car phones in the 80s

In the 80s, car phones were less “hands-free” and more “house brick on a curly cord.”

They ran on early analog cellular (1G/AMPS), with a transceiver stashed under a seat or in the boot, a chunky handset up front, and a tall external aerial to shout at distant towers.

Coverage outside big Aussie cities was patchy, and the bills could make your accountant weep, so most owners were execs, doctors, or folks who enjoyed impressing traffic lights.

Installations drew serious current and often piggy-backed the car’s audio, so crackly calls were part of the charm.

By the early 90s GSM shrank the hardware and the ego, and those 80s car phones went the way of the cassette adapter.