The Jensen FF
8 Track History

“One of life’s many pleasures is sitting in the driving seat of a Jensen FF, and
listening to that wonderful ‘KACHUNK’ sound, as the ‘8’ track cartridge is pushed into the player.”

ULRIC WOODHAMS

click here to visit the 8 Track store

HISTORY OF THE ‘8’ TRACK CARTRIDGE

The ‘8’ track cartridge, consisting of an endless loop of ¼” magnetic tape was developed by William (Bill) Lear of LearJet fame. The tape had eight parallel soundtracks corresponding to four stereo programs, which in turn was housed in a neat plastic cartridge.

During 1964 Lear’s aircraft company manufactured a simple car ‘8’ track player; 100 were distributed to executives of various automobile and recording companies. Various meetings with automobile and recording company executives took place throughout 1964 and 1`965, which led to some automobile companies and the recording industry backing the new system.

With RCA committing to the mass production of ‘8’ track cartridges, and Ford agreeing to offer ‘8’ track players as optional equipment in their cars, Lear’s ‘8’ track system was propelled to almost overnight success. Incredibly the take up was massive by Ford’s customers. In the first year alone (1966) over 65,000 players were sold.

The new Jensen Interceptor and FF were brought out in 1966, both models being offered with the Radiomobile 970 / 980 radio. It would be 1968 before the first ‘8’ track players would find their way into Jensen cars...and this was completely by accident.

Tony Marshall, Sales Manager at Jensen Motors was attending the 1967 Geneva Motor Show, and wandering around the various other companies exhibiting at the show, found himself on the stand of the Italian company Voxson. Marshall had noticed a good looking ‘8’ track / radio car system on their stand and believed it would be perfectly suited to the Jensen. An agreement was reached for Voxson to supply Jensen Motors, and not long after, a further agreement was reached for Radiomobile to sell the units under license.

Jensen Motors continued to offer the ‘8’ track / radio player as optional equipment until their doors closed in 1976.

The 8 Track 'Holy Grail' for Jensen addicts, 'Music for the Motorway'

This 8 Track released in 1970 by Decca, features Jensen Interceptor 'BEA 898J'

It wouldn’t be much longer before the ‘8’ track system would fall from grace. Between 1981 and 1983, the major recording labels announced their decision to stop supporting the ‘8’ track system. Falling from mainstream consumerism, the ‘8’ track system continued on the fringe for some years before being relegated to the history books.

Today the ‘8’ track system is strongly supported by car and music enthusiasts, and specialist companies supply and repair the players, and even the cartridges themselves.

GETTING THE BEST OUT OF YOUR 8 TRACK SYSTEM

Even the most modern 8 Track players will date to the early 1980s, and for the Voxon / Radiomobile players fitted to Jensen cars, we are going back to the 1960s / 1970s. As such the players are decades old and have often suffered a period of being 'unloved'. If the player has already been removed from the car, then it is strongly advised (even if it is working) to have the unit overhauled by a specialist before refitting to the car. Whilst the player is being overhauled, the customer also has the choise of additional options to the unit, such as an FM option (internal to the 970/980 radio and external to the radio/8 track player) and an MP3 connection. With an overhauled player and clean tapes, one will often be surprised just how good the quality of sound is from these systems.

It is worth remembering that since 8 track cartridges use magnetic tape, deposits can build up on the player's head. It is well worth cleaning the head with an alcohol-based head cleaner once or twice a year to ensure the best possible sound quality.

The well known UK-based company of Vintage Wireless have a very good name in the business of radio and 8 track player restoration. Their address is, 174 Cross St, Sale, Cheshire, M33 7AQ (Tel: 0161-973-0438).

click here to visit the 8 Track store