Car 12 volt power- negative or positive ground?

Years ago, I owned a couple european sports cars and they were positive ground systems. Can anyone tell me what cars are now? I want to be able to use my IPOD in our rental car.

Thank You,

Larry

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Lots of European cars are sold in US with positive ground, but you can never find an European-only version of 12V adapter , so....that gives you a clue.

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Many years ago (30+) cars in England were positive earth. All are now negative earth.

I was told they changed because they were more susceptible to rust with -ve earth. Don%26#39;t know how true that is.

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I still own a %26#39;72MGB that has a prominent label under the %26quot;bonnet%26quot; that reads: %26quot;ATTENTION! This vehicle is wired NEGATIVE EARTH!%26quot; or words to that effect, so it can%26#39;t have been long before that that the switch (no pun intended) was made. (I%26#39;m not going out to the garage to check the exact wording, but the Brits do call it %26quot;earth%26quot; not ground.) I did own a couple of earlier LBCs (Little British Cars) that had a positive ground, but I think just about everybody had switched over by 1970.

I think there was some technical reason for the switch having to do with the fact that alternators (as opposed to generators) work better that way. I could look it up if anybody really cares.

Anyway we live in this global economy thingie now so anyone doing anything as perverse as to wire a car that way wouldn%26#39;t last long.

Hmmmmm...

Perhaps that%26#39;s what really did in the British car industry...

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Thanks for all the information. I just wanted to make sure that; number one, the accessory plug (previously known as a cigarette lighter) would fit our US size, and two, I would not fry anything I plugged into it.

Merci

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