Repurposing Cassette Decks

With the number of people on this board with, ahem, "experienced" cars, I suspect there are lots of cassette decks in dashboards that are never used for their intended purpose.

I'm curious to what folks do with these things, if anything. Here's my solution-- a perfect place for my parking access card. What else can I do with it?

In this case, I can't replace it with an aftermarket device because it, along with the climate control, is integrated in the navigation system (which is also basically obsolete).

I got a BT cassette adapter, added a bigger battery, and listen to my phone through the car stereo.

Same here, I use tape adapters in several of our cars to listen to music and podcasts.

@Rusted_Busted_Spit, how do you like the BT adapter? I've been toying with getting one but at least the majority of the reviews for ones I've seen on Amazon seem to pan them.

I'm actually in a quandary about this in trying to replace DD#2's crusty 1997 Celica.

The Celica has a cassette player, and she has a bluetooth and/or corded adapter that lets her play music from her phone.

All the cars in her price range / favored type are new enough to have a CD and no cassette, but too old to have bluetooth built in, so she's SOOL on the music score.

In reply to Duke:

They make a Bluetooth adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter and broadcast in fm

A lot of later model OEM stereos have a port in the back for CD changers. You can find AUX input adapters to plug in to them.

Or you can find a aftermarket stereo for about $100 that has USB, AUX, and/or Bluetooth capability.

It wasn't a cassette deck, but in my first car (85 Prelude Si) I kept the hollowed out OEM equalizer in the dash. I kept "stuff" that a teenager wouldn't want parents or authorities finding in there.

I still use my cassette deck.

Tapes if well made, actually sound pretty good. I was rocking out to some Grand Funk Railroad on the way to the Mitty! It's also kinda fun to throw in a mix tape from 25 years ago and see what's in it. Funkadelic? Bodycount? Charle Sexton? All kinds of forgotten treasures!

In reply to BoxheadTim:

Here is the one I got:

Ion Audio Cassette Bluetooth Adapter

After replacing the battery I really like it. It sounds much better than the corded adapter I was using or any of the FM transmitters I have heard. I can now get about 15 hours of listening time out of it after the battery upgrade.

If it is difficult to replace the head unit nd or add a AUX input in your car a I would recommend one.

Charge your IPhone.

NEALSMO wrote: In my first car (85 Prelude Si) I kept the hollowed out OEM equalizer in the dash. I kept "stuff" that a teenager wouldn't want parents or authorities finding in there.

Hehehe...

A buddy of mine in High School converted the windshield washer reservoir on his Opel GT into a bong.

Poor fella could be seen every morning before class with his head stuck down in the engine bay with smoke coming out…darn Opel reliability

In reply to Basil Exposition:

What year/model of Lexus? It's amazing what Crutchfield makes adapters for...

I wish the cassette deck in my GT6 still worked. The ride in LBC's is rough to the point where cassettes are less prone to skipping, although I'll admit CD players have gotten much better. The deck in my Spitfire works pretty well, although I do tend to use online streaming through the AUX input these days.

In reply to RX Reven':

That's genius. I've known people to reroute the tubing and fill it with alcohol, but a bong.

I really don't have any advice to help, every car I've ever owned immediately got an aftermarket head unit. But I have some odd cassette trivia.

Lexus was the last manufacturer with standard cassette decks until 2011.

In 2013 my cousin released an album exclusively on cassette, for some reason.

Also, someone in miata land adds an auxiliary input to old stock head units, maybe someone could do that to the Lexus? Sure it would be a pain pulling everything out and putting it back, but if it worked it would be great.

In reply to RevRico:

Your cousin should drop his next album on 8-track, and the following one on Edison cylinder.

Dusterbd13 wrote: In reply to Duke: They make a Bluetooth adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter and broadcast in fm

Yeah, they had those FM microtransmitters that plugged into the headphone port of an old iPod, too. They never work, at least not in this part of the country. Thanks, though!

Figured id offer. My part of the world they work great.

Ian F wrote: In reply to Basil Exposition: What year/model of Lexus? It's amazing what Crutchfield makes adapters for... I wish the cassette deck in my GT6 still worked. The ride in LBC's is rough to the point where cassettes are less prone to skipping, although I'll admit CD players have gotten much better. The deck in my Spitfire works pretty well, although I do tend to use online streaming through the AUX input these days.

2008 GX470. And I checked with Crutchfield and others. There's just no easy solution for the navigation-equipped models. It has a factory Aux input, but I installed a BT adapter from Vaistech, recently, anyway. From what I read, the sound quality is much better than the FM or cassette adapters, but I don't know from experience. The Vaistech sound is indistinguishable from CD to my hearing.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

Here in the Midatlantic we've got too many overpowered FM stations with mediocre frequency hygiene crowding the dial. An expensive one might work but I've tried several $20-$30 ones that didn't.

