The Ford Barn

Hunter · 04-30-2020, 12:55 PM

A friend was looking at a number of upper distributor plates he had collected over the years and noticed that some have a letter and number stamped into them like K1 for example. Is this a date code like the starter bands have? If so what is the code?

Thanks in advance - Hunter

ryanheacox · 04-30-2020, 01:11 PM

Could very well be a date code. The coil on my car has a code of 3K which is March 1930. If it is a code it would be Jan. 1930.

chrs1961815 · 04-30-2020, 07:06 PM

Never seen a code on a plate before. I will have to check when I get a large group of NOS ones in the next few days.

Norm M · 05-01-2020, 06:43 AM

Of the numerous upper plates I have recently cleaned, I only noticed that the 3 Autolite marked ones had a code (1K, 4K and 2L), I didn't see any code on the unmarked or SP plates. The plate that came out of the distributor which was original to the car had the 1K (Jan 1930?). I believe this would be correct for that car since it is an early Feb 1930 car.
This drives the next question - were the distributors sent by the manufacturers to Ford as a completed assembly?

chrs1961815 · 05-01-2020, 07:55 AM

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That would make sense as the bottoms were stamped by the manufacturer on most of them.

04-30-2020, 12:55 PM	#1
Hunter Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Gaithersburg, Maryland Posts: 518	Upper Distributor Plate A friend was looking at a number of upper distributor plates he had collected over the years and noticed that some have a letter and number stamped into them like K1 for example. Is this a date code like the starter bands have? If so what is the code? Thanks in advance - Hunter

04-30-2020, 01:11 PM	#2
ryanheacox Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Northwest CT Posts: 1,092	Re: Upper Distributor Plate Could very well be a date code. The coil on my car has a code of 3K which is March 1930. If it is a code it would be Jan. 1930.

04-30-2020, 07:06 PM	#3
chrs1961815 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Spring Grove, Illinois Posts: 1,371	Re: Upper Distributor Plate Never seen a code on a plate before. I will have to check when I get a large group of NOS ones in the next few days. __________________ "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

05-01-2020, 06:43 AM	#4
Norm M Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 31	Re: Upper Distributor Plate Of the numerous upper plates I have recently cleaned, I only noticed that the 3 Autolite marked ones had a code (1K, 4K and 2L), I didn't see any code on the unmarked or SP plates. The plate that came out of the distributor which was original to the car had the 1K (Jan 1930?). I believe this would be correct for that car since it is an early Feb 1930 car. This drives the next question - were the distributors sent by the manufacturers to Ford as a completed assembly?

05-01-2020, 07:55 AM	#5
chrs1961815 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Spring Grove, Illinois Posts: 1,371	Re: Upper Distributor Plate Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) That would make sense as the bottoms were stamped by the manufacturer on most of them. __________________ "The more things change, the more they stay the same."