Spark Plugs to search for...

[lump]

Ok, so I tried searching, but couldn't find what I was looking for in old AACA threads. My apologies if this subject has been overused. 

 

At my spring swap meet, one of my regular vendors urged me to stop by his booth, as he had found some stuff he thought I might like. One interesting thing was a box about twice the size of a football filled with older spark plugs...most new in the box. There were no exotics; and none with primers on the side, etc. But there were several brand new two-piece plugs, etc. I remember an earlier thread on these forums in which folks talked about certainly highly-desirable spark plugs of ordinary style in a specific model number, which everyone should be on the lookout for. I searched but couldn't find that thread again. 

 

Now I'm just two weeks from my fall event, and that vendor will likely have more "really old stuff" for me to look at and will probably still have those old spark plugs. I would like to be more ready this time. 

 

Would someone kindly remind me of the spark plug numbers I should be keeping an eye out for? Please? 

 

Over recent years I have gone back to my old habit of buying brass lights and horns, and other really old stuff. Interestingly, in my area I am in the minority, as most folks are looking for muscle car parts, etc. So vendors are starting to bring the old stuff to our event, the CARS & PARTS SPRINGFIELD SWAP MEET & CAR SHOW, specifically to see if I might want to buy it. 

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. 

 

[old car fan]

I think  Terry  Bond is the spark plug collector, i may be wrong.  

[Mark Wetherbee]

The one I’ve had people ask for is the original Champion C4 two piece plugs. But that might not be the big $$$ plug just the most common usage.

[Terry Bond]

50 minutes ago, old car fan said:

I think  Terry  Bond is the spark plug collector, i may be wrong.  

Yup, that'll be me.

Are the plugs being considered from a plug collection or are they just a pile of misc plugs from an old garage/warehouse?

 

there are two ways to look at the plug thing - first from my point of view as a collector, looking for different old brand names is important.  There were literally thousands of different plugs produced over the years.  Add in the European stuff and the numbers rise tremendously.  Some collectors (myself) are looking for the earliest plugs, pre WW1 era preferred.  Of course add in those that are the most unusual (glass windows, built in spark gaps and intensifiers, fans and propellers, unusual shielded firing tips, priming valves, springs, adjustment knobs, glass insulators and unusual shapes, (etc.etc.etc.) and you've got my attention (and my money).  

 

As a collector, most don't particularly care what number is on the plug. AC produced bizillions of different plugs as did Champion and most other manufacturers.  Trying to collect examples of everything produced is impossible and honestly, not very interesting.  So - photos of what's in that load of plugs would go along way to establishing how interesting (or valuable) they might be to a collector.  I'd be glad to help with that if you buy them. If there is anything of collector interest I'll let you know.

 

If you're thinking about buying them for people to buy and run in specific vehicles that's a whole different challenge.  odd-ball brands didn't survive for a reason.  Whether someone wants to actually use an old plug is often questionable.  Most would be looking for the "correct" plug, and finding that can make your acquisition worthwhile.  But - think about it!  Hauling a couple hundred plugs around to a swap meet is too much work =darned things are heavy!  Besides that, people pawing through them soon tears up the boxes and often the way to positively ID them in the process.  Finding the literature needed to determine what they fit is another challenge.  You'll soon find yourself in the literature business too!  Be prepared to answer questions like 'do you have a plug for my 1932 Delux Dowhapper Sedan?"

 

As has already been mentioned, Champion C-4 will fit a variety of cars including some flathead Fords.  They are always in demand, but there are several variations on them that make them particular to certain years.   The Champion 3X is used in Model A fords and original NOS CORRECT 3X plugs are also in demand.  But-it takes a keen eye for detail to know the differences between the old ones and the modern reproductions.  Same with the Champion X - fits Model T and dozens of other early cars using 1/2" pipe thread.  Again, there are differences between the older ones and modern repros that can still be purchased from parts vendors. 

 

You'll be tempted to do some research on evil-bay to learn more.  That is absolutely a useless waste of time trying to determine what is or isn't rare or valuable!  For example - there is a beat up, old, common used Champion plug advertised right now with a buy it now price of $99/99.  It's a 50 Cent plug!  It's yet another example of someone knowing nothing abut what they are selling, just trying to find someone else with no idea what they are buying and money burning a hole in their pocket. The same guy has been trying for two years now to sell a few 1930s Champion plugs with the threaded tops broken off.  He's asking $19.99 buy it now for them.  They are useless and worthless.

 

If the quantity is not overwhelming, and you don't mind lugging them around, or trying to figure out what they might fit or might be worth, you might make a few bucks supplying some for people to run in their cars.  If there are any of value to collectors, you might be able to make a bit more on those, but remember - you can only sell your good stuff once.  You'll have half a box of plugs you can't hardly give away when you're all done. 

 

It's taken me over 40 years of dedicated collecting and networking with others to learn as much as I can about plugs from a collector point of view.  And just when I think I've got it all figured out, something I've never seen before pops up. 

 

So, tell me more, get some good photos and I'll be glad to try and help.

 

Terry

[lump]

Terry, Wow, thanks for yet another great answer and insight to a fascinating bit of automobilia collecting. 

