Show us your RARE 8-track players!

[stereoguy70]

As the title says.......

I myself have two rather rare players in my collection. The first one is a Heathkit GD-28 player that someone made from a kit. Heathkit first offered this particular player in 1969. This has also been the most problematic player I've owned to date as well! I've had to replace the belt, all the electrolytics in the preamp, the filter cap, a couple of diodes in the preamp that actually control the track changing solenoid and track indicator lamps, the motor run cap and its wire wound resistor, and what I thought was a failing motor due to the massive wow & flutter it started to develop. Turns out the wow & flutter was an highly polished (aka smooth!) capstan shaft and a bracket underneath the capstan flywheel that was actually touching the flywheel causing some drag as well. So.....I had to figure out how to disassemble that and get that all straightened out, everything lubed again and the capstan roughed up so that it would have minimal wow & flutter. Yes, I know 8-tracks by nature have some that you really can't get rid of.

Anyway, here's the Heathkit which came with its original assembly manual:

:

 

[stereoguy70]

The other rare player I have in my collection is a Lear Jet Stereo-8 HSA-900 from 1965 (found the dates on the caps I replaced) which was semi-working when I got it. From what I understand, this was the first ever consumer home 8-track player model available on the market. A real piece of AMERICAN-MADE history here, that's for sure. Minor restoration has been done......replaced the electrolytic filter caps and the motor run cap as well having to track down a belt (the original was missing) and replace the bulb for the only indicator lamp on the player.....the "ON" indicator. Yup, that's right, there are NO track indicator lamps! Cleaned, lubricated, and demagnetized. It has a motor in it that looks like it belongs in a reel-to-reel deck! This thing is compact, but HEAVY! Less wow & flutter than the Heathkit and it sounds great too!

So...here it is:

 

[stereoguy70]

A couple of "naked" pics of the Lear Jet:

 

[stereoguy70]

Now that's cool. Kudos. I never thought of an 8track player. Was actually thinking about a reel to reel to my system however I think finding tapes/reels around these parts would be neigh impossible.
Kudos to you and enjoy!

I can pretty much play almost all the "obsolete" media with my system. I can play all vinyl except 78's, reel-to-reel, 8-track, cassette, cd, AM, FM, my iPod......I'd like to add a Muntz 4-track player at some point just for the sheer novelty of it.

 

[Hunted11]

Here is an 8 track recorder that was given to me many years ago. I have never even plugged it in. I have no tapes to try it. It's a Soundesign 491B

 

[tcdriver]

I do not know how rare this is: Harman Kardon model 8+ quadraphonic deck shown with a Sony SQD-1000.

 

[1tumbleweed]

On a rarity scale of 1 to 10, I'd put the HK at a solid 8 (no pun intended). Very nice deck that still brings considerable money when they show up...which is not often.

I've been chasing a deck for years that was sold under several different names: Universal Tapedex, Capitol, Concertone, Kalof Electronics, maybe others. Made in the USA, in the early days of 8T, with several unique features. There's got to be one out there somewhere...........?