Toronado.org

I just got around to throwing some new Bosch spark plug wires on my '66... and I couldn't help but notice how rediculously old the wires that were on there were. The distributor end connectors didn't even have connectors, the core just made a u-bend around the insulation.

I'm kind of curious if these are the wires the car was shipped with. If they are, I'll keep 'em in a box somewhere for novelty sake. Otherwise I'll toss them.

They have "Atlas Radio Resistance" printed on the side of them in yellow text.

not original.originals will be delco with year and month on them.i have a 1964 olds with original wires delco dated 1963.

Back in the day (I hate that) Standard Oil, Gulf, supported their 'Service Station' and it really meant something in addition to pumping your fuel you could get: oil changes, tires, alignment, bearings packed, tune ups, carb, exhaust and cooling system repairs as well as other work done and all at a reasonable rates.
Standard Oils service line was 'Atlas' these wires harking back to that time Service station started to fall out of favor in the mid 70's the young people (now the old guys) started doing their own work and parts stores started popping up on ever other corner.

I am not all that old, but I remember a lot of "service stations" that had a custom plug wire kit display, right next to thier wiper blade display, light bulb display, glass fuse display, etc.

The plug wire kit was a bulk roll of wire, a couple bins of the rubber plug ends, and a bin of some crimp on metal connectors. You would cut out nine lengths of wire (8 cylinders plus the coil) by matching (or I suppose they had a book with lengths in it). It looks to me like whomever bought the plug wires in your picture opted not to spend the extra nickel for the crimp on ends!

Hasty wrote:I am not all that old, but I remember a lot of "service stations" that had a custom plug wire kit display, right next to thier wiper blade display, light bulb display, glass fuse display, etc.

The plug wire kit was a bulk roll of wire, a couple bins of the rubber plug ends, and a bin of some crimp on metal connectors. You would cut out nine lengths of wire (8 cylinders plus the coil) by matching (or I suppose they had a book with lengths in it). It looks to me like whomever bought the plug wires in your picture opted not to spend the extra nickel for the crimp on ends!

Well, it had the ends on the plug ends, but not on the distributor

That's all really interesting stuff. I was aware of service stations of course, and I knew they did oil and things like that as well. But not quite how much they actually did. Neat

I might still keep a wire for novelty. By the sounds of it, it may very well be the 2nd set. And, Standard Oil, haven't heard that name since I lost the History Channel But, I did watch the history channel perpetually, so I know what they were, and how they ended.

Thanks for the history lesson