MASCOT November - December 2003

The 407050 Contact Set

Bill Haverly

With regard to Derrick Bedwell's piece on contact breaker sets for the SM1500 in the Jul-Aug Mascot (Page 7) (see note at end of this article) I think there is a typographical error, as the current Lucas part no for these Points is DSB122 (not DSB1223 as stated).

Around the autojumbles these Points are still more likely found in their red, white and black boxes under their original part no 407050, and the sort of price you might expect to pay is around £5-£7 per set rather than the £15 quoted by Derrick from Lucas agents. Once again it pays to shop around! The fact that this contact set is now being remanufactured by Lucas tells us how widespread its application was between 1938 and 1961. The complete range of British cars using these points is impressive, covering a nearly makes of cars and commercials, including AC, Alvis & Armstrong Siddeley, through Ford, Humber, Lanchester & Lea Francis to Sunbeam Talbot, Triumph, Vauxhall and Wolesley. 407050 was one of the most popular post war contact sets, fitting more cars than any other over a longer period. For Singer enthusiasts this set conveniently fits all cars from 1938 to 1957, except those with twin carbs which used the 420196. The list starts with the Singer 10 saloon, all Roadster series and variants, the 12 & SM1500 types and the only car to survive the Rootes takeover, the Singer Hunter. The distributor which housed these points on the Singer was the Lucas DKY4A unit, distinguished by its "D" shaped die cast body and

pressed steel contact breaker base plate;. When buying 407050s at auto jumbles it's worth noting that this set comprises only 3 wrapped components - the base plate, contact heel/spring arm and pivot post insulating washer. Check the contents of the box before buying as sometimes you find that the used points get put into the box when the new set has been fitted. 407050s also turn up in anonymous plain plastic wrappers at around the same price as new old stock sets. These are usually made in the Far East. Some other makers references for the 407050 (DSB122) are Remax - ES79; Ford - YE12160/12162; Commercial Ignition - CS14; Intermotor -2250.

Note

Derrick Bedwell's article was not reproduced on this site because it was a very short note. However it said in its entirety " Derrick Bedwell tells us he has been asked a number of times for a Contact Breaker Set for the Lucas DKY 4A Distributor as fitted to some 1500 Singer engines in the 1950s and that he has confirmed with Lucas that these items are still available under their Part Number DSB 1223. The price is around £15."