Re: [Phys-l] cars and physics

[brian whatcott <betwys1@sbcglobal.net>]

Not exactly what you wanted, but I saw that all the Major US makers went 
12 volt within a year or two  of 1954
Usually from no ballast 6 volt coils, to 12 volts coils, often with 
ballasts.
But Volkswagen hung in with 6 volts. They were making detail 
improvements year on year, until finally they got the message on their 
immensely popular bug.
Finally, it went from a 6 volt 180 watt generator, to a 360 watt 12 volt 
generator.
Dangerous to generalize from just one case - but I can see VW added more 
power from the same wires....

Brian W

On 2/24/2011 10:04 AM, Bill Nettles wrote:
> What we really need regarding this question is a search of the historical archives at Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford, etc., to find the meeting notes where the decision was made.  Does anybody on this list have the right connections to get that done? I suspect that the people who actually made the decision are no longer around.  Are there archivists/historians at the car companies that would look this up for us?
>
> I suspect there is not a 100% overlap between our speculation and the business decision that was made. I also suspect that the engineers were the main driving force and probably co-opted a "we can save money by having thinner wire (but don't mention the more expensive battery)" explanation to satisfy the bean counters when that was far from their original motivation.
>
> By golly, we've GOT to search those records! This is important ... (just having fun). Seriously, the answer is written down somewhere. Who can find it?
/snip/