My first car was a blue 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 very similar to the one pictured here. It was originally my Grandpa’s and he bought it new. It had some miles on it and it didn’t have power steering or seat belts but the body was in excellent shape. No seat belts. That seems like such an impossibility. To think that my passengers and I were completely unrestrained for entire time I had that car. The stero was a concern, it had one speaker and an AM radio. It was 1963 and who ever heard of FM?
I felt that I had to get at least FM in there and hopefully a cassette deck and thus began a phase of car stereo tinkering that would last until I sold it in spring of 1987. The first stero I put in it was ridiculous. It was an off the shelf K-Mart special that came with two rear deck speakers. At least it had AM/FM and cassette.
It was a chilly evening in the late autumn. I pulled the Galaxie into Grandpa’s garage and began to methodically follw the installation instructions that came with the stereo. I had never worked on a car before but it was too bad. The Galaxie is a huge car and there was plenty of space to get in behind the dashboard. I got the old AM radio out and fortunately, everything seemed be fairly standard so it all fit. That is until I got to the rear deck and the 6×9 speakers. I could see from inside the trunk that the frame was ready to accept speakers but not these “massive” 6×9’s. It looked like some 4×6’s would fit but I had 6×9’s so I MacGyvered a surface mount solution.
Everythng was ready. I started up the car and turned on the stereo. It worked and This is what was waiting for me.
Lionel Richie – All Night Long I had never been a fan of Lionel Richie or a follower of The Commodores but this song will always be treasured memory because of this experience. You know for a $50 K-Mart special, it was music to my ears.
It was miles ahead of where I was on the stock radio but it was still lacking in so many areas. It would be quite a bit more elaborate before I was done.
Human League – Don’t You Want Me
Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney – Say, Say, Say
Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
The Police – Every Breath You Take