Translucent sparkplug wires that light up?

Back when I was a young lad I saw a car with red translucent sparkplug wires that were seemingly lighting up with each spark that passed through them. Was this for real or some trickery? Is there such a thing?

 

I never got to see them but ive heard about them also.

 

I don't know how you'd get them to light up. Without some kind of added light source, the light would have to come from either arcing, or just heat produced by resistance.

 

They were real, all right. The "lighting up" was the leakage of juice going to ground ...

 

Hehe. I remember em from being a kid too. they were on a terribly 80's fad t bucket and it was neon over the wires that did it. kinda gay......

 

I know of the neon ones that go on bikes, kinda lame, but cool looking at night
I cant seem to find any info on flexible ones that would go on a car

 

I remember a 30's Chevy coupe in Oregon in the 80's that had a bowtie neon gas tube mounted on outside of each hood panel that was hooked through his wires. Interesting at night but bet it ran like shit.

 

The ones I was refering to was in the eighties as well on a corvette monster truck(car)

 

" Was this for real or some trickery? Is there such a thing?"

Am so glad that was all the info you were seeking.
Had you asked where can I buy such a thing would have been so very disappointing.

 

dont forget the clear dizzy cap

 

I do wanna buy some.....for my sons minibike so he will look like this!

 

I remember them from Plainville Stadium here in Ct as a kid. Really showed up nice on a flatty. It wasn't the wires that lit up ...it was a colored glass spark jump chamber that attached to the end of the plug wire and then to the top of the plug. It was supposed to amplify the spark but was probably more show than go. Was really quite a sight after the sun went down.

 

i have seen these on the choppers that orange county choppers build. must be able to get them someplace. call them. they might be able to help

 

http://www.powersportrider.com/CGI-BIN/ZCATJPG?catpub=ST0210C&catpage=1126.00

$150 for two.....!!

 

you can buy sparker's for Motorcycles that light up at the plug end ,

not good

for performance but they light up.

 

go to a neon guy.. bet he'll make em for ya for cheap.. its just the regular neon tubes with adapters so they can work with spark plugs.. they absorb energy to make light.. so.. run a magneto!

 

Now the ones my dad described were clear wires and the actual wire inside had numerous breaks in it for the spark to jump , all the jumping sparks would glow the wires. Said a fella in town had them on his t bucket, this woulda been 62-64

 

IIRC that corvette monster truck was Starbirds kids car. They used to race in the myriad in OKC in the 80's. He'd race, then flip the body up and the lights would dim. Sorry I couldnt help out, that just stirred up some memories.

 

They had a set of these on an OCC bike didn't they?

 

For your son's Mini-bike, I agree, way cool ! .

 

Didn't JC Witney sell the wires and the clear caps?

 

That sounds like a good reason to avoid them!

 

not regular neon glass, hard glass (pyrex,etc.) it can be done, just have to know the right people. RD

 

Ive seen them on alot of bikes. They look cool to me. I used to have a distributor cap that was clear. Looked pretty cool at night and only cost $15 bucks. Never did find any wires.

 

A buddy had some on his '56 Chevy in the mid-sixties. Clear red. You could see the spark pulses course through the wire (think timing light).

They were terrible insulators, however. At night you could see arcing to any nearby metal (and that was plenty!). He eventually threw them out, and upgraded to "Packard 44" wires, which were popular for the era.

 

Try Hot Rod and Custom Supply out of Florida and I think also Night Prowlers out of Missouri had them too more recently. They were clear Red.

Michael

 

An acquaintance of mine had a 56 Ford 292-powered that he rigged up by wrapping small gauge wiring around each plug where the high-tension cable clipped on, then ran those into the cockpit to eight small red bulbs in a panel (four over four) and when engine was running, his dashboard looked like a friggin' circus sign. He claimed it was so he could monitor his ignition system, but I think he just like gadgets (his dash was replete with about a dozen gauges, all of which measured something. I suppose he wasn't aware that he could have purchased those 'twinky winker' spark plug wires or he would have likely had a set of those also.

dj

 

I bought a Merc that was in storage since 1968 and found a distributor cap in the trunk with red tranlucent wires.I still have them.

 

Look at Kuryakyn Lazer Nodes. Here's a link showing them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp4rRu_UgjM

 

They were called sparkies. They were available through motorcycle accessory dealers. They weren't very expensive back then(mid 80's). They went between the plugs and he wires, and lit up when the plug was fired. Don't know if they are still available.