Hoist

1928 Model A

Ford Garage

Slant Pole Ignition Coil

American Bosch Magneto Corporation

Thanks to Craig Lewis of Parksville, B.C., Canada for providing these great photos of his original coil shown here on Ford Garage!

Featured on this page is an example of an original 1928 non-script slant pole ignition coil.

The 'MC' within the round 'AB' logo was a mark of the American Bosch Magneto Corporation, a primary electrical ignition equipment supplier to Ford in the Model A and Model B era.

The logo above is one of at least four different Model A era logos used by American Bosch Magneto Corporation during their running legal dispute with Robert Bosch GmbH of Germany.

This Bosch 'AB MC' logo on coils was subsequently replaced by the Bosch 'A in Circle' logo later in 1928.

Another American Bosch logo found on ignition coils was the Bosch 'Maple Leaf A' logo on some Canadian production.

American Bosch and Autolite ('AL') were the two main suppliers of slant pole coils to Ford during Model A production years.

Standard Products ('SP') was another coil supplier for some production quantities, especially the later straight pole versions. In 1932 Ford also added Essex Wire and Cable Company ('SX') as a supplier of coils.

The American Bosch logo on other smaller distributor parts such as points and plates was a helmeted racing driver's face overlaid on a stylized round 'AB' imprint.

This 'AB MC' coil has a maroon/brown bakelite nipple. The wire terminals on this coil point outward, away from the nipple, giving rise to the commonly used 'slant pole' description.

The coil has a steel rain cap crimped over the top of the rolled can seam, as found on all original Model A coils.

The coil bracket is spot welded to the can on all original Model A coils. The lockform seam faces the firewall and is not visible when installed on the car. The lower (nipple) end cap joint is soldered to the can.

As shown above and below, this coil bracket has a supplier date code of '4 8' signifying April 1928. In later production, Ford required all its electrical component suppliers to use a different uniform alpha-numeric date coding system.


More related information on Ford Garage:

  1. For more Model A & B related information, use the Site Search box at the top or bottom of this page.
  2. Model A Straight Pole Ignition Coil Variations
  3. Model A Canadian Bosch Ignition Coil
  4. Model B Ford Script Essex 'SX' Ignition Coils

January 2012