Optima Battery for 1939 LaSalle

[JohnWNY]

What model Optima battery will work in my '39 LaSalle, 6 volt?  Thanks

[TJ Hopland]

I think they only make one 6 volt.   Be sure you are not going this route to overcome wiring deficiencies.   An optima or worse yet 2 in parallel will give you more than enough juice to start fires.  You also have to beware that with any optima type battery that under normal conditions they act pretty normal as far as charging.  If you do manage to fully drain one you have to go through special steps to get it charged again. 

You don't want to just do a quick jump and go, when dead these will suck all the power they can get and then some which can be very hard on a vintage charging system and will usually cause even a modern charger to thermal out.  Sometimes if you have a very low amp charger like 1 amp or less you can let it sit on that for a day then switch to a normal low charge rate like 10amps and it will recover.  The recommended way to recover a dead one is to connect it to a similar sized fully charged battery with jumper cables then connect your medium to heavy duty charger to both batteries.   The charged battery acts as a buffer to not overload the charger and then both get recharged by the charger till you get it mostly charged when you can then disconnect them and charge normally.

I saw one of these in a car I jump started earlier this summer.  Not cheap but if looks are important...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Style-Battery-Case-Hides-6-volt-Optima-Battery-Classic-Vintage-Cars-/361639645101?hash=item5433670fad:g:tRwAAOSwqu9UzxkP&item=361639645101&vxp=mtr

[TJ Hopland]

Looks like this may be where that case comes from:
http://www.quailservices.com/index.html

A site with some photos:
http://www.cj3apage.com/index/My_1950/installing_an_optima_battery.htm

[Bill Ingler #7799]

John: If you are going to use an Optima then by all means buy a low amp Battery Tender or Battery Minder. As pointed out by Hopland you can ruin an Optima if you use a regular battery charger. The Battery Tender or Battery Minder is a low amp charger and I keep all my cars are on these type chargers. Here are pictures of 2 Battery Tenders on two cars with 12 volt batteries and a Battery Minder on a Optima used on my 47. One of the 12 volts chargers is plugged into a 12 volt gel battery and the other is on a regular acid battery.      Bill

[robert G. smits]

The Optima in my 41 is over 10 years old and going strong.  It has been on a Battery Tender since new.  I am slowly converting all my cars to Optima.  Optima makes  2 and 4 battery chargers also.  I have one of each.  Bob Smits

[TJ Hopland]

I have one that is getting pretty old now that is still going strong and it was from when they were still an independent made in USA company.  I have recently retired a couple much newer and lighter weight ones from the Johnson Controls?  Mexico era.   The later ones just don't seem to last any longer than typical batteries but sell for a much higher price so you have to really want the 'spill proof' or extra rugged features to justify the premium price.  I recently noticed at least the external design changed.  I don't know if anything else has changed.   It does look like prices have come down a bit since last I looked, maybe I was not the only one that thought they were too expensive for what you got.   At one point $225 seemed to be a typical price for the 34/78 red top.   Looks like $180 is a common price now which is closer to a similar spec premium conventional battery.     

[gary griffin]

My 40 LaSalle has the battery under the hood which  is incorrect. I will probably move it back under the drivers seat and not even bother with a cover as I will not be showing it in CLC events. More important to me that it runs well and starts every time. Some previous owner moved it. Why would we want a container of acid in our engine compartment?? Optima is my choice from now on!

[TJ Hopland]

You would rather sit on a container of acid?     

So why was the battery not under the hood by that time anyway?    I kinda get it 10-15 years before that because there was not a lot of room under the hood and I think the starting switch was practically on top of the battery but I assume by 39 even LaSalle had a key start and by the looks of things no shortage of space under the hood? 

[gary griffin]

I misspoke, it was under the floorboards in front of the drivers seat.

I already have went to Optima so no liquid acid is required.