviewers were already saying that it was remarkably good for recording and playing music, compared to the miniature reel-to-reel machines it was competing with at the time. And by 1965, Philips had begun production of pre-recorded "Musicassettes", with Ampex following suit in the U.S. in 1966.

Here's an ad from 1968: