Anyone Remember...

[Carnut]

Heh,  heh, as I lay in bed tonight and for some reason I started to wax nostalgic and what should come to mind but thoughts of how gloriously wonderful the sounds of a Motorola Vibrasonic Reverb was the first time I heard one in a car, at a car wash in 62 or 63. Think it was a 62 Chevy.

Anyone else Remember those?

Soon after hearing the first one it seemed all the really 'cool' cars cruising thru the local hangout burger joint had them echoing away as they drove thru. I seem to recall that most all the 65 and 66 GTO's seemed have had those reverbs.


My local burger joint circa 1969, those are my coupes dual 4's in the pic.


Heh, heh, I think Shelly Fabraes song 'Johnny Angel' was specifically made to be played on a Motorola Vibrasonic Reverb unit just for the echo.

Early units actually had springs for the Reverb function, I can remember being in a car going over railroad tracks and hearing the echo go boing boing.

The first thing I put in my new 67 Dodge Charger was a Motorola Vibrasonic Reverb Unit hanging under the dash hooked to a speaker in the rear fold down panel.

Man was that cool or what.

But alas those didn't last long technology wise, they came out just before real stereo tape players and then FM stereo radios.

I soon replaced the Vibrasonic under the dash in my Charger with a big metal clipon removable gadget that a stereo FM 8track tape deck was attached to, It was removable, not so much for theft protection, but to allow me to drag the contraption over and click it in place in my 31 Ford Coupe thus only having the expense of one Stereo Unit for both cars.

Darn if I didn't find one of those removable Stereo brackets on ebay.



Well, heh, heh, not sure if posting this will let me go to sleep now or not, but I do feel better about getting it posted.

Don't think I'm just trying to get my word count up there with GPster or Wayne.

[C9]

Heh,  heh, as I lay in bed tonight and for some reason I started to wax nostalgic and what should come to mind but thoughts of how gloriously wonderful the sounds of a Motorola Vibrasonic Reverb was the first time I heard one in a car, at a car wash in 62 or 63. Think it was a 62 Chevy.

Anyone else Remember those?

Soon after hearing the first one it seemed all the really 'cool' cars cruising thru the local hangout burger joint had them echoing away as they drove thru. I seem to recall that most all the 65 and 66 GTO's seemed have had those reverbs.


My local burger joint circa 1969, those are my coupes dual 4's in the pic.


Heh, heh, I think Shelly Fabraes song 'Johnny Angel' was specifically made to be played on a Motorola Vibrasonic Reverb unit just for the echo.

Early units actually had springs for the Reverb function, I can remember being in a car going over railroad tracks and hearing the echo go boing boing.

The first thing I put in my new 67 Dodge Charger was a Motorola Vibrasonic Reverb Unit hanging under the dash hooked to a speaker in the rear fold down panel.

Man was that cool or what.

But alas those didn't last long technology wise, they came out just before real stereo tape players and then FM stereo radios.

I soon replaced the Vibrasonic under the dash in my Charger with a big metal clipon removable gadget that a stereo FM 8track tape deck was attached to, It was removable, not so much for theft protection, but to allow me to drag the contraption over and click it in place in my 31 Ford Coupe thus only having the expense of one Stereo Unit for both cars.

Darn if I didn't find one of those removable Stereo brackets on ebay.



Well, heh, heh, not sure if posting this will let me go to sleep now or not, but I do feel better about getting it posted.

Don't think I'm just trying to get my word count up there with GPster or Wayne.

I had one.

Put a unique and cool sound out.

Best setups were those with a dual speaker setup, standard front and rear 6" x 9" in the package shelf.

The great majority of rear speaker setups had a rheostatup front that adjusted the volume balance between speakers by cranking up the rear speaker to match the front.
Some were setup to take the front speakers to zero and rear speaker to full.

Somewhat the same deal with the reverb, you could adjust the amount of echo you wanted.
Made for a nice setup once you got it adjusted just right.

You're right, Johnny Angel was "the song" for the reverb.


Reverbs were simple.
Speaker, small rheostat, a couple of transistors I think it was and that did it.

More than likely you can find a circuit on the Internet and build one yourself.

I probably ought to do it to go along with my about 1970 or so Ford Stereo AM/FM radio a pal gave me a while back.
It's going in the 31 on 32 rails roadster.


And then there were the 45 rpm record players on the rear package shelf.

Some guys who wanted one, but didn't have the $$ ended up displaying their 45's by spreading them out on the package shelf.

You know what happened after the 45's spent the day on the shelf under the glass in a hot car with the sun shining on them.

The unlucky souls who did it, only did it once....