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: In reply to BoxheadTim: Here is the one I got: Ion Audio Cassette Bluetooth Adapter After replacing the battery I really like it. It sounds much better than the corded adapter I was using or any of the FM transmitters I have heard. I can now get about 15 hours of listening time out of it after the battery upgrade. If it is difficult to replace the head unit nd or add a AUX input in your car a I would recommend one.

Thanks for the link, I'll check that out.

Did you have to replace the battery because it was bad or because you wanted more capacity?

RevRico wrote: Also, someone in miata land adds an auxiliary input to old stock head units, maybe someone could do that to the Lexus? Sure it would be a pain pulling everything out and putting it back, but if it worked it would be great.

I did that in about 1997. Wired an aux into the stock Miata head unit and velcroed a Discman to the trans tunnel

I like cables. They use less battery than radio waves, are highly resistant to interference and work with almost anything. I've got a couple of wired cassette adapters that I've used in older cars. I pulled the cassette deck out of my DD Miata and put an amp hidden behind the dash with a 1/8" jack, so I just plug my iPod in there and I can carry absolutely ridiculous amounts of music in my pocket and switch it from car to car. On the newer Miatas, I'll often revert to the 1/8" AUX because the Bluetooth has some sort of spasm and the direct iPod control can't cope with the size of my iPod's hard drive. Rental cars, I'll usually do the same for simplicity so I don't have to figure out the interface. The cable always works.

(just looked at the cassette BT adapter) The microphone made me laugh out loud. That's actually pretty clever.

The one in my camper van, race tow vehicle still works, and ironically enough I've still get cassettes from Camper Van Beethoven, The Cramps & a various other punk bands.

I bought a 95 Geo tracker a while back that still had the factory deck in it. Tape player still worked, and there were 1/2 a dozen tapes in the glove box. Johnny Cash, and Judas Priest stand out the most. Heck the Johnny Cash tape is still in the deck.

Keith Tanner wrote:

RevRico wrote: Also, someone in miata land adds an auxiliary input to old stock head units, maybe someone could do that to the Lexus? Sure it would be a pain pulling everything out and putting it back, but if it worked it would be great.

I did that in about 1997. Wired an aux into the stock Miata head unit and velcroed a Discman to the trans tunnel I like cables. They use less battery than radio waves, are highly resistant to interference and work with almost anything. I've got a couple of wired cassette adapters that I've used in older cars. I pulled the cassette deck out of my DD Miata and put an amp hidden behind the dash with a 1/8" jack, so I just plug my iPod in there and I can carry absolutely ridiculous amounts of music in my pocket and switch it from car to car. On the newer Miatas, I'll often revert to the 1/8" AUX because the Bluetooth has some sort of spasm and the direct iPod control can't cope with the size of my iPod's hard drive. Rental cars, I'll usually do the same for simplicity so I don't have to figure out the interface. The cable always works.

I love this idea, I just decided I can't give up AM/FM--for Cubs, blackhawks, and NPR. gotta find a solution for that.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

It was solely for capacity. The stock battery was only good for @ 4.5 hours and I use it for ruffly 2 hours a day.

mtn wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote:

RevRico wrote: Also, someone in miata land adds an auxiliary input to old stock head units, maybe someone could do that to the Lexus? Sure it would be a pain pulling everything out and putting it back, but if it worked it would be great.

I did that in about 1997. Wired an aux into the stock Miata head unit and velcroed a Discman to the trans tunnel I like cables. They use less battery than radio waves, are highly resistant to interference and work with almost anything. I've got a couple of wired cassette adapters that I've used in older cars. I pulled the cassette deck out of my DD Miata and put an amp hidden behind the dash with a 1/8" jack, so I just plug my iPod in there and I can carry absolutely ridiculous amounts of music in my pocket and switch it from car to car. On the newer Miatas, I'll often revert to the 1/8" AUX because the Bluetooth has some sort of spasm and the direct iPod control can't cope with the size of my iPod's hard drive. Rental cars, I'll usually do the same for simplicity so I don't have to figure out the interface. The cable always works.

I love this idea, I just decided I can't give up AM/FM--for Cubs, blackhawks, and NPR. gotta find a solution for that.

Easy. 1/8" headphone jacks for everything! This little guy is just about the size of a couple of cassettes stacked on top of each other.

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICFP26-Portable-Radio-Black/dp/B012F0DGYE