James, I remember listening to some of my Old Time Radio shows made during the forties where a car phone was employed. If I'm not mistaken, Lamont Cranston (aka The Shadow) had a car phone. I know Dick Tracy did too, but his gadgets were more science fiction than fact.

I checked Wikipedia and discovered that the first commercial car phone service was actually launched in St. Louis in 1946. It was really more like an incredibly expensive party line that used radio phones controlled by a central operator.

If you enjoyed it, the archives has a bunch more episodes.

Jim