Ewwww! I repaired high end car audio for years as specialist. There was some really far out gear that was amazing and then there was 8 track players from old cars. I refused them all but one for repair because frankly... It was beneath me... Anyway... I accepted a unique 8 track player that was in decent condition in and out from some classic car because the owner detailed and explained his situation and how it was some sort of historical piece and made his car complete as a concours quality build or something along those lines. I opened it up and was fiddling with the mechanism, inspecting it and checking out the operation or the mechanism. What a piece of junk. I have no idea how peole back in the day tolerated them. So I cleaned it inside and out perfectly, calibrated the tape path as best as was possible, adjusted the track changing operation and changed out the belts for new ones from my large belt box that I stocked for car and home audio mechanisms and set the azimuth as best as could be for that horrible track changing operation that made the head alignment never perfect on all tracks. I charged the customer a fair amount because I was into the unit for ~3.5 hours and he was happy as a clam. He said he was happy to just find somebody reliable that would service it and I was recommended and he wanted me to do the work. I refused all 8 track players after that... That was the very last of them that crossed my workbench.
