1965 Red battery cable
 

A recent discovery of a ‘65 Tempest Survivor shows “again” the Red positive battery cable that was factory installed for about the first 4 months of production (into a 12E build).

Whether it be a V8 or an inline 6, this was OEM.

The plants of BAL, PON and BF are shown below of Unrestored cars having this cable.

I’ve seen others of a Sept. and Oct. builds.

Below are,

11A, BAL
11B, PON

Two more samples
 

12A, BF
12E, BAL

Chris

Hey Chris, '65 not my thing but I take it Red positive cable was unique? My '64 repro cables are both Black IIRC.

But your pix raise a couple questions for me.

Weren't the originals all Spring Ring terminals?

Any idea of p/ns? I'm thinking a Red positive cable would either have a unique p/n or else the engineering drawing might have noted an alternate for a Red cable.

Lectric Limited seems to have copies of the original engineering drawings, if you have the p/ns they should be able to see what might be shown as the color on the p/n drawing.

I wonder if the cable color is identified in the '65 Olds F85 Assembly Manual?

I have the pdf on another computer but I'm thinking I got that from you? Wouldn't be certain that the Tempest shared cables with the F85 but would at least be interesting to learn if Olds did identify their cable color.

I gather that later builds did NOT use the Red cable? Curious as to why the change. I once read that in the early '60s (pre GTO) the OE Delco battery used black caps but the aftermarket version had yellow caps. Story was that Bill Mitchell or somebody in Design decided that the yellow caps detracted from the engine so they went with black. Maybe somebody didn't like the look of the Red cable? I'd guess more likely having 2 different color wires from which to make the cables added 5 cents per 100' to the cost. With millions of feet of wire used in production, that cost added up for GM!

FWIW:
The '66-'67 OHC 6 used a RED + cable as well.
I had an old worn OE pair but didn't keep them.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...440a159a_b.jpg

Hi John,

Yes, the Red positive battery cable was unique to the early ‘65 Tempest Series (Sept.-Dec. ‘64)
The (Jan.-Aug. ‘65) Unrestored cars I have filed came with a Black positive cable.

1964 OEM positive cables (the shorty) were Red.
I’m assuming the Red cable was a carry-over into the first few months of the 1965 build.
Who knows, maybe they had spools of Red cable left over at the end of the ‘64 build.

I see Ames offers the Red positive cable for 1964, but not ‘65 and up.
I’m not sure what Lectric Limited has to offer.

All OEM battery cables had the “spring-ring” end clamps that attached to the battery terminals.

The only numbers I have to offer is the one on my ‘65, 2987265UV (11A).
The other number I have is 2987266UW (12E). This cable has the auxiliary wire for the power windows in this car.

Photos,

1964 Test GTO.
Even in a black & white photo, it’s obvious the Red and Black cables are different colors.

1964 Survivor.

Another Test GTO, 1965.
Again you can see the different color cables.

The two numbers I mentioned above.


Chris

Hi Jeff,

I’m clueless on those OHC 6 cars ?
This is interesting. Thanks for bringing that up.

I research the GTO Survivor examples and have never seen a Red positive battery cable on a Mid ‘65 thru 1967 car.

Chris.

Found the same red positive cable on my unrestored 65. Late November build at the Leeds assembly plant. Was not able to find that anyone reproduced these. Same part number on it and 41" long. That could have been cut down for the clamp style replacement terminal installed. Was able to find both the positive and negative NOS replacements but never have seen a red NOS cable for this application.

Hi Norm,

Thanks for responding!

Your 11D Red ‘65 Hardtop is in my folders of Unrestored Survivor cars.
I love this car that came out of the state of Washington.

Built in the Leeds district of Kansas City it not only has that Red positive battery cable, but it seems to have the cadmium plated heater hose bracket and possibly the steel plug in the RH front of the intake manifold, which are common on the first several months of the ‘65 production.

Can you verify those last two components?

Thanks, Chris.

Red
 

Another Red positive battery cable.

12E build.