War time Lucas dating code

[rewdco]

Dear members,

I don't know if this is the right forum, because I don't know where I will find more Lucas electrical components: Softskin, Carrier or Armour? Anyway, here's my question:

All “large” Lucas items (magneto, dynamo, ...) have a dating code stamped on them (or on an identification plate in case of the magneto). This code can “easily” be dechiphered:
I did find an article on the internet (can’t remember where exactely, but it was about Lucas car components…) saying that the Lucas code is WEEK-YEAR. I have been checking all my Lucas stuff for my 1960’s Minis, and I found numbers ranging from 1 untill 50. (268, 3669, 174, 0178, 4876, 1168, 166, 1677, 0467, 5077, 4275). I think it is indeed reasonnable to assume that this Lucas code is WEEK-YEAR.

But when I do the same exercise for pre 1960’s motorcycle stuff, for which I haven’t got that many examples unfortunately, the first number is always smaller than 13. (1252, 1150, 1051). Would this mean that around that time, the system changed from a MONTH to a WEEK code? Thus for the early post war period, the Lucas code would be MONTH-YEAR.

If we consider that electrical components became available at the beginning of the 30’s, I think it is logical that during this first decade, only the last digit of the year was used (eg. 4 in stead of 34 or 1934). But of course, with the turning of the decade, the last two digits became compulsory, to avoid confusion with the years from the previous decade… On this year’s Beaulieu Autojumble, I took some pictures of early Lucas components. One was stamped “34”, which would mean “March ‘34”, “98” would mean “September ‘38”, but then there was a number “335”: “March ‘35”? Or would it have been a WEEK code anyway? I think that the person who stamped this number was already looking a few years ahead, hence “35” for 1935…

Does anybody know what the exact Lucas dating code was during the war years? Well, most of the original equipment magneto’s and dynamo’s will have been replaced by now anyway…



Cheers,
Jan