Lucas, Prince of Darkness

(And covert ruler of IEBS!)

As John and I were driving back from a client meeting, we began talking about cars, particularly old Brit sportscars. He mentioned a Triumph Spitfire he used while dating back in the day. During a particularly crucial date, one that involved a long drive on Highway 1 by the Pacific, the thing stuttered and stalled (inevitably!). Also inevitably, we ended up recounting stories and laughing about Lucas, Prince of Darkness.

The 1972 Mark IV with a 1275 cc engine and 4 speed transmission, in proper BRG

For those of you who've loved and lived with an IEBS (idiosyncratic endearing Brit sportscar), you'll know Lucas well. For others, Lucas Electric was the supplier of all things electric to pretty much every car manufacturer in the UK for a long, long time. My encounters (thankfully?) have been mostly secondhand, through my father who owned the first direct descendant of the Morris Oxford, the first car to be manufactured in India, the one and only (drum-roll!) beloved, ubiquitous, elephantine Ambassador with electrics by Lucas. The Lucas experience (to the best of my recollection) seemed to survive in the sub-tropical context as well, and to have moody electricals specially during a torrential downpour (yes, that's the official description, read any good newspaper in India during the monsoon season) seems quite the recipe for disaster. Though perhaps progressive localization addressed a few typical problems - for instance, putting the distributor near the top of the engine, to minimize chances of it getting damp, wet or absolutely submerged.

There are of course a number of jokes about Lucas available freely on the Internet, but additions in the form of your stories/ jokes of Lucas are welcome! Here's a few to get started:

• The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
  
  
• Lucas denies having invented darkness. But they still claim "sudden, unexpected darkness"
  
  
• Lucas--inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
  
  
• Lucas--inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
  
  
• The three-position Lucas switch--DIM, FLICKER and OFF.
  
  
• The other three switch settings--SMOKE, SMOLDER and IGNITE.
  

More Lucas, Prince of Darkness jokes here...