# A piece of automotive history (the first radar detector)?
**URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028
**Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic
**Created:** [October 6, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028 "2008-10-06T13:14:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dr.Stevil](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dr.Stevil)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/1 "2008-10-06T13:14:14Z")
A little backstory. A guy I work withs’ uncle died a few years ago. While his family was cleaning out his house, they found a bunch of old vintage gadgets (typical for an elderly person) one of them being a radar detector. It didn’t have a box or anything, but everyone seems to think it’s from sometime in the late 50’s. It has a piece of documentation with it (pictured) as well.
I’ve been meaning to get pictures to post for a while and just happened to remember today. Figured you guys would be interested. It would be a pretty cool addition to a classic hotrod/showcar.
Sorry for the quality, it’s from my phone. You can see them larger [HERE](http://picasaweb.google.com/MoranS281/Misc#5254134884012864754)
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### Author:  [@cobraman04](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/cobraman04)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/2 "2008-10-06T13:14:56Z")
no pics are there
edit: thats pretty cool
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### Author:  [@tpgsr](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/tpgsr)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 1:16pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/3 "2008-10-06T13:16:45Z")
take it on the highway and do like 120+ see if it works!
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### Author:  [@theblue](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/theblue)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/4 "2008-10-06T13:18:22Z")
does it work?
battery powered?
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### Author:  [@Gus](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Gus)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/5 "2008-10-06T13:18:29Z")
Sweet! 1,000 hour mercury cell batteries.
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### Author:  [@LZ1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LZ1)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/6 "2008-10-06T13:19:03Z")
Cancer in a box :tup:
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### Author:  [@justa4door](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/justa4door)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/7 "2008-10-06T13:21:21Z")
nice
but it only had a one year guarantee
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### Author:  [@Dr.Stevil](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dr.Stevil)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/8 "2008-10-06T13:37:59Z")
no idea if it still works or not. Oddly enough, I believe that port on the side is a 1/4" audio out lol I’m guessing so you could hear the beeps in Hi-Fidelity?
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### Author:  [@Dr.Stevil](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dr.Stevil)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/9 "2008-10-06T13:41:27Z")
I also love how it boasts “8 transistors” (a modern GPU contains around 1.5billion)
cool stuff, probably would give you tumors and shit though
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### Author:  [@MXS](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/MXS)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/10 "2008-10-06T14:09:41Z")
[http://www.guysoflidar.com/museum/the-first-commercial-radar-detectors.html](http://www.guysoflidar.com/museum/the-first-commercial-radar-detectors.html)
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### Author:  [@1sik\_bmw](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/1sik_bmw)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/11 "2008-10-06T14:19:57Z")
In the early 60’s, a radar detector was available commercially. This detector was the Radar Sentry, made by Radatron, Inc. out of Tonawanda, New York. It was featured on the cover of the September, 1961 issue of Popular Electronics
The Radar Sentry was priced at $39.95 in 1961, which roughly equates to around $250 in today’s dollars. The early units detected S-Band radar operating at 2.455 GHz. Later units were adopted to detect both S-Band and X-band radar. The Sentry was actually cordless, running off of 2 AA batteries. According to Radatron, they should last 800-100 Hours, equating to 35,000 miles of driving (assuming an average speed of 35 MPH!). For mounting, it was recommended that Sentry be clipped to the sun visor.
thats pretty cool
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### Author:  [@mechanicalmadness](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/mechanicalmadness)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/12 "2008-10-06T15:04:59Z")
This must be a Gen two or something. ill try to find a pic of the old ass cast aluminum box that i had. The thing was gigantic. there was no way in hell you could hang that off of the visor.
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### Author:  [@Coldaccord](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Coldaccord)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/13 "2008-10-06T15:43:15Z")
holy shit this radar detector has automatic-door capability!!!
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### Author:  [@BREETIME](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/BREETIME)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/14 "2008-10-06T15:46:07Z")
cool find
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### Author:  [@mechanicalmadness](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/mechanicalmadness)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/15 "2008-10-06T15:47:59Z")
> [@Coldaccord](#):
>
> holy shit this radar detector has automatic-door capability!!!
See that function is kinda hard to explain. The way it works is as follows. The rays that it emits vibrate the atoms of the garage door out of time phase. Thus making them barely visible and easy to pass through. Ok it makes sense in the star trek universe lol.
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### Author:  [@Skurge](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Skurge)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/16 "2008-10-06T15:54:16Z")
thats a neat find…cool collectors item
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### Author:  [@airhead](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/airhead)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/17 "2008-10-06T17:05:22Z")
Thats awesome. You know someone out there would pay top dollar for it as a period accessory for their show car.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Stevil](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dr.Stevil)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/18 "2008-10-07T05:37:18Z")
I wonder how rare these things are
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### Author:  [@n20junkie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/n20junkie)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2008, 6:05am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/a-piece-of-automotive-history-the-first-radar-detector/56028/19 "2008-10-07T06:05:42Z")
Did you see the price. 40 bucks, figure for the value of the dollar back then, that sucker cost some good money.