Looking back at our experiences with cassette decks in cars

My Maruti 800 had an aftermarket deck with auto-reverse, wherein it would switch from side A to side B on its own.

BHPian anjan_c2007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Since the 1980s, prior to car AC's becoming common in India, almost every other car was fitted with a radio cassette deck. Very few Indian makes were available then, Philips being common among these. BPL and a few other companies joined by the mid to late-1980.

Many buyers preferred the smuggled ones from the grey market. These were available in almost all major cities. Pioneer, Panasonic, Kenwood, Sanyo and Clarion were the most preferred by buyers. But the grey market purchases had flaws that are discussed in the next paras.

Apart from repair problems, the grey market purchases would have no invoices or receipts. Repairs would rarely have to be undertaken, as these were very reliable. Only able technical hands were able to do good repair jobs.

Next comes thefts of the radio cassette decks. One neighbour who owned an Ambassador would park the car outside his residence. One fine morning, he found the Pioneer deck fitted therein stolen. He wanted to report the matter to the police but the police demanded a purchase receipt for the deck. We know the average, dismal rates of theft detections, but still, no FIR could be lodged.

Radio cassette deck thefts were very common in the 1980s, 90's and even in the 00' decade. These were the easiest to steal after car-breaking (gaining entry) and easy to carry and resell by thieves. The cars (Premier and Ambassador) of those times had a pair of quarter glasses on the front windows that even trainee thieves would be able to open to then open the door. Even thieves mastered the art of entry into Maruti 800's by dismantling the third window between the C and D pillars. Opening its door lock by propping up the black plastic knob was also easy. Some say that Premier Automobiles Ltd did away with front quarter glasses in late 1987 to check audio deck thefts. Some others say that the discontinuance was to cut costs.

About a decade ago, another neighbour had given his 2007 Maruti Swift VDI for servicing to the ASC. The car's Pioneer deck's front panel was detachable. Someone in the ASC filched this front panel during servicing and he was not even compensated. The poor gentleman had to replace the deck.

I have a 1998 Sony shortwave radio cassette deck fitted on my 1987 Maruti 800 that is doing well there. The front panel is detachable. This is where I can still play the old cassettes. The older Clarion was replaced in 1998 as it developed snags.

We would be happy to hear your experiences and anecdotes about radio/cassette/radio cassette decks.

Update: A few images of the AM/FM radio cassette decks of the 1980s that formed the heart and soul of the cars of that era!

A Pioneer deck advertisement

1986 Radioshack advertisement

Early 1980's Philips cassette deck

Clarion P795S deck

Clarion 6300 R deck- My Maruti 800 was fitted with this aftermarket deck. It had auto-reverse wherein the cassette after playing side A would switch over to side B. That was a luxury feature as one would be driving and would not need to bother about reversing the cassette after one side was over. It had an FM and AM radio. FM was yet to arrive in most cities in India till it served me (1998). The AM radio would play MW stations.

The Sony XR-3757 currently fitted to my Maruti since 1998. It has features to skip a song at the touch of a button, repeat a song as many times as needed, SW 1 and SW 2 apart from MW and FM radio stations. The shortwave stations would be heard only with the antenna upped. It also memorises the user's favourite radio stations if programmed to do so. We hardly have any good MW and SW stations to be heard these days.

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Music might have gone digital today and we have the entire world's library of songs on our smartphones, but the youngsters shouldn't get the wrong impression of the older days. We thoroughly enjoyed the 15 - 20 songs on each cassette, rewinding & forwarding as needed. I used to roam around with a case that held about a dozen cassettes, all neatly marked "rock", "fast songs" etc.

It was a fun time. In fact, we heard more of the same song over & over again, unlike today where we probably listen to 1 song once a month.

They say that you enjoy a 3-item meal of your favourites more than a buffet of 100 items. Somewhat relevant here.

Here's what BHPian sumeethaldankar had to say on the matter:

I remember the early days of 1984 of our Premier Padmini, we had no sound system in the same. It was only towards the end of the car's life with us was one fitted in the glove compartment. It was some Pioneer make I believe. It was a secure fit as the glove box had a lock and key.

Fast forward to our 1997 800, it had a completely detachable Pioneer knock off installed by the dealer. The sound was pooh-pooh, but it did its job. I remember it had slots to hold the cassette boxes beneath the fitting. When it conked off several years later I got a JVC CD player.

With an eye on audio theft, I kept the audio system detachable only it was not by design but by choice. I did not allow the fitter to screw the audio system inside the car and post parking the car I would simply remove the entire head unit by unplugging the wires. At times where I had to park in unsafe areas what I would do was to remove the system and place in under the seat. The drawback of this was since the unit was unplugged every day it would lose the settings for the clock, radio etc daily.

Here's what BHPian normaltusker had to say on the matter:

This brings back fond memories of when Dad and us kids used to first extensively use the cassette in the car and then it would be lying in a corner in the house for us to listen when in the mood for it. I do not recall the model type but Dad was definitely a fan of Pioneer and I believe that is what must have been in our Omni High roof in the 80s and Maruti 800 in the 90s!

An interesting anecdote about the security and safety of the cars that I am reminded of. Back in the 80s when I was still a kid, one fine morning the entire street woke up to see that their car cassette players had been promptly stolen by thieves! The thieves had very carefully opened the front windscreen to get into the car and remove the deck. All that was ever found was a few screws on the front passenger seat!

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