My 72 convertible 350 has a side terminal battery and a black negative and a red positive cable. Is that correct or were they both black?

 

THats the correct combo.

 

So black and red it will stay. Thanks Allan

 

72 was the first year they put the side terminals on the Cutlass models IIRC. Mine has top post because the original owner likely got stuck in the boonies with a dead battery and no stores that had side post batteries.

It works fine with the aftermarket adapters so I'm not changing them. Besides, it's not a trailer queen.

Color coding the battery cables is standard practice I believe. Keeps people from shorting out their charging system when boosting or what not.

 

I went to buy some a couple years ago and they were all blue! I think they wanted to consolidate and not have 2 colors of each length. Have you seen the cheap sheet metal clamps they use on the newer cars? They are top post batteries but the clamps are real cheap flimsy things. I wonder how they will work if there's corrosion.

 

Greg,
Were the cables for an older vintage car or a newer one? Vintage cables are color coded. Most of the new cars have black cables for both the + and - leads. Only thing is they have a red plastic cover over the + lead to try and make it 'idiot proof'. The top post connectors you're describing are on my Sonata (2007) and they still look like they just came out of the factory.

Just as an aside, I seriously doubt ANY connector is going to go unscathed if there's serious corrosion that develops. Best way to prevent that is keep the terminals clean and use something as simple as Vaseline on the connectors to prevent oxidation. Yes, Vaseline is apparently very multi-purpose

 

Yeah I think those cables were at a auto zone or something. This was back when a lot of cars used the side posts. It seems I wanted to get some new ones and the only ones they had were blue. But even back then you could get red or black ones at year one, etc. I remember back in the day corrosion was a much bigger issue than it is now. I have a 2010 Impala that had the sheet metal cable ends and it is getting corroded. But most the newer cars have no corrosion. I think the newer batteries have better seals around the posts.

 

The stamped connectors are pretty strong due to the ribs they have. They don't look strong, though.