[Boatanchors] Partially Off Topic Question

[rbethman]

Jack,

It was most likely an evolutionary thing.  You start adding things to a 
"system", you make bigger engines that take more torque to turn over, 
and you finally hit a point where a change is made.

Like you, I remember "some" 6V systems.  I remember one having the 
battery under the back seat!  Then we moved to 12V, I do not remember it 
being all at once, but what the heck!  I'm only staring at the 60 coming 
at me!

By the time I came back across the pond and got married I think it was 
all a done deal!

Your project may work out better IF you can replace the 6V vibrator with 
a 12V one.

Bob - N0DGN

Jack Antonio wrote:
> When did American automobiles go from a 6 Volt system
> to a 12 V system?
>
> I have a 52 Ford car radio which is 6 V, and I know
> that by the time I was aware of such things in high school
> in the mid 60s, all the family's cars were 12V, but when
> did the change occur?
>
> Was it an all at once starting with a given model year?
>
> Were 12V systems optional, becoming standard at some point?
>
> This was prompted by some idle thinking about using the 52 Ford
> car radio as a basis for a simple cheap ham receiver, by adding
> a BFO and a converter front end, a project that I may explore one
> of these decades.
>
> Thanks
>
> Jack Antonio WA7DIA
>