At long last, THE MUNTZ!!!

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cb123

cb123

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
1,796
Location
Mobile, Al.
Before there was the Stereo 8, there was the Stereo 4 cartridge. I've been wanting to get my grubby mitts on "A Madman Muntz" for quite some time! This Muntz 4track is about a 1967-68 model, and at the time this thing would set you back round about $200.00. Now, Madman Muntz was the man who perfected the car radio and the Muntz 4track, the father of the 8track. Sorry Alex, my dream car is the Muntz Jet, America's first sports car. I think Muntz produced these from about 1950-53, a great car, way ahead of its time. All I need now is to get me a 1952 Muntz 27 inch television, black and white of course, but still a very crisp, clear image. Madman Muntz was the first man to abbreviate television to what we know now as T.V. . The ultra high fidelity of the Muntz 4track is at least double of that of the 8track. It is so good you can almost smell the cigarette smoke and stale coffee in the sound studio  Here's a link to one of  his vintage commercials.  





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Are you SURE I couldn't interest you in a fine DESOTO? Remember, it's the smart way to go places! 
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Calem, got forgot every bit of how you found this thing! Are you playing an 8-Track on the machine? CAN you play 8-Tracks on a 4-Track player, or play 4-Tracks on a 8-Track player?


 


Oh, don't forget Highway Hi-Fi! 
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Yeah, a Desoto is a fine car too, but THE MUNTZ!!! No, this machine only plays 4track, but Muntz had several other models which could play both. Oh yeah, I did forget to tell how I found it! Well, I lost a whole mouth full of teeth and the goodly " Hose Fairy "....I mean the Tooth Fairy came! Oh, Alex isn't going to believe that for a minute. Let me think...Oh, I'll just tell him the truth.  I got it off of eBay...OK...and to make matters worse, I paid through the nose for it...THERE, I SAID IT!!!
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Trough the nose? What did I tell you about in-home plastic surgery!? Knowing you, you'd probably inject molten aluminum into yourself before you even touch plastic, but you know, you don't own a SINGLE metal 8-Track!


 


lol well I hope you're happy you've found the 4-Track player of your dreams! You should've just put it on Charge, though! Exactly how much is 'trough the nose'? 
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Well, the last M-500 showed up a couple years ago and it went for around $500.00. I paid $208, so I guess I got it for a pretty good deal...free would have been better, but it is an ultra rare high end machine and highly coveted. I thought for sure that I was going to lose it, but by some providence I won it! I'm going to be honest with you, CD's, 8Tracks, LP'S, or anything else doesn't compare to the sound quality that I hear in this machine. I heard about The Muntz being the best and now finally I hear why! The receiver in this machine will absolutely blow your speakers if the watts are just slightly off, but even so it remains crystal clear...not like that Pepsi, more like Everclear or White Lighting...Oh, so good!  
 
The 4-track cart shells look like older Fidelipak cart shells for broadcast cart machines-the Muntz machine has thge pinch roller in the machine-appears like it could be soleniod operated.That Muntz cart player appears to be a nice unit!Unlike their TVs which were JUNK!
 
A surviving Muntz Jet and a video ride link below.

The 1951-54 Muntz is an evolution of the 1949 Kurtis Kraft Sport of which 38 were built before Muntz bought the rights, extended the wheelbase and added a rear seat...and sadly, from a visual standpoint, de-contented the wide chrome perimeter band.

None the less a gorgeous design statement.



"in 1948, race car designer and Kurtis-Kraft founder Frank Kurtis attempted to market a new sports car, the two-seater Kurtis Kraft Sport. Only 36 units had been sold by 1950. In 1951, for just $200,000 ($ 1.8 million in 2014) Kurtis sold the cars' manufacturing license to Muntz, who quickly rebadged them as the "Muntz Jet". Initial production of the Jet took place in Glendale, where Muntz extended the two-seater Kurtis Kraft Sport's body by 13 inches (33 cm), making it a four-seater, and exchanged the Ford V8 engine for a larger Cadillac V8. Later, after making just 28 Jets in California, Muntz moved production to a new factory in Evanston, Illinois, extended the body further by 3 inches (8 cm), and replaced the Cadillac V8 with a less expensive Lincoln sidevalve V8.

The Jet was featured on the cover of the September 1951 issue of Popular Science along with a Jaguar and an MG. It featured its own design, with aluminum body panels and a removable fiberglass top. Paint schemes were extravagant, with names like "Mars Red", "Stratosphere Blue", and "Lime Mist", and interior options included alligator or Spanish leatherette. The backseat armrests contained a full cocktail bar.

