Since a lot are not original owners, thought I'd provide a little piece of info. Before maintenance free batteries came around, the caps were vented which was a contributing reason to the corrosion crud on the posts. Side terminals helped reduce this somewhat. Since the Shark battery was in the passenger compartment, the battery had special caps w/ a hose nipple on them which allowed a hose to be attached and run to the exterior on the car. That's why there's a hole in the compartment.

Guessing that the special caps might be hard to come by today for the NCRS folks. But maybe not. Haven't looked into it.

Have a great weekend!

 

I remember the old batteries w/ the big old vented caps and the ones that the tube connected to that you're speaking of. I remember learning as a kid that one was to use ONLY distilled water in batteries as it would keep from mineral build-up on the lead bars. Remember the funny looking water bottles in the gas stations that they used to fill batteries? There was one in the Texaco gas station I worked at in the early 70s ('72-'73-'74) during the (so-called) gas shortage, which was just afew years prior to maintenance-free batteries and radial tires. How things have changed over the years. I had a nice '62 Impala with a 283 that had the generator, which was regular stuff that year. And every damn time you had generator problems, the voltage regulator would go out, one of the three sets of points inside would burn shut. LOL Even now, the most high-tech ride I have is the '81 Corvette. I do have an alternator in my '62 pick-up, just eliminated the field and ground and ran the hot to the alternator (w/ the built in regulator-self exciter). I wish everything in lifewas (still) that simple, or even more so. I liked phone booths...and neighborhood bars...and stuff like that.

 

Those were truly the days . . .

 

When I was 16 I worked as a grease monkey at a local gas station, I was supposed to stay on my side and just change the oil and filters and grease the cars and fill up the customers at the pump andthe mechanic (the owner)did the tune ups and was on the other side.
I snuck over there and learned how to gap to points and set the timing.
It was a good learning experence, I checked the oil on every car that came in, and cleaned the front window. And your right the batterys were filled with distilled water.
We came a long way since then. My battery in my 74 T-Top was replaced in Feb 2001 and came with a 72 month warranty, NAPA # 7578 has done well for me and next month I'll get another one from them. It hasn't failed yet but I'm not going to wait to get stranded. PG.

 

Yes! Always take care of the regular customers as a fifty cent tip was great, as ie; a quart of Budweiser was fifty cents at the time. LOL I worked at night and on Saturday, andat night on the week days, f/tire changes, I'd get to keep the money (labor). Remember the metal lid-hard cardboard side oil cans? And you'd stick that sharp metal spout in the top. Always w/ a fill-up, while the gas was going in w/ the little spring-loaded handle piece set, you'd do the windshield and check the oil. "It's down a half a quart, you're OK." LOL Very few credit cards then, the machine was at the pump and had that U-shaped handle that pulled across with the carbon copy three paper receipt with the card on the top.LOL When I worked at IBM-America's Far-East Corp., in the reproductions dept. when I was in High School, the manager of our dept. went to 3M's introduction of the paper that writing went through w/o carbon paper, a big break-through at the time. And a heck of a job for being in HS. When they asked me to stay at the end of HS that summer, I told them that i wanted to take the summer job that I had for the past two years at a park on the Hudson River as I liked being outside in the air when the weather was nice. What an *** I was, could have been retired and well-off now. I was only being truthful and doing what I wanted, not thinking of the future, the story of my younger days-Live for the day I was in, fast and furious! Boy did your mentioning of that old battery bring back good memories, after-all, it was only thirty five years ago.

 

Forgot to mention that when my original battery quit at 37 months, I got a JC Penney lifetime battery. About every four years, I get a new battery free. They keep trying to buy me out but always say no and take another free one.

 

Good for you!!!!! Make them live up to what they promise.

 

Boy do you guys bring back some memories.
I used to work a local service station too, while in H.S.
Changed a lot of brushes in the ol' generators, and used to use one of my Mom's emery boards to clean the points in the regulators.
Dang, that was 40 years ago.

 

When I worked in that gas station, while in HS, my best friend Eddie, had a Studebaker Lark, 4 door. The back rocker panel on the passenger side was so rusted that you couldn't open that door w/o taking the rocker w/ it.Eddie got me the job there and ran the station for the owner half of the time. LOL Anyway, Eddie got stuck in a sand trap on Hudson Hills Golf Course one night when I was working and he had me bring the station Jeep, an old Willis w/ the metal hard top and plow on the front, up there to pull him out. How we kept from getting arrested, I have no idea. And Carl, the owner, never found out. The things that went on there...I remember James Brown's Soul Classics playing in Eddie's studebaker on the 8-track. LOL Really, w/ a generator, regulator and ignition points, there wasn't much that you couldn't get going on the side of the road.