1934 Champion Spark Plugs board game (found in Speed Secrets magazine, thank you Larry!)

Mike sent me photos of this rusty rat rod Stude... there's some cool details, like the hood prop and the spark plug scorpion

Thanks Mike! 

this isn't really news, but one third of iridium plugs bought from Rock Auto, Amazon, and eBay were fakes

the summary is that only the Rock Auto plugs appeared to be genuine across the board. Plugs bought from Sixity Auto Parts on Amazon and eBay also appeared to be the real deal, but others purchased through Amazon and eBay were fakes.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/ridiculously-in-depth-spark-plug-test-shows-1-3-of-them-were-fakes

the Federal Trade Commission settled charges with SplitFire, Inc. in February 1997 regarding deceptive advertising.

 The FTC found claims regarding improved fuel economy, horsepower, and emissions for their "split electrode" spark plugs were false or unsubstantiated. 

the EPA's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory, which found no significant improvement.

https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cases/1997/02/splitfir.pdf

1926 Packard with an interesting factory feature, that's dangerous to have functional now, the Fuelizer, a 1920 invention

the Packard Automobile Company engineers perfected a device which is simple and solved the problem of heating the 1920s low-grade of gasoline to insure complete combustion. 

The Fuelizer consisted of a chamber surrounding the intake manifold, in which a small amount of gasoline is exploded and then drawn into the manifold thus raising the temperature of the gas to a high degree.

The gasoline is drawn into the Fuelizer chamber by a small pipe leading from below the butterfly valve, is circulated at high velocity in the chamber by the explosion caused by the spark plug in the chamber, and then goes through a small opening into the manifold where the usual wet and cold mixture from the carburetor is converted into superheated gas which explodes entirely upon ignition.

Franklin also used a pre-heater

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1920/3/13/fuelizer-packards-motor-miracle-innovation-in/

https://www.sae.org/papers/packard-fuelizer-210037

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44720596?seq=29

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10164525320227845&set=pcb.10162575079488757

Dodge has quietly issued a recall on every single Demon for a spark plug issue. (thanks Mike!)

Those who felt their Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 lost some of the 1,025 horsepower along the way get good news. It turns out they were right: their cars were indeed losing power.

customers have been reporting an issue referring to engine misfire and loss of power for a year and a half, ever since deliveries started, according to Butter Da Insider, the man who specializes in uncovering exclusive insider information on Stellantis, Ford, and GM.

He is in possession of a document (check the photo gallery) that Stellantis reportedly sent to dealerships. Those who will fix the Demons are also getting a tool kit for the procedure. According to the one who provided Butter Da Insider with the information about the recall, the box includes spark plugs, so it's more of a part supply instead of an actual tool kit.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/dodge-has-quietly-recalled-every-single-challenger-srt-demon-170-for-a-spark-plug-issue-245624.html

Albanite, a word on Edison spark plugs I've been curious about since 2007 when I saw it for the 1st time, just 6 months after starting this blog!

 I posted this photo in a gallery of the Hotel Del Coronado laundry delivery Cadillac https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/04/cadillac-with-hotel-del-logo-on-side.html 

Occasionally I take a look to see if anyone has the answer online yet, and finally someone added the info to the internet. 

It's still surprising to me that only 25 years after the internet kicked off in it's current form, people treat it like it's always been around, and that it has everything there is to know. But it's still in it's infancy, and facts, photos, and information are still being added and uploaded every day. 

Anyway, Andrew commented on some forum, that Albanite is " was a trade name for the insulator material used by the company. The clay was mined from a specific site, and once baked into hardened porcelean, provided what they perceived as a special anti-fouling, superior insulative material for the core of the spark plug." 

https://www.smokstak.com/forum/threads/what-is-albanite.72593

truth, especially with a transverse v6

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=471416578849647&set=a.351913907466582

I never heard of the Moto Meter company making spark plugs until now, or a tire pressure gauge (1927 advert)

https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr7bDBEf3a0C&pg=RA5-PA46&lpg=RA5-PA46&dq=Cloverland+Motor+Sales+Sidnaw&source=bl&ots=JpzBg7EDO6&sig=ACfU3U2Gu8Jq56iCY52dbChkuEe440ScDg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO8uOvjNyCAxXmZzABHd6xBKs4FBDoAXoECAQQAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

going back a century, to a Spark Plug that wouldn't be be what anyone would think to answer if asked what was the most famous Spark Plug of the 1920s... Barney Google's race horse.

On July 17, 1922 Barney Google saved a man’s life, sort of, and was generously rewarded with a race horse, of sorts.