[Crosley.In.AZ]

my brother had a reverb unit in his 64 Chevelle for a while.  The unit went wacky and good bump in the road would set it off

[WZ JUNK]

I remember the reverbs and I have often thought of trying to find one at a swap meet.  I wonder if anyone on the HAMB knows about them?  They were a must have item when I was in high school.  A reverb and clip on headrest from Oklahoma Tire and Supply and you were cool.

John

[kb426]

My brother had the good one that mounted in the trunk and I had the not so good unit that mounted under the dash. To this day, the house stereo and the sound card in my computer both have reverb turned on. I think now we call it "delay".

[Uncle Bob]

Add that to the sound a tube type radio put out.........somehow it just seemed a more mellow, fuller sound than the transistor type.

A Craig 8 track to hang under the dash was in the box of "goodies" that came back from the jungle, along with Teac reel to reel, Nikon SLR, Pioneer Amp, and the rest of the usual stuff.  Nice memories.

[58 Yeoman]

My oldest brother had one in his '63 SS, and it sounded great.  It was the kind mounted in the trunk.  When I started driving, I bought the same kind and put it in a couple different cars (I went through cars pretty quickly at the time).  The last one was a VW Beetle, then the device went belly up.  I, too, remember hitting the big bumps and hearing the boinging.

Sandy's was our first chain burger joint; 10 cent burgers and 15 cent cheese burgers.  It turned into a Hardee's later on, which closed and became a bank.

[phat46]

A friend had the rear reverb in a '63 chevy Impala SS four speed convert we used to abuse horribly. We were about 18 at the time in 1970 and thought the reverb thing was funny. Sure wish i had that car now....As for the removable 8 Track mount, i had one in my '67 Ford van. One night while at the bar someone removed it....  

[junkyardjeff]

I have never heard one and would like to,I worked on a 63 olds 98 that had one but the radio did not work so thats the closest I have been to one.

[purplepickup]

In the '60s we "cruised the gut" which was a circuit that included the main street through the center of town and nearby drive-in parking lots.  The street downtown was just two lanes and the buildings are tall.  There were hundreds of cars inching along or parked and many had reverbs.  Everyone was tuned to the only AM rock and roll station in town with the radios cranked.  The sound of all those radios echoing off the buildings, occasional burnouts, and kids hollering at each other made the nights as alive as I've ever experienced.  Thanks for bringing back some memories George.

By the way, this weekend is the annual "Cruise the Gut" weekend.  Only cars '72 and earlier can cruise.  The guys and babes are mostly in their 60's now but the radio station returns to their '60's format and I'm sure there will be a few cars with reverbs.  ....probably a short burnout here and there too. :0-0

[Carps]

You guys sound like you may have been ahead of your time with this technology.

Funny how we remember how cool we were with all this stuff, but have a completely different reaction when todays version of the same thing cruises by..........  DOOOF..DOOOF...DOOOOF.....DOOOOF!      

FWIW, a pal of mine just landed a very nice '64 Mustang and it's fitted with one of these things in the trunk...... PLUS an original working 8 track under the dash.  Had me scratching my head what it was, now I can tell him with the authority of an all knowing expert.  Thanx.  );b(

[phat46]

You guys sound like you may have been ahead of your time with this technology.

Funny how we remember how cool we were with all this stuff, but have a completely different reaction when todays version of the same thing cruises by..........  DOOOF..DOOOF...DOOOOF.....DOOOOF!      

FWIW, a pal of mine just landed a very nice '64 Mustang and it's fitted with one of these things in the trunk...... PLUS an original working 8 track under the dash.  Had me scratching my head what it was, now I can tell him with the authority of an all knowing expert.  Thanx.  );b(

....I'm trying to imagine a "rapper" with an Aussie accent....gotta stop now it makes my head hurt...

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I had my 8 track mounted under the seat so you could not see it from outside the car.

[purplepickup]

A Craig 8 track to hang under the dash was in the box of "goodies" that came back from the jungle.....  Nice memories.

I remember seeing shiny strands of tape along the roadsides from people throwing out 8 track tapes that the player ate.

Funny how we remember how cool we were with all this stuff, but have a completely different reaction when todays version of the same thing cruises by..........  DOOOF..DOOOF...DOOOOF.....DOOOOF!      

So right Carps.  Remembering the kid things we did helps the with my old fart tolerance.  Now I understand my dad's comments back then.

[phat46]

[quote="purplepickup[/quote]
So right Carps.  Remembering the kid things we did helps the with my old fart tolerance.  Now I understand my dad's comments back then. [/quote]


"That's not music...THAT'S NOISE"    My Dad, circa 1967