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Ryan Grigsby of the KC Volvo Club circulated this link related to Lucas electrical gear:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h14/smosit/Smokekit2.jpg
Goes well with this previously-posted text:
The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
Lucas denies having invented darkness.
But they still claim "sudden, unexpected darkness"
Lucas--inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
Lucas--inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
The three-position Lucas switch--DIM, FLICKER and OFF.
The other three switch settings--SMOKE, SMOLDER and IGNITE.
The original anti-theft devices--Lucas Electric products.
"I've had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never experienced any prob..."
If Lucas made guns, wars would not start either.
Did you hear about the Lucas powered torpedo? It sank.
It's not true that Lucas, in 1947, tried to get Parliament to repeal Ohm's Law.
They withdrew their efforts when they met too much resistance.
Did you hear the one about the guy that peeked into a Land Rover and asked the owner "How can you tell one switch from another at night, since they all look the same?" "He replied, it doesn't matter which one you use, nothing happens!"
Back in the '70s Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which didn't suck.
Quality Assurance phoned and advised the Engineering guy that they had trouble with his design shorting out. So he made the wires longer.
Why do the English drink warm beer? Lucas made the refrigerators, too.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone.
Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb.
Joseph Lucas invented the Short Circuit.
Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment: check the position of the stars, kill a chicken and walk three times clockwise around your car chanting: "Oh mighty Prince of Darkness protect your unworthy servant."
Lucas systems actually use AC current; it just has a random frequency.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!
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we always just referred to Lucas as the Prince of Darkness....who the hell uses a positive ground anyway??????????
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My 1952 John Deere B is positive ground and 6V.
Good times.
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My 1940 Ford pickup had positive ground.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!
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The fright attending the name "Lucas" is almost as bad as that from "Magneti Marelli". Anyone who has owned a FIAT or Alfa will know what I mean.
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Hi George,
If I was laughing so hard, I wonder how those folks with real British car experience are faring. Replacement smoke!
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
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My first experience was with Brit motorcycles including James, BSA, Triumph,
Ariel and Vincent (none mine....) but they all had LUCAS electrics and what
they say is pretty true.
Then there is the Lucas switch on the later model Volvo gearshifts for the
overdrive, a spring-loaded copper spool that rides on a THERMOPLASTIC ramp.
A little too much current and the spool gets hot and melts into the ramp,
so too much current creates a permanently-on switch that you can't turn off!!
(Unlike a lot of Lucas stuff that won't turn ON....)
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!
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I'm still pretty ignorant of Lucas. First Lucas things I've laid hands on have been brake parts, not electrical (Girling?). And those few experiences have been positive.
I'm trying to place that OD switch you're describing, guessing when you, George, say "later model Volvo" you could be talking 140 or S60 - both areas I've no knowledge. I'm leaning toward the 140, because I picture that being the first volvo with available OD, and most likely to have lacked a relay to handle the solenoid current.
But the example you give exactly follows the impression I've taken of Lucas design flaws being mostly related to an optimistic view of contact resistance, contact pressure and wipe, and contact support materials, outside of the shiny clean laboratory. Come to think of it, what else is there to reliable low voltage electrics?
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore
My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe. - Jimmy Durante
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Maybe the 1975 240 was the one. Anyway it was what seemed to be a slide switch
(but actually contained a toggle) in the cap of the gearshift handle. If I
remember right they cost around $40 each and nothing else would fit in that cap.
Girling may be allied with Lucas somehow but they are different critters. My
experience with Girling has likewise been pretty good.
I believe that in addition to the items you mentioned, the conductors are not
usually generously-sized to tolerate momentary overloads and consequently are
subject to overheating, which usually exacerbates the situation into a vicious
cycle, hence the need for replacement smoke. Usually when the original smoke
is all gone the item will NOT function. I guess they are smoke-driven.......
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!
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Yep, loved our '78 242GT, but it had the "slide" OD switch. Never occured to me that it was a Lucas product (which is strange because we also owned a Rover SC at the time). We always say we did next to nothing to maintain the car. Of course that doesn't include four overdrive switches (more?) and accompanying shift knob caps.
Great post. Especially for those of us who lived with Lucas rather than just reading about Lucas! Do you remember "Icelert"?
Dave
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No, Icelert is a new one on me. Sounds disastrous.....
Are you from Panama?
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!
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Nope, L.A. We took the Rover with us to Mexico when we moved there to open a manufacturing facility. What a disaster that was.
Icelert was a neat stainless box mounted on the grill of the Rover. It measured reflection from the road, was adjusted by a sensitivity knob on the dash, and illuminated a light on the dash to tell you when reflectivity from the road meant ice was present. Having said that, can you imagine what sort of Lucas magic was involved in such a device in 1969? I eventually removed it and used the wiring to install an electric fan with dash mounted monitor light and temp control. Very convenient. Of course by that time we had dumped the boat-anchor Rover engine and installed a Datsun L18--bolted up to the T35 automatic with a Datsun bellhousing. Then the car was almost enjoyable. Not such a coincidence, after four months with the Rover, I bought our first 240...what a difference. With something reliable to drive, I was able to spend a year putzing around with the Datsun conversion on the Rover!
DS
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