In selecting correct reproduction battery cables for our ’64 Impala, I got to wonder about the history of Chevrolet’s progression on battery cables. So here are some trivia questions for the group that I would love to learn the answers to.

1) During what years did Chevrolet use the spring ring cables?
2) When did Chevrolet discontinue using the braided negative cables?
3) What was the last year Chevrolet used the negative cables brown?
4) Have the positive cables always been red? If not, when was red first used?

What started my thoughts on this was trying to understand if I needed a brown or black spring ring negative battery cable for the ’64 (which is equipped with a 327). Another VCCA member is doing his ’63 and was advised to buy the brown cable. One of the other VCCA members has a ’65 but his car has a black spring ring cable. So, is the black spring ring cable a poor quality reproduction or did Chevrolet switch from brown to black at some point during the time they still used spring ring cables?

Thanks for taking my trivia quiz. I just thought it would be neat to learn more about this subject.

My spring ring battery cables arrived today and both were black. The vendor came highly recommended and was the vendor I used for the electrical harness on my ’59 pickup – which I am very happy with, but before they go on the car, I wanted to make sure the color of each of the cables were correct.

I pulled the ’64 shop manual supplement off of the shelf and checked out the wiring diagram it had. Sure enough, it depicts both the positive and negative battery cables as being black. The positive cable has a second small red wire coming off of the terminal that also is depicted in the wiring diagram (although this wire is also depicted as black in the diagram), which is shown to run to the alternator relay. The negative cable also has a second wire (a small black one) running from the terminal connector and is not illustrated in the diagram. I haven’t opened the package yet, (in case I felt it needed to be returned for not being correct), but I assume the second small negative cable wire must be for the AC as that appears to be the only choice in the selection of the negative cables the vendor offered which might also explain why it is not in the standard wiring diagram in the manual.

It appears from the documentation I had available I was able to answer my previous question regarding the correct colors for battery cables in 1964 full size passenger cars (at least for the Impalas). It appears both cables should be black. I would really be interested to know if anyone has any different or additional information regarding the battery cables for 1964 Impalas or other early ‘60s Chevrolets.

The cables look good and after my little research project are now ready to be installed!