(first posted 6/2/2017, updated 6/2/2023) As I detailed in Part 1 of this series, Packard, Cadillac, and Chrysler all dabbled in automotive air conditioning between 1940 and 1942. Well, more like cautiously stuck their toes in the water, as they all used the same third-party Bishop and Babcock A/C system (as opposed to designing their own systems in-house).
As these systems were expensive (about $5,000 in today’s money) and primitive (the only way to turn off the system was to remove the belt from the compressor), sales were understandably slow. Unfortunately, World War II intervened, which prevented any further refinements on the B&B system, as well as precluding any automaker from developing their A/C system.
After the war ended, the major manufacturers were concentrating all their effort on resuming production and developing their first post-war cars. The B&B A/C system was effectively obsolete, and engineering resources were too scarce to apply to a limited luxury item like air conditioning. Besides, Detroit was selling every car they could make to meet the pent-up post-war demand, so they didn’t really need a gimmick like A/C to sell more cars. As a result, the next car with factory air wouldn’t come out of Detroit until 1953, well over a decade after Bishop and Babcock installed their last system.
Rod Barclay covers this period of automotive A/C history very well in his seminal book Boy! That Air Feels Good! According to Mr. Barclay, there were three major reasons for this factory A/C gap (in addition to the reasons listed above).
First, every major car manufacturer was located in a northern climate, where summers were short and relatively mild. Most were in Detroit, but even the independents outside of Detroit were in moderate climates (Studebaker in South Bend, Indiana, and Nash in Kenosha, Wisconsin). Thus, air conditioning was viewed as an option with limited regional appeal.
Furthermore, many automakers already had separate refrigeration divisions (such as Frigidaire in the case of GM, or Kelvinator at Nash). While this theoretically gave them expertise to draw upon (which would help down the road), it also gave them enough information to know that A/C systems are highly complex and potentially dangerous, and require constant maintenance by highly skilled technicians using specialized tools. From this experience, they knew that any automotive system would likely be temperamental, and the associated warranty costs would be astronomical until the kinks got worked out. Yet such a system would also have to be simple and safe enough for the grease monkeys in the dealer’s service department to work on. A tall order, to be sure.
One final reason had nothing to do with technology. Air conditioning and refrigeration at the time (and still is) was a highly specialized trade, requiring bespoke training and equipment. Moreover, it was heavily unionized, like many trades in the day. Dealerships would have been loathe to add specialized equipment and new classes of union labor to meet these needs, especially to support only a small handful of cars.
With all these headwinds, it is little wonder that no major auto manufacturer was in a rush to get back into the A/C business immediately following the war. Nature abhors a vacuum, so as is often the case in America, entrepreneurs and do-it-yourselfers will rush in where bigger manufacturers fear to tread, and automotive air conditioning after World War II was no exception.
From here, we need to leave Detroit and head to the steaming cauldron of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, which would become the center of gravity of the aftermarket automotive air conditioning industry for the next several decades.
First out of the gate was Automobile Refrigerated Air-Conditioners (A.R.A.), formed in 1948 by O.P. “Obie” Leonard. Mr. Leonard (along with his brother Marvin) were the owners of Fort Worth-based Leonard Brothers Department Store. More pertinent, he was also a former owner of one of the few pre-war air-conditioned Packards. Dismayed that manufacturers offered no longer offered A/C systems for their cars, Obie Leonard decided to start building, selling, and installing his own systems.
Early Frigikar system
Next up, we have Lone Star Cadillac in Dallas, which sold many of the air-conditioned Cadillacs produced prior to World War II. With no air-conditioned cars coming from the factory after WWII and demand for the system still high, in 1949 Lone Star started building and selling their own units. Business was so good that in 1950 Lone Star spun off the business to focus on auto air conditioning beyond those just moving through its dealership, forming Frigikar. In 1953, Bert Mitchell (an engineer who worked on the original Bishop and Babcock system with Packard), purchased Frigikar. He used his Packard connections to arrange for sales and installation through Packard dealers.
1960’s Vintage Mark IV System
But the biggest player by far in the Dallas-Fort Worth auto air conditioning scene (and eventually the United States) was the John E. Mitchell company (no relation to Bert Mitchell above). Robert V. Anderson, an engineer in Oklahoma City, started Mark IV in the early 1950s. The Mitchell Company in Dallas was his metal fabricator (as well as for A.R.A. and Frigikar). Not content making components for other air conditioning companies, the Mitchell Company acquired Mark IV to focus on making and selling its own A/C systems.
