Can you identify this mystery radio?

28 Replies

Yesterday, at the marché aux puces de Sainte-Foy (Sainte-Foy flea market) in Québec City, I stumbled across the little receiver above in a box of junk under a vendor’s table.

I’ve actually worked up a short post about this radio and will publish it tomorrow, but first I’m curious if any Post readers can identify it based only on the photo above.

I’ve purposely cropped the image so it’s slightly more challenging. Still, there are so many radio enthusiasts here on the SWLing Post, no doubt someone will quickly ID this radio.

Please comment with the make/model and type of receiver if you think you’ve got the answer to this radio challenge!

Here’s a hint: I haven’t seen a receiver like this in decades. Good luck!

UPDATE: Click here to read our follow-up post.

Spread the radio love

28 thoughts on “Can you identify this mystery radio?”

  1. Lex

    My question is if these FM tuner cartridges will work with any 8 travk player?

    I found one but will only work fir a specific 8btrack player.

    For one thing, where will the FM cartridge draw power from? Because the regular 8 track cartridges don’t need power to work right? As long as the magnetic tape aligns with the head correcr? Thanks:)

    Reply ↓
  3. Ed McCorry

    And does anyone remember the record player for the car? It played 45 rpm records and really well. The only drawback was the tone arm played the records from the bottom, upside down as it were, and the spring pressure was so tight to hold the needle against the record that the grooves on the record started to wear and the sound diminished. But 45’s were so cheap you could replace them easily. These were pre 8 track.

    Reply ↓
    1. Thomas Post author

      Wow, Ed. I’ve heard about those, but always assumed they were very much a niche thing. You’re right, though–45s were pretty darn cheap and could take a beating! 🙂

      Reply ↓
  4. Mario

    Great mystery radio question and great comments. Had one of these in high school, yes, it was an FM tuner that was placed into the 8 track player to receive FM. Got mine from JC Whitney or similar catalog, think it was Mono only? Back then you could also purchase a mounting bracket that allowed you to slide out the whole 8-track player from it’s base bracket and place it safely out of sight from big city thieves.

    Anybody remember those “reverb” units that connected to your AM radio in the car to give an echo chamber effect? Those were a way of being cool back then.

    Thanks for the great post Thomas

    Reply ↓
  5. Andy

    I was in the radio/TV repair trade when 8-track was big (actually not so big here in the UK), and I hated the wretched things! The pinch roller was part of the cartridge, and if the cartridge wasn’t inserted dead straight (or the tension springs were lazy), the tape speed would vary. The use then spent the next few minutes/hours/days wiggling the cartridge in an effort to sort it out. One thing that amazed me was the the ingenious single-reel system worked so reliably!

    Reply ↓
    1. Thomas Post author

      I agree, Andy. In the end, the 8 Track was well engineered from the standpoint of the single-reel. As a kid, it seemed to defy physics.

      Reply ↓
      1. Ken Hansen n2vip

        From memory it was a continuous magnetic tape joined by a foil tape which, when it passed over the head would shift the head of the player two tracks to play the next ‘channel’.

        Reply ↓
        1. Ed McCorry

          Your absolutely correct Ken. I remember that when the magnetic tape would break, usually at the piece of foil, I was able to splice it back together with a piece of new foil from a roll I bought. The hard part was getting it back together with the proper amount of tightness so it wouldn’t get caught in the tape player. Ah those were the days!

          Reply ↓
    1. Thomas Post author

      Very, very good research, Steve! In fact, it’s not badged as Sheraton, but under another brand I must assume was bigger here in Canada.(?) The styling is identical.

      Great job!

      Reply ↓
  12. Ed McCorry

    I think they are correct. I had a FM tuner for my 8 track in my 69 Bonneville that looked just like it in1974. I bought it from a friend so I really didn’t pay that much attention to the brand. I think Audiovox is a good guess though, they used to make that kind of stuff back in the day.

    Reply ↓
  15. Bill

    I agree with the above. They might have been sold at Lafayette, or Allied Radio Shack or local electronics stores before the “Big Box” stores were born.

    Reply ↓
  16. Andy

    I think Ken has it. There was one back in the late 60s/ early 70s, called something like the Auto Radio. My memeory is right on the edge with this one and I don’t want to Google it.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.