The head unit is in many ways the soul of car audio. Consoles have gone from simple mono AM radios to sophisticated infotainment systems, with some bizarre blips and one-off projects in between.
The evolution of the car radio
Most head units still have an AM tuner, but eight-track tapes, cassettes and other technologies have faded into oblivion. Other technologies, such as the compact disc, would also disappear in the coming years. It may seem far-fetched, but the history of car stereos is littered with abandoned technology that was once considered state of the art.
Enthusiasts had been finding creative ways to integrate radios into their cars for more than a decade, but the first true car stereos weren't introduced until the 1930s. Motorola offered one of the first, which sold for about $130, about $1,800 in today's money. Keep in mind that this was the era of the Model T, and you could buy an entire car for about two to three times the asking price of Motorola's first car stereo.
The head units dropped in price and improved in quality over the next few decades, but they could still only receive AM broadcasts until the 1950s. This made sense, as AM stations had a very tight grip on market share at the time.
