Who invented the first car stereo? Glendale, Calif. Earl Muntz (1917-1987) : Earl "Madman" Muntz is regarded as the father of Car Stereo. He owned several car sales lots in southern California in the 1940's-1960's. He made over US$70 million from his car sales alone over this timeframe and in the process he became a celebrity. Bob Hope, Jack Benny and others used his name as a punch line. Tour buses regularly stopped at his lot and in 1943, pranksters at the Rose Bowl spelled out his name at halftime. He began appearing on radio and television to promote his cars, beginning his notoriety. Muntz is credited with starting the "this guy's insane, come take advantage of his crazy prices" school of salesmanship. In some commercials, he would promise to take a sledgehammer and smash a car on television if the car wasn't sold that day. He screamed and proclaimed, "I buy them retail and sell 'em wholesale -- it's more fun that way!" How Did He Do It?: According to the Consumer Electronics Association, Earl Muntz (1917-1987) is credited with developing the first car stereo system in the early 1960's. Muntz was an audio nut. According to Billboard, he developed the first known car stereo system -- a 110-volt system that was modified to run on the car's own battery to avoid the risk of electrocution for occupants. What Did This Inventon Spawn?: Aside from the global car stereo craze we see today, Mr. Muntz is also credited with inventing the Muntz "Stereo-Pak 4-track system." This tape system was a forerunner of the 8-track tape, popular in the late 60's to mid 70's. Muntz went from cars to televisions and distinguished himself by making a fortune by skimping on components in order to keep his prices low. Engineers of a certain age still refer to the practice of "Muntzing," which means reducing something to the absolute minimum number of parts it requires in order to run. Muntz was famous for walking up to his engineer's workbenches and snipping out capacitors that he considered to be "extra." He reportedly always carried a pair of insulated nippers with him. Other Contributions: Mr. Muntz started producing the Muntz Stereo-Pak, in the early 1960s. Oddly enough, Bill Lear (inventor of the LearJet) took a ride in a car with a Muntz car stereo system in 1963 and was so impressed that he immediately drove over to see Muntz and signed a distribution deal. Mr. Lear installed Muntz players in several of his LearJets, and began taking the players apart to find ways to improve upon their design. And so the 8-track car stereo system was born. More about Muntz: Muntz was a high school dropout and a tinkerer. Like Bill Lear, the father of the 8-track, Muntz's tinkering led to some great machines. Lear had his Lear Jet and Muntz created the Muntz Jet, a souped-up sportscar that sold for $5,500 -- big bucks in the early 1950's. In the end: Muntz died in 1987. By that time he had shifted the focus of his business to cellular phones. There were many other ventures -- projection TVs (he named his daughter Tee Vee, although she is usually called Tina) and aluminum houses, to name a few. Muntz was married seven times and drove a custom Lincoln Continental with a TV built into the dashboard. | 