Collectively, A.R.A., Frigikar, and Mark IV would become the “Big 3” of aftermarket automotive air conditioning for the next 30 or so years.
So how were these companies able to succeed where Detroit had previously failed? For starters, they began in a southern city where there would be a natural demand for their product. Second, these companies initial products were essentially knockoffs of the Bishop and Babcock system, which eliminated the need to come up with a whole new design. While the B&B design had numerous shortcomings, it was still better than nothing, which is exactly what the automakers were offering in the late ’40s and early ’50s.
Early Mark IV Trunk Mount System – Similar in design to pre-war B&B system
Because they were copying the B&B design, engineering costs were minimal, which in turn allowed the systems to be sold relatively inexpensively. This in turn allowed the DFW Big 3 to go after a much larger market. While Detroit’s prewar A/C efforts targeted the upper end of the market (Cadillac, Packard, and Imperial), the DFW Big 3 aimed solidly for the fat midsection of the market. Furthermore, while the prewar efforts were obviously targeted at selling new cars, the units from the DFW Big 3 could be retrofitted to just about any existing car with a trunk and rear parcel shelf. This meant that everyone who owned an automobile was a potential customer.
Frigikar president Bert Mitchell often used his own wife and son in his ads, like the one above.
As a result, the popularity of automotive air conditioning exploded. This fostered a virtuous cycle of improved designs and lower costs. The complex B&B-derived trunk-mounted designs were soon replaced with superior, in-house designs using cheaper (and easier to install) under-dash hang-on “knee-banger” units.
By the early ’50s, The DFW Big 3 had sold and installed tens of thousands of units, enough to raise the interest of the automakers. There might just be a profitable market for factory air conditioning after all. Based largely on the success of the aftermarket, Lincoln, Cadillac, and Chrysler reintroduced factory air conditioning in their cars in 1953. By the mid-1950s, factory A/C was available from every major manufacturer.
The re-entry of Detroit into the automotive air conditioning business did little to slow the sales of aftermarket A/C. If anything, it helped sales at first, as the automakers raised interest and awareness of the option with their own advertising efforts. As the vast majority of cars on the road and in showrooms didn’t have factory A/C, there was still a huge opportunity for aftermarket air conditioning. However, by the 1970s, as factory A/C installation rates exceeded 50%, demand for aftermarket systems began to dwindle. Soon demand tapered off to nothing, and today air conditioning is standard on virtually every car and truck.
So whatever happened to the Dallas Big 3? A.R.A. founder O.P. Leonard sold the company in 1954 (probably seeing the writing on the wall). However, ARA is still around today (see aramanufacturing.com), and they still manufacture OEM A/C components and aftermarket A/C systems (albeit for transit and agricultural use).
Frigikar was purchased by Cummins in 1963 for $8.4 million. Cummins rebranded the product line to “Frigiking,” to reflect the revised focus on commercial truck cooling. The Frigiking name is currently owned by ProAir, which specializes in air conditioning systems for buses, military vehicles, fire engines, and ambulances. (Update – ProAir filed for bankruptcy in 2022, so I guess they are no longer around).
Of the Dallas Big 3, The John E. Mitchell company had perhaps the most interesting diversification strategy. While improvising a solution using a Mark IV A/C unit to replace a broken soda fountain at his Kansas Dairy Queen, Omar Knedlik unwittingly invented frozen soda. Knedlik patented the solution and partnered with the Mitchell company to manufacture and franchise the systems, for which they coined the name ICEE. The ICEE business was eventually spun off, and is still around today. The same cannot be said for the John E. Mitchell company, which has a rather interesting history of litigation and licensing disputes with co-Founder Robert V. Anderson that could fill an entire CC article itself.
Eventually, the success of the aftermarket in selling air conditioning to the masses created a market too big for Detroit to continue to ignore. I will have much more to say about Detroit’s post-war A/C efforts in Part 3 of this series. Until then, stay frosty!
Those early aftermarket ones were like aftermarket stereos. I don’t place much importance in having a am AC but when watching the auto auctions and what not its always the number 1 original option they look for
Wow…I thought that yesterday’s article was good, and then you turn around and give us this one!
Interesting theory as to the relatively cool climate of the automakers’ headquarters, and its effect on the development of auto A/C. The same thing used to be said about German automakers; even as late as the 1980s, many German cars had air conditioning that was nowhere near as effective as that in American cars. My ’83 Porsche had factory A/C (delivered in West Germany), but it was separate from heater, which meant that you could run both at the same time.
