A new accessory that buyers of Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler, DeSoto, and Imperial vehicles – all manufactured by the Chrysler Corporation – could opt for in 1956 was the Highway Hi-Fi system. It was a specially developed record player that was mounted in a shock-proof case that was installed just below the central portion of the dashboard.
Anyone who is old enough to remember records knows that they were notorious for skipping. Not so with the Highway Hi-Fi player. Tests demonstrated that it was nearly impossible to make the needle jump a groove, no matter how bumpy the ride is.
Six long-play records could be stored in the Highway Hi-Fi’s case, but these were not ordinary records. They were specially designed by CBS Laboratories and were 7 inches (17.8 cm) in diameter). Each side could play up to forty-five minutes of music or one-hour of speech.