The Jet was capable of a top speed of 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) and acceleration of 0–50 mph (0–80 km/h) in 6 seconds, a significant achievement for a road car at the time. The fastest production car in 1953 was the Pegaso Z-102 Supercharged sports car at 155 miles per hour (249 km/h).[18] Famous Jet owners included then-CEO of CBS Frank Stanton, and actors Mickey Rooney, Grace Kelly and Lash La Rue.

The labor and materials required to produce the Jet resulted in a high price for the end product and, in 1954, after selling about 400 cars and losing about $1,000 ($9,000 in 2014) on each, Muntz closed the company. Today, Muntz Jets are highly prized collector cars and are recognized as predecessors to the Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Thunderbird.



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tolivac, I wouldn't necessarily call a Muntz TV junk. He did use the bare minimum of components in his chassis, but they were of a very high quality. His picture tube and sound system were on the same order and also the largest of their time. His TV also ran much cooler and warmed up faster than other television of that era. This, however, only further enhanced its durability, because electrical friction produces heat, and as we all know, heat is the great destroyer of all things electronic, of course, outside of human error - generally speaking. tolivac, no, the pinch roller is activated by a mechanical lever, which is also your power on switch.  Here's a link to a Muntz TV being worked on...pretty neato!  



 
aeoliandave,

wouldn't you just love to get your hands around that steering wheel, and to top it off, have a couple of Kirby's peeking out of the backseat.  Now that would be one sweetie of a ride!


 


Thanks for the great video!
 
Thanks arh1953,

That is extremely rare! I don't think I would pay a thousand for it, but I sure would ask a thousand for it! Now, if it had Betty Page on one of them....That's a whole-nother story!
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LOL CALEM! It's funny you mention that, that's EXACTLY what I did once in a Pontiac Firebird convertible! I had a Classic 1-CR and a Heritage I standing upright in the backseat, with the attachments and rug-renovator next to them!! I can only imagine the looks i got that day! 
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Thank DeSoto, or at least the women can thanks DeSoto if you know what I mean! That's a beautiful model, I wouldn't mind owning one! 


 


Wow, that Muntz car looks STREAMLINED!!! 
 
No doubt, those are some fine looking cars! Just about all we have, nowadays, is crap for cruisers...makes one wonder, doesn't it?
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From what I see in that Muntz set in the video--not impressed.The feedback style HV section burned out horizontal output tubes frequently.The IF strip coils ARE NOT sheilded.Subject to interference from themselves and other stages.The turret tuner is OK-but again not sheilded.-unless those guys removed it.So--the HV section of these sets could run HOTTER than those with an oscillator stage.If the Muntz set was not properly tuned to a station-its HV system worked on amplifying horzontal sync pulses and reforming them to drive the Horizontal output tube.So--if no drive to the horzontal tube it will overheat-its a class C amp.No drive-overheats unless a safety grid bias is used-and Muntz didn't use this.Yes,good video-but an example of the minimal circuity inside Muntz sets.Most service tech I knew reccommened to customers to throw them out and get a better set.Agreed with them.But at least unlike todays sets-the Muntz one can be repaired.So that is in its favor.I just wouldn't let the set run a long time unless tuned to a strong station.What picture those guys got was actually not bad-the chassis needs to be recapped-if this is done the TV should work OK.
 
tolivac, you could've at least humored, pretended, conjured up something...faked it, but Nooooo! You have to go off and tell the truth. You could've at least said it was a nice piece of junk. Thanks a lot, tolivac, your a real lifesaver...just fooling, but really, one must confess it is a pretty set, though! 
 
I found a really good video on how to get your Muntz TV 21st. century compliant, and without any further adieu...drum roll, please...Here it is! 



 
Watched the video clip of the '53 Muntz-excellent restore job and the set works well with the Zenith convertor.The Muntz CAN do well with a good signal and restore job.As I said we can say the simplicity of these sets in this case could be a salvation for them-fewer parts to replace in restoring them.The audio on that '53 set sounded really nice!!Those Tvs are are in attractive cabinets-sure does beat plastic!But note all of that space under the big,deep chassis!Sooo-the old Muntz may be worth consideration for restore and use with a convertor box.Haven't found a ONE of those in my area--Best Buy used to have them.
 

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