Lucas "Racing and Competition" distributor

or buy it as a spare. keep on shelf til needed.
ed

 

Series I PF coupe No. 1479 also came with Lucas distributors.

See Post #360 here: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86199&page=18

john

 

May be off interest

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130814009144&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

 

In case anybody is interested, I have found a source for the caps and rotors that appears to have them "on the shelf".

 

All on this thread:
I have one of these Lucas Racing distributors. It is in excellent condition. with cap and boot. It has been in a collection of parts for many years. It can be bought or traded for.
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My 1959 PF ser 1 1391GT has Lucus distributors

 

The owner of this one says it came off PF. Does the build sheets show these as well?

 

According to Brian Browns (likely experienced) observation & statement from '06 probably not, due to incorrect rotation.

 

Timo: The distributor drives are different for these units compared to the Marelli's. So the rotation maybe correct. I have been around 1475, a Series 1 Cabriolet with these units, but it was too many years ago.

 

Thanks for the clarification, Dyke, but I was just going by Brians statement, which I believe to be based on fair amount of experience in all things Ferrari mechanicals, including vintage.

 

Timo: I just checked some photos of both 1475 and a standard Marelli setup. I am correct, the distributors drive off the OUTSIDE of the cams on the Marelli and off the INSIDE of the cams on the Lucas. So the reverse rotation is correct for the Lucas units.

 

As I recall my E-bay bid of $3500.00 for this distributor at the last few seconds was sniped by Tom S. So I guess I'm not the only one who knows how scarce these are.

 

It makes sense that Ferrari used a Lucas racing distributor that was an off the shelf item and made special drives to adapt it to their motors. They did the same thing with the limited number of V12's that had Bosch ignition distributors (same as Mercedes Benz 300SL).

 

What would be the reason that Ferrari would opt for Lucas and Bosch distributors, diversity of suppliers, cost savings, a Marelli factory strike? Being a single-point, I can imagine the Lucas would bring a compromise to engine performance.

john

 

John: It is common for suppliers to send "samples" to manufacturer's to get them to try the product in hopes of securing a permanent order. This is what both Lucas and Bosch were doing. It is possible that Ferrari actually did solicit new vendors, in looking for cost savings. Ferrari was a "shoe string" operation, always looking to save money on it's street car program. So the factory simply used the "samples" to save money. I remember my friend who worked for Motorola in the 1970s telling me he sent Ferrari some Motorola CD units as a sample to see if the factory had any interest in using their product. He never heard a response until he got a call from Chinetti asking about a Daytona in their shop that had Motorola CD's installed! The factory had taken the "free" parts and stuck them on the next car down the assembly line.

 

Agreed. They were offered these for little or nothing and they used them. Looks like the earliest car was recorded in this thread at #1391, the latest record I have seen is #1545. If anyone has chassis numbers for cars that have these Lucas distributors please share and get them recorded.

 

Also adding:
If someone knows of a car that had these originally and is owner working to complete a restoration project that needs a distributor the owner would prefer to see this go to a car's completion.

 

Dyke, a good chuckle that Motorola story.

john

 

I’m looking for a (or two) cap for for these distributors. If anybody has one, or know about any for sale I would be very grateful to know about that.

Kind regards

Jonas

 

Try this company, specializes in Lucas: www.distributordoctor.com

 

Thank you,

I have tried them but they haven’t any more unfortunately.

Regards Jonas