History of large Caps in car audio?

The purpose for stiffening capacitors is to help an amplifier maintain peak output during short musical transients.  All amplifier power supplies already contain capacitors for this purpose.  Adding an external one helps as long as the vehicle's electrical system is capable of maintaining power demand and recharging the cap.  They indeed work just as they are supposed to for this function. 

Where they do NOT work is in maintaining system power when the alternator is already overloaded.  In this case, they can actually hurt more than help as they simply place another load on the already overloaded system.  They are being sold as a band-aid cure-all for overloaded alternators when a custopmer purchases a large amplifier, and this is simply wrong.  The only way to provide sufficient power to a large amplifier is to produce more power and this means a high-output alternator for a running vehicle and/or multiple batteries for when the engine is off.

I actually believe it was Wayne Harris in his car and Richard saw it and improved the idea.

Harris's instal (1984) http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/gallery/detail.asp?iType=36&iPic=1780

Most of the time installing a stiffening cap on a system is about as useless as tits on a nun!

The 1st time I saw one was in Clark's Grand National that had the single woofer and folded horn tweeters and still to this day the best damn car audio system i have ever heard or will probaly ever hear. Wayne used them too and his shop was next to ours and one day he burped his hearse and brought down 6 flouresecent lights that exploded all over customers cars. **** was i ever hot at him for doing that then.   that was way back... when Tempe was small and jim fosgate was messing around with crazy stuff.