Carnegie Hall on Wheels

The executives of the Ford Motor Co. have been driving around Detroit lately with an unusually rhapsodic look on their faces. The look is not the result of Ford's soaring sales--which were up 23% for the first quarter--but of a new auto accessory that Ford hopes will increase its sales even more. Board Chairman Henry Ford II has one in his Lincoln Continental; Vice President Lee Iacocca has one in his red Mustang. Using one on the way home makes Ford Division General Manager Donald Frey feel that he is "sitting in the middle of Carnegie Hall." The device, which Ford this week announced will be offered in most of its 1966 models: a dashboard stereotape player that will permit motorists to hear their favorite music on an 80-min.-per-tape cartridge --without interference from bumpy roads, tunnels, bridges or commercials. Price: about $150.

The new stereotape player is also music to the ears of the recording, stereotape and electronics industries. The sales of stereotape cartridges--which can be easily inserted, eliminate threading and rewinding of tape--have been disappointingly low since their introduction several years ago, largely because of the lack of a standard cartridge size and speed. Ford expects to sell 100,000 dashboard stereotape players the first year, but that is just the beginning of a whole new market: other automakers are sure to join the race, and potential sales are estimated at about a million dashboard units a year.

The lure of this high volume has brought several major companies into the stereotape market, is increasing pressure for standardization. RCA Victor, which will record tapes for Ford, has selected a cartridge system developed by Wichita's Lear Jet Corp., recently demonstrated it in Manhattan to 40 other recording companies in a pitch for adoption of an industry standard. On the strength of Ford orders, Lear has set up a separate division in Detroit to manufacture its tapes and cartridges. Motorola, which is building the dashboard players for Ford, is already working on the next stage of cartridge stereo-tape development: a home model that will play auto tapes. For its part, Ford will stimulate sales by selling stereotape cartridges in its dealer showrooms, featuring RCA recording artists in its ads. Perhaps the company will even send owners of stereo-equipped Ford cars occasional free cartridges of taped music, interrupted here and there by a message from the sponsor.

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