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On 5 Oct 2005 at 13:39, Dave Hall wrote: > Seems the Crate has NO functional lights though, good thing it > > already has a name or I would have named it "Lucas". > > What's all this stuff about Lucas - bit of a long-playing record, isn't it? > If I recall correctly, my 6V Beetle didn't exactly illuminate the road ahead > either? What I've heard about Lucas was that during WW II they (probably by necessity) made wiring harnesses out of copper plated iron/steel wire. The iron wire was fine for awhile, but after a few years, and handling in the process of servicing, the iron wires would occasionally break inside the insulation, giving an intermittent fault that was sometimes just annoying and sometimes caused small fires. I have no idea how long Lucas actually used iron wire, but I imagine that by the time they realized their mistake, they had laid mines which haunted them for decades as enthusiasts tried to keep their old MGs, Triumphs, and Jaguars original. I suspect that when the wiring was good, a 6 V Lucas headlight and a 6 V VW headlight were equally bright, and they should have been just as bright as their 12 V decendents. When both were new, of course. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~