Madman Muntz - Later Years

Later Years

In the early 1980s Muntz expanded his retail business to include cellular phones and satellite dishes in addition to the booming home video industry. He made headlines in February 1985 as the first retailer to offer a Hitachi cellular phone for less than $1,000 ($ 2,200 in 2012), when just two years earlier most cellular phones had cost about $3,000 ($ 7,000 in 2012). At the time of his death, Muntz Electronics was the leading retailer of cellular phones in Los Angeles. During his final years, Muntz drove a customized Lincoln Continental with a television installed in the dashboard: Muntz claimed it helped him "drive better".

Earl Muntz was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1984 and retired from the business in 1986. His children, James and Tee, continued to operate two Muntz stores in Van Nuys and Newhall; the remainder of the stores were franchised businesses. James employed his father's advertising techniques to create splashy ads featuring prices that annoyed his competitors so much that they referred to them as "cutthroat".