The Art Deco and Advance Design trucks were mechanically quite similar in design . The major changes were
mostly in the body work.
By the middle 50's everyone had gone to 12v Stan, mostly because the newer vehicles had options for or were
equipped with tons of the latest electrical accessories such as power windows, power seats, lots more lighting.
Starters and generators also benefited by needing less copper. By switching to 12v they reduced the cost of
wiring by nearly 50%. Add that up over millions of vehicles and it showed a huge profit for the stock holders
I believe the condition that Alvin is referring to is caused by a timing issue. Typically if an engine won't start HOT
and is tuned properly with all of the electrical connections solid .....low compression is the culprit. Other than that
it could be a defective coil that shorts or opens when it gets hot and expands, causing it to give a weak spark.
The prime advantage that I can think of for changing to a 12v system is so you can use more readily available
12v items and accessories such as batteries, radios, tachs, or lights, stuff that your local auto or farm store keeps
in stock.
Speaking of lights, my lights are just as bright as 12v lights of the same vintage, however I do have to order them
rather than pick them up at the local NAPA or AutoZone when the need arises. My truck starts just as easily as one
with a 12v system.
One thing in favor of 12v is, if you were to rewire the truck then you could get by with wires 1/2 the gauge as the
original 6v loom.
Without going back over the thread, I don't recall if the 8v battery fix was brought up. That is often touted as a quick fix
when someone encounters a starting problem. And again.....that's simply a band-aid, not a solution to the core problem,
and not a very good fix at that.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