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2022/07/17/spark-plug-100-years-and-still-pluggin-on/#google_vignette

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Google_and_Snuffy_Smith

https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/AC_SPARK_PLUG_DONKEY_ADVERTISING_DISPLAY_-LOT599177.aspx

something a hundred years old in spark plug design, probably means that it wasn't effective.... but it's still a cool design element

no matter what, one of the tips is close to one of the tangs on the casing to get the spark

see video and brief explanation at https://www.facebook.com/reel/333771572569394

“Willie the Wolf from the West” had rare tail art, based on a hill billy in a spark plug advertisement

https://clarencesimonsen745590793.wordpress.com/category/nose-art

great display of a spark plug collection coming to auction

https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/OUTSTANDING_AUTOMOTIVE_SPARK_PLUG_COLLECTION_W__DI-LOT578196.aspx

clever way to claim your spark plugs are superior

https://www.proxibid.com/Matthews-Auctions-LLC/Day-2-Bob-Harrington-Display-Auction/event-catalog/238073?p=7&sort=0#cnTb

I had no idea there were so many spark plug displays for counter tops in parts stores, the Bob Harrington collection must have been incredible to look though... I wonder, did he have a museum?

https://www.proxibid.com/Matthews-Auctions-LLC/Day-2-Bob-Harrington-Display-Auction/event-catalog/238073?p=4&sort=0#cnTb

clever way to get the point across

https://www.proxibid.com/AC-Spark-Plugs-Don-t-Drive-Worn-Plugs-Counter-Top-Metal-Display-TAC/lotInformation/74874402

a very remarkable collection of spark plugs and countertop demo sales models of speedometers and other 1920s petroliana is at auction right now

 

did you know the AC spark plug company made speedometers? I didn't!

https://www.proxibid.com/Matthews-Auctions-LLC/Day-2-Bob-Harrington-Display-Auction/event-catalog/238073

Cool display of sparkplugs, in a rare Champion crate

https://garagestylemagazine.com/on-the-inspiration-from-an-empty-crate/

in 1932 Capt. Lewis Yancey piloted a Pitcairn Autogiro, christened Miss Champion for the spark plug company, from Miami to Havana at the start of a Yucatan archeological expedition.

exploring the Mayan ruins of the Temple of the Soldiers (Chicen-Itza, Yucatán) in February 1932

The year before, he flew it all over America

Champion Spark Plugs bought it to advertise the spark plug company, like a flying billboard, across 21 states, flying 6500 miles, visiting 38 cities with the 1931 Ford National Air Tour

During January 1932, having flown south to avoid the northern winters, Captain Yancey took “Miss Champion” from Miami to Havana, Cuba, where it arrived amidst fanfare and the usual press interest. From there, he flew onward to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula where he used the unique slow flight characteristics of the autogyro to participate in an archaeological exploration of the Mayan pyramids and ruins.

 It proved very effective in this role, spanning many miles of jungle and finding sites that would have been missed by ground search teams. It was a dream opportunity for the Champion Spark Plug Company, which garnered wide attention from its sponsorship of the archaeological research and came away with some absolutely stunning publicity photos.

After the Yucatan expedition, it was retired

It's one of 2 PCA-2 Pitcairn's that survive today in museums

https://issuu.com/eaahq/docs/avt_072422_1_

https://fly.historicwings.com/2012/09/miss-champion/

https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/lay.htm

Yancey had earned fame on a South America circumnavigation publicity tour of "Pilot Radio" in 1930, when Pilot Radio Company of Brooklyn sent their experimental aircraft radio plane, a “flying laboratory,” on a “good will flight” through Latin America, primarily to publicize their products.

Their subsequent marathon journey around the perimeter of most of the South American continent would be filled with challenges for the radio equipment, the plane, and, most of all, for the men. Traversing oceans, mountains, desert, and jungles, they would set new records for long-distance air-to-ground communications, broadcast to the people of Buenos Aires from the air, meet with U.S. ambassadors, heads of state, and indigenous Amazon natives; they would be briefly imprisoned, search for a lost flier, and visit exotic and unique places. 

Along with Yancey, was Zeh Bouck, who visited the White House in 1930 and met with President Hoover, and used this expedition to represent the Hoover administration, acting as an unofficial U.S. ambassador to South and Central American nations.

He was one of the first radio columnists, writing for the New York Sun by 1922, and a newsmaker himself. He wrote hundreds of articles for magazines ranging from Boys’ Life to Radio News to Cosmopolitan.

They staked their lives on a plane that developed mechanical problems and could not land on water on a route with few landing areas. How they survived the journey and the true story of what happened during the flight are told for the first time staring on page 95 of https://www.antiquewireless.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-AWA-Review-Vol-33_compressed.pdf

It was the first successful aircraft flight to Bermuda from the United States, and in April, 1930. The plane was a Stinson SM-1FS "Detroiter", Pilot Radio. It ended up crashed and left there.

Why is the flight significant to Bermuda?

The twenties and thirties had great competition for records to be broken in every venue (flagpole sitting for example). One record that had been pursued but failed with cost of lives was the first Great American Journey, a dream of flight to Bermuda from the North American mainland. 

It was long before the capabilities of sending a radio beacon beam to an aircraft to utilize safe navigation. The Bermuda Trade Development Board earlier offered a 25 thousand dollar prize for the first flight to Bermuda. No airport existed in Bermuda, thus a float plane would be necessary.

http://www.hangar9aeroworks.com/BermudaStinson.html

http://www.oldqslcards.com/UNUSUAL_PLACE.pdf