Unlike the Delco/GM Bose, Alpine’s presence in the eighties car stereo market was associated with many individual models released over the decade.
Between the early 1980s and the end of the 1990s, Alpine supplied car audio to Lamborghini and used their Countach as its mascot car, featured in every product brochure, advertisement, and poster. The Alpine-equipped Countach was also a regular presence at trade and public shows.
Alpine had come a long way by the early eighties. Established in 1967 as Alps-Motorola—a joint venture between Alps Electric and Motorola—it became Alpine Electronics, Inc. in 1978 when Alps bought out Motorola’s share of the company. Alpine’s stereos had distinctive green faces, first seen with the 7128 cassette player in 1980.
Sales Numbers & Period Reviews
The eighties were salad days for Alpine. The combination of the highly visible Lamborghini affiliation and substantial technical innovation yielded impressive sales numbers of fairly high-priced stereos. A select set of authorized car audio installers ensured that Alpine’s systems worked well in the generally higher-end vehicles they were installed in.
Stereo equipment review magazines of the age were generally impressed with Alpine’s products. Audio magazine stated that 1984’s $600 Model 7347 car stereo did much to “advance the science and art of car stereo equipment design.” A late 1986 write-up in Stereo Review observed that the $800 Model 7900 compact disc player was “thoroughly insulated from road shock and vibration.”
The View From 2025
Alpine is still very much with us, though the green faces are long gone. For those looking to the past, eBay’s vintage section does pretty well. There are also repair shops that will fix these now forty-year-old stereos.
Make mine an Alpine 7900, please—one of the very first car stereo compact disc players.
Eighties Cars 