TBT: Lincoln Introduces Industry’s First CD Player in 1986

Just as streaming music services and mobile devices are hastening the demise of in-vehicle CD players, the latter began to infiltrate the automotive industry a generation ago as cassette decks started being phased out of vehicles.

As the CD player became more common in home theatres, the technology began its migration to the mobile stereo aftermarket in the mid- to late-1980s.

Seizing on the trend, Ford Motor Company became the first domestic automaker to offer a factory-installed CD player in the 1986 Lincoln Town Car.

The optional compact disc system complimented a 12-speaker, 140-watt sound system created as a result of more than two years of research by a joint venture between Ford and JBL.

The stereo, which placed speakers in six strategic locations around the Town Car, offered “concert hall fidelity,” according to an advertisement for the vehicle.

The disc player was originally a standalone unit located underneath the car’s radio controls before its integration into the instrument panel in subsequent years.

Three decades later, as the compact disc continues its farewell tour, Ford is again looking ahead to the next generation of mobile entertainment.

Citing research showing 46 percent of vehicles sold in North America by 2021 are not expected to have a CD player, Ford recently announced the 2018 EcoSport will swap the disc player for smartphone storage. The change also frees more space for the vehicle’s “floating” touch screen.