Technology: Transistorized Ignition

Exterior styles in U.S. autos are as changeable as women’s hats. For ’63. they are simpler and handsomer than ever (see U.S. BUSINESS). But mechanically, U.S. cars are conservative; under their hoods are familiar items that have changed hardly at all since grandma’s virtue was first endangered in a Reo Runabout.

One of these mechanical fossils is the antique ignition system. It has a circuit breaker with rapidly moving contact points that change the battery’s direct current into a pulsating flow that the induction coil can raise to high voltage. This charge then goes to a distributor that feeds short pulses to the spark plugs at the proper time to ignite the mixture of gasoline and air in the cylinders.

The time-honored system has never been trouble-free. Breaker points become worn or corroded; spark plugs get fouled with carbon or lead from souped-up gasoline. Lately trouble has increased. Engines are getting bigger and faster; their highly compressed fuel charges need fatter sparks to explode them, but the conventional system delivers weaker sparks at high speeds. So Detroit’s automakers are warming toward ignition systems that take advantage of modern electronics.

Ford’s 1963 models offer transistorized ignition for heavy trucks and promise it for the Galaxie’s 406 high-performance engine. Several other transistorized ignition systems are already available for the tired engines of cars already on the road, or for sports cars striving for that final fillip of efficiency.

There are two types of transistorized systems. The simplest send only a small current through the breaker points, thus saving wear. The small pulsating current from the points triggers a transistor system that in turn controls the high current needed by the coil. Manufacturers claim that such systems save fuel, give more fire power, make both points and plugs work indefinitely at top efficiency at any speed. An even more rewarding system produced by New Jersey’s Motion Inc. includes a capacitor that is charged by the high-tension current that is normally fed directly from coil to spark plugs. The capacitor delivers a short hot spark even when a feeble battery is painfully trying to start a cold engine in zero weather.

Transistorized cars of the future may eventually have ignition systems with no points at all to go wrong. Their pulses of current will be generated by rotating magnets, and they will be amplified by trouble-free transistors before firing the plugs. Pontiac is already offering such a system, confident that it will last unserviced for the life of the car.