Same for the Japanese Took them a while to learn what capacity was needed to be satisfactory in Houston in August with 100 degree days and nearly 100% humidity. Once they did figure it out they built excellent systems.
Agree! My Mother’s ’72 Benz 250 Coupe had a noisy, vibration prone, just barely adequate for New Orleans “factory” air conditioning.
A Toyota, which cost …one third…the price of the Benz had a vastly superior A/C system.
As much as I am a Mercedes fan you are right. In Australia any difficienies in an air conditioner are quickly revealed. All European cars had totally inadequate systems until well into the 1980’s. I remember a friend had a Renault Feugo and all that air conditioner did was make (lots of) noise!
Our 2009 Mini Clubman had an A/C that couldn’t handle Austin, TX in August…
I was in Hamburg Germany in 1978 visiting relatives. My uncle had a VW Scirocco that was very nice, except for the “air conditioning.” It consisted of a small hole in the center lower dash that blew one stream of room temperature air straight between the front bucket seats to the rear. My uncle thought it was epitome of luxury. I pretended to be impressed!
I distinctly recall my high school football line coach’s early 70’s Toyota having an after-market AC unit under the dash – he came from Texas, his car sported Texas plates until they expired and he made the switch to Ohio plates. Also, oddly coincidentally, the hot sorta hippie chick babysitter that my buddy’s family had for their younger kids had a Toyota Corona with an after-market AC unit that IIRC was a Sears/Kenmore brand. This was the mid-70’s in rural Ohio so non-OEM AC couldn’t have been that unpopular…
Those huge add-on under dash systems were all the rage for many years, and they worked very well.
Sears specifically comes to mind as to aftermarket units. I don’t recall if they used the Kenmore name or “King Kool” or something else.
The compressors under the hood were huge in those days and really put a drag on the engines. Our 1976 Dodge Dart Lite had such a system – although factory – it was still mounted under the dash because Chrysler never modified the dashboards to accommodate air vents.
That car, while racy-looking – our kids called it the “race car” – was little faster than a VW bus, due to gearing, and when I used the AC, it was even slower! That car even had a 4 speed (4th gear being overdrive).
This is an outstanding series of articles, thank you, Mr. Halter!
Waiting for part 3!
You’re right. I remember the after-market A/C in Sears catalogs. Not sure whether Sears did the install or not.
My family had a used ’66 Comet (200 inch 6 and 3 on the tree) with a Park-O-Mat underdash A/C. As this was in the south and the car had a black top, it certainly made it more livable. Limitation on these were (IIRC) they tended to ice up when run full force. This was also true of some of the dealer A/C units that weren’t integrated with the heater.
I had an ’88 S-10 with add on dealer A/C from a company called “Southern Air Controls”, which I think may have been based on TX. Dash vents and controls looked *almost* like factory air. Not equal in performance, however.
Here in New Orleans Sears, Western Auto, Woolco and several other automotive A/C specialty shops installed below dash “hang down” units in the 1960’s; later on in the 1970’s they also sold artfully crafted “in dash” add on A/C units.
Small wonder as the enervating heat & humidity here rivals Dallas & Houston.
Truly “Air That You Can Wear” here in #NOLA.
My 1971 Opel 1900/Manta, equipped with a “slim line” below dash “Factory Approved Dealer Add On” air conditioner used the same Huge & heavy compressor that the full sized Buicks used.
It froze my knee caps numb but couldn’t compete with the large “greenhouse” of windows this car enjoyed.
Traveling on Interstate 10 at a steady 65 mph, when the A/C compressor engaged the car would slow down to 60 mph.
Speaking of dash vents, I always thought it was cheap of GM in the ’70s and ’80s to delete some/all of the dash vents on non/AC cars. Depending on the model this meant they tooled up two separate dash pad molds to do that!
I agree. My Chevy vans demonstrated this. Those dash vents are helpful for vent and heat, not just ac. Deleting them meant more patts and more complexity on the assembly line.
I regarded this deletion as shaming the customer for being cheap. Of course it annoys the customer more than shaming them and erodes customer satisfaction with the product.
What was worse was that when they shifted from flow-thru ventilation (eg. 1973-77 Malibu), to fan-forced vents (eg. Chevette, Citation), they made it impossible to shut the heat all the way off. I got so exasperated with my father’s Citation that I ended up putting a garden-hose-shutoff from the hardware store in the heater line.
Zack that was going to be one of my questions: how well did these things work? You said they worked very well. So I take it these units were not “self-contained” like the units you’d see in a house window – they still had a compressor in the engine compartment running off the engine? So that wold mean lots of hoses and stuff running from the engine compartment to the unit under the dash, then?
