That "Screw in the middle of the battery" trick is fairly common
knowledge to old timers (like me) who were driving back in the '50s.
Many of the older cars and most foreign cars had 6 volt systems.  Ford,
for example, didn't go to 12 volts until the 1955 models.  VW went to 12
volts in '67.

Putting newer engines into those older cars often necessitated cute
tricks with the electrical systems.  Many of the 6 volt systems (like
Ford) used positive ground.  Some (aftermarket) radios of the day had
"Pos/Neg" ground switches.

Mike

Scott Daniel - Shazam wrote:
> How many people know you can screw a wood screw into a 12 volt battery in
> the right place, and tap into just  6 volts there ?
> Then if you had points ignition in a 12 volt car, you could use this 6 volt
> ignition system on your 12 volt rig, and have electronic ignition !
> The only gasoline vanagons I know of that came with points and not
> electronic ignition,  are non-California air-cooled ones, 1980 to 82.  ( you
> can also retrofit 83 to 85 waterboxer electronic ignition and distributor to
> them pretty easily )
> Scott
> turbovans
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Anderson,Chuck
> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 7:22 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: NVC - Delta Mark Ten
>
> I don't have access to any air-cooled lists, so I'm posting this here in
> the hopes that one of you will pass it along. Looking through my garage
> this weekend, I came across an old 6-volt Delta Mark Ten ignition that I
> had installed on my 1964 Volkswagen beetle. I removed it when I sold the
> car and sent it to Delta Products to be checked out. That was in 1978.
> It was never installed on another car again. If anyone is interested,
> I'd be happy to send it along, no charge. I sure wish I still had that
> '64.
>
> Chuck Anderson
>
>
>