Guest Posted July 17, 2000 Share Posted July 17, 2000 Does a 1951 Packard have a positive ground?<P>------------------<BR>Bill McCloud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Hoover Posted July 17, 2000 Share Posted July 17, 2000 Yes Sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jac Posted July 18, 2000 Share Posted July 18, 2000 Rick, Why did many of the old cars have a positive ground? There must be a reason.<BR>later-jac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hal Davis (MODEL A HAL) Posted July 18, 2000 Share Posted July 18, 2000 I've heard that it was supposed to reduce battery corrosion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Hoover Posted July 18, 2000 Share Posted July 18, 2000 That's correct Hal, it was to eliminate the "grounding" of the battery by corrosion.<P>Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hal Davis (MODEL A HAL) Posted July 18, 2000 Share Posted July 18, 2000 Did it work? If so, why did they swap to negative ground? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ply33 Posted July 18, 2000 Share Posted July 18, 2000 I heard once that the switch to negative ground occurred because of the advent of transistor radios. The story said that at that time there was some limitation on design that required it. Sounded like bunk at the time. And, if I recall correctly, my family had at least one car with a tube radio and 12v system.<P>I am pretty sure the switch to negative ground happened with the switch to 12v. The switch to 12v happened because of the increased demands of starting postwar high compression V8 engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 19, 2000 Share Posted July 19, 2000 I don't think corrosion prevention was the reason for positive ground. Early Dodge's apparently changed between + & -, my '23 is a positive ground and I still have to clean the terminals. I believe that Dodge changed back to a negative ground in the mid '20s when they went to a 6v system. Somewhere in my literature they explain the reason for the change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hal Davis (MODEL A HAL) Posted July 20, 2000 Share Posted July 20, 2000 What Rick said sparked a memory of something I'd read a while back. If I understand this correctly, positive ground will not prevent corossion. It's just that when the corossion forms, it forms on the positive post more prominently than the negative. If the positive side is the ground, then corossion will form (relatively) harmlessly on the ground side, not the system side of the battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Hoover Posted July 20, 2000 Share Posted July 20, 2000 Hal,<BR>That was the idea or theory of Henry Ford's engineers when when building the first Model A for 1928. As we know the Model T Ford was negative ground and they were looking for a ways to prevent voltage reduction. <P>As to the true reasons why positive ground in automobiles was first used, long before the Model A, I would have to read up on it myself.<P>Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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