72 small block dist. cap judging question

[Edward J.]

I currently have a Delco remy dist. cap with a pat. no 2769047 and a R, what is the deduct normally with a pat. no.?

[Paul O.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

Ed I think Patent Pending or Patent # 047 with an R should have no deductions for originality. This is going off my memory not looking at the judging guide. Paul 18046

[Harmon C.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

The 73 Corvette needs the cap with the part number. I see many Pat-Pending caps on 73's so you may find someone to make a trade with before the cars go on the judging field.

[Don L.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

Paul:

'70-'72 JG says:

"All caps are black with Delco Remy printed on the exterior of the cap in raised letters. Original cars are known to have PATENT PENDING R in a circular pattern between the center tower and the outer ring of towers.

No other brands or colors should receive credit. Other Delco Remy styles (with patent number or without the R) may receive minimum credit in order to assess condition points."

This tells me that the ...047 number, or any number for that matter, should NOT be expected to be seen on a correct '70-'72 SB. Agree?

[Bill L.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

I saw quite a few NOS correct production caps at Carlisle but they were not shall we say a bargain. Patent Pending with an "R" . Guy had more than one and was asking $250.00 each.

Bill

[William C.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

Lots of very servicable carrect used ones out there, just need to look. This is noe area where the big online auction can turn up a (relative) bargain, remember they were ued in nearly all GM cars of the era.

[Paul O.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

Don like I said was going off of memory which is not always reliable. But I could expect on a very late 72 near 73 production could have a Patent number cap just my opinion. The 68-69 JG still shows both type caps for a 69 is acceptable probably needs an update and 73 JG looks for Patent # caps. The original 308 caps did not have the "R" they were none resistor type. The first cap had Patent Pend and once the Patent was approved it was molded with the Patent #. They probably made millions of the Pending Caps but once it was given a number the mold changed. Then these caps would have made it into normal production and it most probably was hit or miss during assembly which cap was installed. The same could be said for the 308R caps the originals started showing up in 69 and I would guess that within a few years 308R caps with Patent # would show up in the assembly lines. GM used these caps on all Chevy V8 applications and others car types so the inventor would have been huge and we all know that they did not always move the older inventory forward as new shipments arrived. Now this is just my opinion I maybe wrong but others may chime in and expand our knowledge base . Paul 180467

[William C.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

It's always good to remember that common parts like distributor caps that were used across multiple lines required multiple tools to maintain production. That said, 1972 and 1973 were extremely high volume (car) production years for GM, and a tooling change like the patent wording would have been worked in over a period of time. How many tools and how long of a transition would be anyone's guess, unless someone working in that plant (Delco Remy) would have firsthand knowledge.

[Edward J.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

Well being that my car has a 047 cap (w /R) I dont think I'll spent 250. for a dist cap. as my car is a late car. I think there maybe a small deduct, can anyone that judges tell me what the deduct is?

[Dave S.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

Well being that my car has a 047 cap (w /R) I dont think I'll spent 250. for a dist cap. as my car is a late car. I think there maybe a small deduct, can anyone that judges tell me what the deduct is?

Ed,
With the 047 cap you have a DELCO REMY cap which will get you most of the originality points. From memory the cap is 5 points originality and 5 points condition. I would think most judges would deduct 1 point for the 047 and give condition points as appropriate. As Bill mentions you should be able to find a nice used PATENT PENDING "R" cap which will get you all the originality and condition points and not spend a lot of money.

[Harmon C.]

Re: 72 small block dist. cap judging question

On 73's the judging manual says take a small deduction for a patent pending cap and I take one point as that is as small as it gets. A person restoring a car needs to buy a cap so it seems like they should get what the manual says rather than try to buck the system.