https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/pts/d/bridgeville-factory-buick-track-player/7374546364.html not mine. Ad says $50.00
i thought about getting a correct buick 8 track for my car to actually use. but i have been down that road on a olds. tried piecing it all together radio, 8 track, harness, brackets. never again! all these things must match or your gonna have problems. if i could find a COMPLETE package that came out of the same car that worked and did not look like junk i would buy it. instead i found a mint still in the box 1975 pioneer radio/8 track thats going in the old gsx.
That's a good deal, I'm tempted to go after it for parts. The shipping costs will likely more than double the cost of it, but it might still be worth it. I have gotten quite a few of these factory set ups to work. The key is to use the correct ohm rated speakers, otherwise you'll burn up the guts of these early things. So you don't get crystal clear sound like you would out of a Grundig tube radio, but you get acceptable Buick tinny static and hiss. They aren't that difficult to take apart and clean up, the biggest issue is the belt. If it's loose, then nothing will work right. The electronics are pretty bullet proof, and if the drive motor still works, it'll likely run. Yes, you will probably have to wad up the regulation old cigarette pack or a book of matches and stuff it in on the right hand side, but that's more to keep uniform tension on the drive roller and the foam pad in the cartridge. Usually if it doesn't drag, it'll survive. I currently have a unit like the one depicted in my Electra, it's hooked up to a factory 1966 AM/FM with the proper factory replacement speakers, and last week it decided to munch my favourite "Doors" tape. I was not impressed. That's more the real problem; - the foam pads in the cartridges degrade and cause the tape not to pick up properly and roll through correctly so it bunches up and tears. I've lost a few that way recently, it seems the foam pads degrade faster when exposed to summer heat in a car. I should know better than to run it because the Electra is a convertible and you can't hear a thing anyway. The tape unfortunately was beyond salvage; - it ended up leaving the car as many did back in the day and as a result is probably perplexing some kids in a neighbourhood somewhere as to its otherworldly origin; being that it's likely in the form of a clump of string tape. The old plastic disintegrated on contact, it was all brittle from being exposed to 50 summers and winters in a box inside the car, and the glue wasn't holding anything together anymore. I once actually pumped CDs through the system, using a CD to cassette converter and a cassette to 8-track converter. The volume needed to be on "max", otherwise it was too quiet. But it played in Stereo, and it was clear. You absolutely need that factory bracket to keep the entire mess steady enough so it doesn't skip. The smart money would be to have one there for aesthetics and have an MP3 jack plumbed into it so you can run it off the phone. Might look into doing that once I run out of crappy 8-tracks to wreck.
I have seen where guys have removed the guts and installed a modern deck . Someone on here. Think Fritz might have done one?
I don't think you could get an 8-track w/the consolette. I almost bought an NOS one a few years ago - Didn't need it but figured it'd be neat to have. We were close on price ($500 ish IIRC) and someone else bought it.
