The car battery, or, when love of originality knows no bounds
05/14/2014
We know this. Even in lavishly restored passenger cars, we see a modern starter battery in the sparkling clean engine compartment. While the cables, connections and screws, even the stickers and labels, are almost 100 percent original, the battery is labeled "maintenance-free", there are no openings for topping up acid and the contacts are protected by ugly plastic covers.
And not even the strict Pebble Beach scorers make major deductions because of this obviously non-original starter battery. Modern starter batteries are simply better, provide more starting current, do not require maintenance and can be bought at almost any DIY store if a replacement is needed. But they don't have to be, because a true fan of originality won't let the wrong battery into his engine compartment.
Like Stefan Dierkes. Once he realized that the battery installed in his car at the 1965 Geneva Motor Show was a Varta 3 Cx 6 (6 volts, 66 Ah), he wanted to have just such a battery in his car again. Easier said than done. Of course, Varta no longer supplies these batteries, and not even the factory collection could provide a sample for reproduction.
So what next? Finally, after two years of research, he was able to find an empty original Varta hard rubber casing of the right size, including what is probably the only original hard rubber badge with the inscription 3 Cx 6.
All that was missing was the interior. Well, there are some enterprising small businesses that are still able to refill a sealed battery housing with lead plates, separators and other innards.
Fitted with the separately procured blue and yellow Varta plugs, an original Varta battery was finally back in the engine compartment of the Opel Kadett A Italsuisse Spider.
And it goes without saying that Dierkes learned a lot about batteries during this time.
