Now I'm curious. Is that a record player I see either under or inside the dash? Are you kidding me? I've never seen a record player in any automobile. And, it's tough to see the size, but it looks smaller than a 78rpm but larger than a 45rpm. 45rpm records had the larger diameter center hole (which, of course, you could use a center blank to accommodate the turntable spindle), but I don't see a center blank to accommodate that record. That is out of this world. Was that thing an option or some aftermarket deal, do you know?

EDIT: OK, you kind of doubled up on this post. So it "is" in fact a record player. That's nuts!

 

Chief, where have you been? Record players were Mopar factory options in the late '50's and early '60's. I saw one installed in a '57 retractable in '63.

 

That's crazy. The car had to be stopped to gain any benefit from a phonograph player. I guess if you were at your favorite outdoor diner you could listen to it. Could be a real game changer for Lover's Lane.

 

Made by Columbia-CBS and marketed as "Hiway HiFi". Used special 16-2/3 rpm records, hence the four speed home turntables so you could play the records in the car or in the house.

RCA Victor marketed a generic car record player that would play 45s.

Put it this way- the Muntz StereoPak 4 track and LearJet Stereo 8 track cartridges that appeared in early 1960s were a vast improvement.

 

This is from the 1960 DeSoto brochure ;





The car in question is a 1957 , identified by the Hemi engine .
' 58's went to a wedge engine . I saw no info for a phonograph in '57 , '58, or '59 literature .
So it must be a '60 or later unit . Due to the similarity of these cars , it would be an easy install .

 

"...enjoy up to two hours of hi-fi music while you drive." While you drive? How in bloody hell did the needle maintain its position w/in any groove(s) on the record platter? Either the downward pressure of the needle against the platter or the upward pressure of the platter against the needle would have to have been tremendous to maintain any consistent delivery without skipping. I can only imagine a single needle must have lasted only the two hours of hi-fi music (if you could enjoy it) and/or the record was beat to death after that amount of pressure.

I recall some rather ugly wars back in the day (betamax vs. vhs), **** 2200/2600 cassette machine code, etc. but the automotive phonograph I never heard of. It's crazy. A 4-track reel-to-reel would seem a better choice.

 

Charlie, I was thinking the 331 Hemi was early years, 354 Hemi was 1955-57, and 392 Hemi was up to 1959 or 1960. I don't remember when they ended Desoto's.
Mamie Eisenhower bought a new car for Dwight D in the middle 50's with a record player so he could listen to symphony music. That car is actually on display at Don Garlits Museum of drag racing, just up the road from you in Ocala.

 

Ralph ,
The Chrysler used a 331 hemi from '51 thru '55 . '56 top of the line models used a 354 .
'57 & '58's top of the line models used a 392 Hemi .

DeSoto's used an entirely different Hemi . It was slightly smaller in outside dimensions .
They started in 1952 with a 276 . In ' 55 they bored it to 291 .
In '56 they stroked it to 330 . In '57 they bored it again to 341 .
In '58 DeSoto went to "wedge " " B " block engines , as did Chrysler in 1959 .
DeSoto's last year was 1961 .

When are we gonna see some OLDSMOBILES ?

 

Charlie, very interesting to know about Desoto and Chryslers. All these years, I assumed they were the same.

My Firefox browser doesn't like ClassicOldsmobile and its a battle to read and post anything right now. I have some nice 64 and earlier Olds and an OLDS powered ******.

 

You must live in a bubble that you never heard of the Chrysler record player!

 

I heard about the record players, insane! The unique Hemi to every division was also nuts. There is also the rare EFI. The magazine article discussed the reason it failed. They said it actually ran OK until the wax paper melted on the electronics and failure, which they all did, it was the 50's! One guy bought a car, he got ahold of the original EFI which was kept in a box. They upgraded the electronics and it is now runs the EFI. I believe AMC had just a couple of their cars also made with the EFI, those are even rarer. Very neat.

 

I've also read about another problem with the Bendix " Electro -Ject " used in Chryslers and AMC's .
The old neon signs had a black box transformer that put out a lot of radio interference .
It would cause a loud buzz in your radio whenever you passed the sign .
The problem was annoying , but in an EFI car it was much worse .
The Electro - Ject was a timed injection system . And the radio interference caused all eight injectors to open all the way at once .
This would flood the engine . The car would be towed in , and fixed with a new set of spark plugs .
Until the next time it passed by a neon sign .

Chrysler initially built all of it's 300 D models with EFI . But the warranty claims were driving them crazy .
So they re-called all the EFI cars and replaced the EFI's with twin four barrel carbs .

 

I will try and dig up a picture. One of my older brothers had a 58 Fireflite as his first car. Super cool car. Two door. Red and black. Black interior. Push button automatic. My oldest brothers and my Grandpa were Chrysler people. Saw so many cool Mopars in my family. Grandpa had a 53 Crown Imperial. 62 300. 70 300. Long long list of Mopars in my family. 70 340 Duster four speed. Factory purple car. Duster 360. 69 Six Bbl Roadrunner etc etc.

 

I love the '58 SOOOO much, but the conti kit is an abomination!! Their car, their choice, but Virgil Exner rolled over in his grave. The '58 is my favorite DeSoto.

 

The gold and black car is a 57 not a 58. 57 stripes go down. 58's go up. Same tail lights etc.

 

Another 57 Adventurer....


De Soto Adventurer was their top of the line car.

By the way. 58 De Soto is my favorite year as well. Cool memories in my brothers car.

 

When I was a young man of about 13 we lived in a mobile home park for about 5 years, one of the neighbors had two black beauties,
he and the wife had his and hers convertibles ! one was a Desoto the other a Chrysler letter car, I used to drool over those two cars long , black and sleek I'm not 100% sure but if I had to take a guess I'd say probably 1959, both in beautiful condition, this would have been around 1968 so only about 9 years old so they were not exactly classics yet but they were gorgeous.
I also remember they would disappear from the back of his place around October or November and not return till spring (there were no garages in this mobile park they were very strict about carports, sheds etc...guess that's why the place always looked good) I do remember the two vehicles looked very similar to each other. dont know how or where he stored them during the Chicago winter. Good memories.