Re: Delco Battery?

[knut.s.grimsrud@xxxx]

The requirements for a replacement battery are not particularly 
exclusive and there's not a lot of magic to it. As long as the 
battery is a sealed maintenance free type (a non-sealed type can emit 
gasses and is the most common reason why the battery tie-down strap 
is gone in many cars) and it has the proper side posts to connect to, 
it will generally work fine.

Previous messages on this list have hearlded the merits of the optima 
battery, which might have benefits for the intermittent use our cars 
often see. If your question is with regard to which battery is the 
proper concourse-recognized replacement, the best thing is to check 
directly with the concours organizer (James has put together an 
outstanding concours sponsored by DMC). The concours handbook 
indicates that the accepted battery for competition is the Delco 
Freedom Maintenance Free. No specific battery model is indicated, and 
I suspect a Delco of the proper type with the proper side terminals 
is fine. WHen I judged interiors a couple years ago, I only checked 
for Delco Maintenance Free with proper connections and fit in the 
compartment with tie-down strap correctly fitted.

Personally, I just use a good quality (72 month) maintenance free 
battery with suitable side terminals that has a high CCA (cold-
cranking amps) rating for my daily driver. I have gone through a 
couple batteries and have yet to find a side terminal battery that 
has not fit in the battery compartment (it hasn't even occurred to me 
when picking an arbitrary side-terminal battery that there was any 
issue with fit).

Knut



--- In dmcnews@xxxx, Les Huckins <jhuckins@xxxx> wrote:
> Local K-Mart has Delco Freedom (Maintenance Free) Battery number 
78A72,
> appears to be the exact replacement for the original, is it? Not 
on the
> cross reference guide I downloaded. Thanks