Forty years ago, the September-October 1976 issue of Elementary Electronics reviewed a product that, at first blush, seems to be an unusual combination.  Shown here is the Pioneer model TP-900, a combination 8-track player FM stereo receiver.

The magazine posted a very good review.  The FM receiver was very good quality, and the tape player contained a number of features such as fast forward and automatic repeat that made it quite convenient for that medium.

The combination is actually quite logical.  Virtually every car of the era came equipped with an AM radio.  FM was just beginning to outpace AM in popularity, and there were undoubtedly a lot of audiophile motorists who wanted to add both and FM radio and tape player to their vehicle.  Since the car was already equipped with a perfectly good AM radio, simply adding one unit with the two capabilities seemed like a logical choice.

In fact, I was the owner of the Realistic FM radio/8-track player shown here, from the 1979 Radio Shack catalog.  It was an inexpensive way to augment the car’s audio with little installation.  I simply put this under the dash, with two small home speakers in the back.  The car AM radio continued to work as usual, but I also had the option of FM or 8-track tapes.

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