 

I agree with everything you stated above, and it sounds very much like what I tell collectors about muscle car parts (which is something I know a bit more about). 

 

At this stage of my life I have returned to the enjoyment of collecting really old and really interesting bits of early automobilia (as I did earlier in my life). So very early oddball spark plugs would be pretty cool. But the box of plugs I was offered this past spring were old and new-in-the-box, but otherwise ordinary. Yet I am haunted by the memory of a post or two I read on AACA forums a year ago or so, when someone made a comment something like, "...of course we're ALL searching for spark plug brand ____ number ____, the holy grail of spark plugs." Since then I've been frustrated in my efforts to find that old post, and to try and memorize that number. I don't want to be that guy who is offered something really valuable, but decides not to buy it because he/she doesn't know how incredibly desirable it is. 

 

Either way, when I find really cool, really old car parts, I often buy them solely for my own satisfaction. 

 

Cheers. I hope I'll get to meet you someday. ----Jim Wirth

[Hans1]

Sounds like a good advertising method to advertise the Springfield meet, and a venders spark plugs

[lump]

5 minutes ago, Hans1 said:

Sounds like a good advertising method to advertise the Springfield meet, and a venders spark plugs

Hmmm...not a very good method. Not enough people from our local area on this forum. And to advertise one vendor's single box of old inventory? Which I don't even know if he still has? And don't even know if he will be attending? Sheesh. 

[old car fan]

43 minutes ago, Hans1 said:

Sounds like a good advertising method to advertise the Springfield meet, and a venders spark plugs

Don't like it,don't read it.I,for one,totally enjoyed it and increased my knowledge. 

[wayne sheldon]

4 hours ago, lump said:

Yet I am haunted by the memory of a post or two I read on AACA forums a year ago or so, when someone made a comment something like, "...of course we're ALL searching for spark plug brand ____ number ____, the holy grail of spark plugs." Since then I've been frustrated in my efforts to find that old post, and to try and memorize that number.

 

Pretty much all specialty collectables have such "Holy Grail" items. And the reverse is also true. The item that everyone "thinks" should be in extreme demand? But it isn't. Over the years, I have collected many different things, coins, books, phonograph records (I have over 2000 78 rpm records!), and almost anything that goes well with my antique automobiles. 

Over the years, I have had a few different 1915 automobiles that I liked to tour with, and often used for club picnics. Because Coca Cola's iconic shapely bottle was first used in 1915, I wanted a couple of the first series issued bottles to use at picnics and shows. That first series, for only a very few years, the bottle and script was slightly different. A subtle difference, not usually noticed. However, in spite of that, that first year series issued bottles in good condition are not terribly rare. Nor are they very expensive. Unless of course the city name on the bottom makes it especially valuable.

Bottle collectors (years ago at least?), especially Coca Cola bottle collectors, it was all about the city name on the bottom of the bottle. For a bit over half a century, Coca Cola franchise arrangements had different bottling plants owning their own bottles, and nearly all of them had the city and state they belonged to on the bottom of the bottle! Serious collectors knew what cities were valuable and what ones were not. Over the decades those bottles were returned and reused, they got transported all over the country and scattered. When I would take a few minutes and look through Coke bottles for the 1915 series, I would also check a lot of them for cities I was familiar with or cared about. 

My wife and I lived in Livermore California for about 25 years. Just over the hill from us, was a little town of Tracy California, and Tracy had had a bottling plant for a few decades. In my hunt for Coke bottles I wanted, I met several serious collectors, and heard this story several times. Apparently, Tracy bottles didn't usually wander very far. The plant was shut down in the 1960s, and dump trucks hauled away everything loose in the bottling plant, to an undisclosed location. Bottle collectors had been searching for that location for years! I don't know about now? But 25 years ago, I had four different bottle collectors gave me standing offers if I found a nice "Tracy Calif" Coke bottle of $1000 for one bottle! They told me that only a handful of the thousands made were known to exist to serious collectors.

Maybe since then? Maybe someone found the burial site? Maybe now there are a thousand of them floating around? But 25 to 30 years ago? That Tracy Coke bottle was one of the "Holy Grail" collector items.

[Dave39MD]

I think I remember the post and it may have been Edinmass talking about how hard it was finding the original AC plugs for one of the big classics he works on and was getting it ready for a major show. Many of the early 30's AC's had a letter and a number like G12 and G14 (29-32 Chevy) but they changed the numbering system early on so they are hard to find. 

 

Dave

[Bloo]

I remember that thread. i could still use some AC K-7. I don't need NOS like Ed. I believe the change in numbering was 1936/1937.

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Lee H]

Is this the thread you are looking for?

 

[lump]

28 minutes ago, Lee H said:

Is this the thread you are looking for?

Lee, No, it's a FABULOUS thread, for sure. But it is focused on very old rare and wonderful exotic spark plugs. I recall someone talking about much newer "ordinary" spark plugs, such as Champions of a certain number. But thanks for finding this for me. 

 

[Bloo]

This is the thread I believe @Dave39MD and I were talking about.

 

 

 

[lump]

2 hours ago, Bloo said:

 

Bloo, yes indeed, that's IT! Thank you all so much. I've read all of both threads, plus the very good info offered here in response to my questions. You guys are awesome.