Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Blowing My Mind

I never thought I’d live to see the day, I remember hearing that a lot when I was younger, especially when it came to new gadgets I just had to have.

I went up to Sky City which was a department store in the town I grew up in, I looked over the newest stereo systems that were available for vehicles and selected one to fit my 66 Lemans, as soon as I got this stereo out of lay a way I would be replacing the stock AM radio that came in my car.

The day came when I brought home my Tenna AM/FM/8-Track player, the latest and greatest stereo that could be installed at the time in my opinion, to make this system even greater my best friend Rob and I drove across town and picked up a set of Mind Blower speakers, also made by Tenna to go along with the system.

Installing the system was a piece of cake, all I had to do was un bolt the radio and fish it out from behind the dash, this included laying in the floor with my head stuck somewhere between the gas pedal and the console, trying to get the radio out from behind all the wiring, without breaking anything, trying to figure out the correct wires to cut and tie into the new system, and all this without looking at any instructions, then there was that pesky antenna wire.

With the old radio out and the wires cut, now all I had to do was splice the new wires and fish the new system into place, about two days later it was installed, now for the fun part, nope we were not ready to listen quite yet.

The new Mind Blower speakers also made by Tenna had to be installed, now you don’t suppose the 6 X 9 holes were already cut in the back do you, nor would you think there were any wires going from the new system to the back, OK a couple days later and this was all done also, the speakers were connected.

Nothing but static, I know we did everything right, so I went back over everything, Rob helped me get my head out from between the gas pedal and console only to discover the radio wasn’t working, now I did mention that pesky antenna wire.

Yes there was a lot of cussing and screaming, pounding on the roof of my car, and the shaking of the occasional finger, this was coming from my Mom trying to get our attention after we got the antenna wire hooked up, this system was so loud and clear that neighbors from all around took up a petition to have me keep the power boost button disengaged on the speakers.

Life was great back then, we didn’t have all the new fangled gadgets the kids get now days, we were lucky to have an AM radio in our cars, and now these kids have CD players, satellite radio, GPS and all kinds of things I never heard of, and this stuff is stock, they don’t even have to install any of it themselves.

I bet they don’t even know what an 8-Track player is, I never thought I’d live to see the day.

12 comments:

  1. Hubby still has 8 track players, reel to reels and too many turntables to count.

    I remember Sky City, in Asheville! Is that the same one you went to?

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    1. Actually down the mountain from Asheville in Greenville :^)

      We still have boxes of vinyl records.

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  2. I remember it well...we still have boxes of vinyl too but nothing to play them on *sigh*. The old days were so darn much better, simpler times that seems to be on my mind a lot lately. Hmmmmm, must be getting 'old.'

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    1. I don't think we have a turntable at all anymore, most likely one could be found at a yard sale, probably where mine went :)

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  3. Oh my, I'd forgotten all that vinyl.... grins. Had to smile about your neighbours getting up a petition! I miss the old records but am thankful that most are reinstated as CDs so I can still play my favourite music.

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    1. Yes we can still find most of our records on CD now, and the sound quality is so much better it seems.

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  4. "I bet they don’t even know what an 8-Track player is..."

    I DO, Jimmy! And it's so ironic you mentioned that because one of my other blogging buddies posted something last week about music, and I mentioned an 8-Track player in my comment!! The thing I didn't like about 8-Track players, is that they would switch over to next song; making a LOUD click sound. Do you remember that?

    It blows me away at how quickly technology is advancing. And to be honest, I am waaaaaaaaaaaay behind because I still listen to my music on a CD player - HA!

    Great post, buddy! Brought back a lot of great memories!

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    1. Funny how a lot of the kids now look at CD's as old fashioned Ha Ha

      Yes Sir I do remember the clicks the old 8-tracks made, how about taping a nickle or quarter to the arm above the needle on a turntable to keep the records from skipping--those were the days.

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  5. We have boxes of vinyl records but nothing to play them on too...but I was reading that they are all coming back into fashion, so maybe all is not lost!
    Personally, I would be lost without my MP3 player, loads more music and stories to listen to! {Even though I'm not that technically minded!}

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    1. it would be good if they came out with turntables again, especially for those of us with the vinyls but nothing to play them on.

      It appears most music is downloaded now days rather than brought home from the record store, I suppose we all have to move along with the times :^)

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  6. I'm really admitting to being old here, but I remember 4-track tape players and even had a Muntz record player in one of my cars. Biggest lesson learned about auto record players. DON'T EVER LEAVE ANY RECORDS SITTING IN YOUR CAR! THEY ONLY HAVE TO GET SEMI-HOT AND THEN THEY WARP...

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  7. I am sure that lesson was learned really fast, I bet with the sun here it didn't take long.

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