Always wondered

[Standing Elk]

I have always wondered why, up until the late 50s were some cars, trucks and tractors positive ground while some others were negative ground. Was there an advantage to one over the other back in the 6V days? Thanks

[Bill G]

Originally Posted by Standing Elk

I have always wondered why, up until the late 50s were some cars, trucks and tractors positive ground while some others were negative ground. Was there an advantage to one over the other back in the 6V days? Thanks

Reaching wayyyy back in my memory banks, I believe there can be an issue with negative ground systems as it relates to corrosion and the annode and cathode effect on connections. Beyond that, I cannot offer a better explanation. I think negative grounding won out in the battle because maybe everyone else but Ford was using negative ground. Kind of like the VHS versus BetaMax battle. Seems like one was actually better than the other, but VHS won the battle. So it seems maybe the same issue for positive versus negative ground auto standards.

I have a background in old time telephone collecting and Ma Bell, Kellogg, Automatic Electric and others who built and operated telephone switching equipment, including switchboards and central offices all built their equipment around positive ground systems for the stated reason of corrosion, particularly with respect to lead covered underground and overhead cable sheaths.

[Standing Elk]

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Thanks Bill, I am at least a little more enlightened that I was. I wondered if it might have something to do with corrosion but never really knew for sure. Someone, sometime in the past had set my 1924 TT up to be positive ground and when I was a kid there were quite a few tractors that were positive ground. Interesting, I have a modern diesel tractor that is positive ground.