My Ford Touch is the most recent drive forward for vehicle entertainment at Ricart Ford



Motorola 5T71 circa 1930

    In 1908, if you drove one of the first Ford Model T's home, you had to be satisfied with the thrill of the wind through your hair, and the open, err, road ahead, and singing or whistling to yourself because (get ready to be shocked) the first radio for use in a car were still more than two decades away!

   Yep, it wasn't until 1930 when Paul and Joe Galvin sold one of the first radios to be installed in a car, under the brand name Motorola. You see, early sound equipment ended with "ola", like Victrola, so the Galvins combined "Motor" (for the car part) and "ola" (for the radio part), and soon everyone was listening to tunes from The Beatles to Lady Gaga... Actually, it wasn't quite that easy. As a matter of fact, the first seek button on a car radio was introduced by Ford in the 50's, and everyone thought that was neater than sliced bread.



Ford Radio with Seek button circa 1956



         So from the first vehicle radios to the advent of the Seek button we went musically from Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, and the Big Band and Jazz greats like Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, and Glen Miller, through the Age of The Crooner, to Doo Wop and the birth of Rock and Roll.

By the early 1960's, less than 10 years after the Seek button was put in those first Fords, technology for car radios switched from tubes to transistors, and shortly after the rise of The British Invasion of the Beatles, Stones, Kinks and all the rest, the first Eight-Track tape player for the car was introduced, freeing the car owner from listening to only radio, and whistling and singing to themselves. Then in 1969, just in time for Woodstock, the first stereo radio was introduced. Finally, you could play your favorite Jimi Hendrix album all the way through, in your car, in two channel stereo!

   About a year after stereo appeared in the dashboard, the Cassette tape player began showing up, smaller than the Eight-Track, and having the ability to be recorded upon, which led to one of the greatest innovations of the 20th Century... THE MIX TAPE! Who thought your automotive life could get any better? There you were, tooling around listening to Arena Rock bands like Grand Funk Railroad, Starz, Meatloaf, Thin Lizzy, and Boston, or maybe Singer/Songwriters Like James Taylor, Carole King, and Carly Simon, or the SoCal Country Rock of The Eagles, Pure Prairie League, and Poco... or even... Disco songs from The Bee Gees, or KC and The Sunshine Band.

   It seemed at the end of the 70's and into the early 80's that our car audio experience just couldn't get any better. At least until 1984 and the first in-car CD player. Finally, and answer to your favorite cassette tapes being eaten by the darned player again! (And that tape was given to you by your high school or college sweetheart, "whats-their-face"!) And when home recording of discs became feasible soon after, the Mix Disc replaced the Mix Tape with clearer sound, and it was pretty much impossible to get the player to eat your disc, no matter how hard you tried.

   And that's the way things stayed for a few years, until DVD players brought video and gaming to the back seats of vehicles, ending the age-old game of "Are We There Yet" forever. Bigger, more powerful amps and speakers ushered in the era of thump, thump, thump from massive sub-woofers and systems with enough power to shake the ground around your car, if you were so inclined. Next came Satellite Radio, then Ford and Microsoft teamed up to introduce SYNC so you can use voice commands to your MP3 player to play your favorite Grateful Dead, or Lady Gaga tunes through your car... and use your Cell Phone to make and receive hands-free calls through your vehicle... and get a vehicle health update from your car... and get directions to the best Chinese food through your car...

   And now it's My Ford Touch, which ties all the above together and more into a neat, concise package on your dashboard. You can see it today on the Ford vehicle of your choice at Ricart Ford in The Ricart Megamall.

 


My Ford Touch Screen

    So we have come from the original Folk Movement of the 1930's, and the height of American Jazz thru the rise of Rock and Roll,
Disco, Punk, New Wave, Grunge, Euro Beat, Techno and beyond, and the technology in your Ford vehicle has always helped lead the way to today's multi speaker, multi-media systems that keep you connected to your music, family and friends, and the road, easily and more safely.

   You have to admit, its a whole lot cooler than just singing to yourself... which we all still do when our favorite tunes come on, don't we?

Ford Truck Month at Ricart Ford: It really is an impressive thing!

   It's Ford Truck Month 2011 at Ricart Ford in The Ricart Megamall, and this year, we celebrate 34 years of the F-series trucks being the best selling trucks on the planet. That's right, F-series is the best seller... again!

   Think about that for a second. 34 years as top dog, the Big Kahuna, Grand Pubah. And people thought the Jordan era Bulls was a dynasty, and the Yankees are an amazing franchise because they win the World Series about every fourth year, or The Steelers are amazing for all those Super Bowl rings they have. But when you compare all those feats, as amazing as they are, to 34 years of Ford F-series truck dominance, it kind of puts it all in a different perspective, doesn't it?

   The reasons for F-series domination are many, and varied. Technological advancements, quality of materials and craftsmanship, and a basic understanding of what a truck is, and what it should and needs to be able to do all come in to play along with lots of other aspects. And it's true from the largest F-Super Duty all the way down the line. Heck, we have a Ranger in the Ricart Ford showroom with over 700,000 miles on it, and it's still going strong! That's Built Ford Tough!

   In honor of Truck Month, Ricart Ford has plenty of F-series to pick your new truck from, and Ford is offering Rebates, Bonus Cash, and rates as low as 0% for as long as 60 months, and bunches of combinations for the three.

Knowing all that, and realizing that Ford Truck Month doesn't last forever, now is a good time to visit Ricart Ford in The Ricart Megmall and get your new F-series.