OUR HISTORY

Tayman Electrical

100 Years!

 

Washington, DC, circa 1915.  William E. Tayman was a machinist for the B&O Railroad, later for the Washington Navy Yard.  On the side he began wiring houses for electricity, and eventually opened a store to sell electrical lights and appliances.  When radio became popular he began selling Atwater Kent, Crosley, and Silver Marshall products.  The photo above (William Tayman behind the counter, son John Tayman in front) was taken about 1924, and recently colorized by computer.

The Tayman house in Anacostia (originally part of a farm) is still standing, and back in the day the family was well known around town among elites and celebrities.  Who's pictured in the plaque below?  Arthur Godfrey, a friend of the family.

 

Gary Tayman (grandson) owns one artifact that appears to have come from the original store -- a pair of headphones.  However time has passed, and today -- two generations later and 1,000 miles to the south, Gary Tayman assumed the original family name for a business working with vintage car radios.  This began with the purchase of a project 1964 Thunderbird; money from fixing radios could be used for buying parts for the car.  This has turned into a full-time business, and today Tayman Electrical is a leader in classic car radio conversions.

 

Aurora Design Products

By far, most of our business has been converting original car radios to modern AM/FM stereo.  However as time passed we became increasingly disappointed with the quality of the available components.  As fate would have it, in summer 2012 a design engineer in Detroit contacted me with an interest in building components for this purpose, suggesting it would be a "fun project."  Although I've chatted with him previously on internet forums, I did not realize at the time that he was with the auto industry.  Having nothing to lose I suggested an FM tuner that could be fitted into an existing AM car radio.  Such products had been available in the past, but discontinued.

In short order I received a postage-stamp-sized PCB in the mail, with a note asking me to try it out.  Wow!  This little FMC-1 tuner really performed!  Soon I was offering this in place of the stereo conversions -- although mono, it was clearly the better product!

The next step was obvious -- design an AM/FM Stereo that outperforms anything currently available.  As we worked together on the project, it became clear -- not just better, but the ABSOLUTE BEST it can possibly be -- bulletproof, no excuses, so superior that nothing else on the market can come close.

Several months went by, with a few scrapped designs.  They were clearly better, but we wanted the absolute best.  The big day came in May 2013 -- I received a prototype PCB in the mail to try out.  I installed it into my own Thunderbird radio, and wow!  WE ARE THERE!  This was easily the best stereo conversion I had ever seen or heard!

Prototype FMR     Prototype FMR     PrototypeFMR

The Original Aurora Prototype FMR Stereo PCB

This literally became the "Stereo Heard Round The World!"  The day we announced it on this website, our previous supplier called, furious, to cut us off as a dealer (as if we still wanted their products!).  They cut off other dealers as well, on suspicion they were trying the Aurora products.  Stupid is as stupid does, I suppose.  No surprise that in short order nearly every respectable dealer had switched to Aurora.  Customers quickly found out, and soon we had a tsunami of former conversions asking to upgrade!  Years later we're STILL getting these!  The Aurora FMR Stereo Conversion has become the new world standard in stereos for collector vehicles!

Trade-Ins

Trade-In PCB's to be destroyed

Naturally Aurora has continued to improve.  Continual refinements, new features, and options such as Bluetooth and USB have kept the Aurora products on top; the best stereo you can buy for your vintage vehicle!

We are pleased and thankful, and proud to be a leader in offering these products to the collector car community.

 

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