The underdash unit includes the evaporator and fan. The refrigeration circuit has two hoses to the engine compartment (where the compressor and condenser are located), and there’s a drain hose for condensation from the evaporator.
Yes…compressor, condenser, receiver/dryer were underhood. Evaporator, expansion valve and blower were under dash. Hoses ran between. Under dash aftermarket systems were generally recirculating-only (the Under dash Chrysler units in the A-bodies were actually integrated, taking in outside or inside air at the user’s option).
The aftermarket makers engineered mounts to put the compressor on the engine. Many of the aftermarket compressors bore brands like York and Tecumseh but we’re copies of a Frigidaire design.
Those ’76 Dart units were probably the last few under the dash, because in the same year Aspen would have the built in units in the dashboard.
AFAIK, the AMC Hornet derivatives went to the grave with underdash AC vents. Maverick/Comet started with underdash AC vents, then made a deeper solid dashboard with the vents in the same position through 1977. Vega and the Monza/Sunbird wagon probably had underdash vents til the end; I think the upscale H bodies were born with high-mounted vents for AC-equipped cars.
The Hornet (and Gremlin, Spirit, Concord, and Eagle) had center dashboard vents as well as vents at the ends of the parcel shelf under the dash. All used compressor cycling to control temperature rather than a reheat system. (The Weather Eye’s “Desert Only” setting kept the compressor full on in dry climates where icing would not be a problem.)
Cheapskates who didn’t spring for AC were greeted by a delete plate instead of a center vent and a plain parcel shelf (or no parcel shelf) with no air outlets.
Early models used the “vibration king” York 2-cylinder compressor. By the 1980s a more modern Sanden compressor was employed.
I had two “H-body” cars (Pontiac Sunbirds) Neither had A/C, and had blank spots on the dash where vents should have been. There were vents down in the footwells you had to open with a pull lever to let fresh air in. So if you ordered factory A/C, you got fresh air vents in dash, otherwise you looked at a flat spot reminding you you were too cheap to order options…
The Underdash factory Valiant/Dart units in the early 1970s were actually fully integrated blend-air systems. Unlike the aftermarket, the evaporator and blower were in the HVAC housing on the firewall. But Chrysler never engineered in-dash A/C air outlets for them, using the Underdash vents to serve the same purpose.
Here in NW New Mexico we don’t get much humidity but it can get hot (not Phoenix hot but 95 is not unheard of.) I’ve noticed quite a few of the old timers in fairly new cars driving around with the windows down, there can’t be that many broken systems so it must be a hold over from the days when they couldn’t get it.
For many of us, especially those who grew up where summers are both hot and humid, dry heat feels almost like no heat at all. I remember visiting here in the Los Angeles area from Nashville about thirty years ago, walking around Hollywood with my wife, perfectly comfortable in khaki pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Then when we got back to the car and I almost blistered my hands on the wheel, I was astonished to see that the temperature was 104º!
I was a little amused at Tom’s assertion that Midwestern summers are relatively mild. Shorter, yes, but I heard a visiting biologist on the U of I radio station tell an interviewer that although he had spent time in the Amazon jungles, he’d never been so miserable there as he was in an Illinois summer. That’s where I grew up, and what I remember most about the Fifties was learning which businesses and which friends’ houses had A/C, and spending as much time there as possible!
And even the 150 miles from Chicago downstate to Champaign made a difference! As miserable as some Chicago summers can be, downstate Illinois can be twice as worse, as I found out in college.
I live in Central IL, and our 99-year-old farmhouse finally got central air last year.
We moved here from Georgia, and while it gets every bit as hot and humid in the Middle West, it only lasts for maybe six weeks cumulatively over the summer compared to eight months down South. We made do with a window unit on the really bad nights, but ceiling fans and open windows worked fine the rest of the time.
It’s all relative, I guess!
Here in Tucson we are in the dry part of our hot summer right now. The evaporative cooler for our house is working splendidly, and the A/C in the cars can freeze us out. In a month or so, we’ll have switched the house over to A/C for the rest of the summer (because the humidity has moved in), and that cold A/C in the cars will be even more welcome as it dries out the humid air. Growing up, I envied the people who had A/C in their cars.
The Hemken Collection in Williamsburg, Iowa features a rather ordinary 1953 or so Dodge that was used to test the factory air conditioning system. Here is a link to their website in case you like to stop by: http://the-hemken-collection.org/
Also, the featured car here:https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtake/cc-outtake-1966-heckflosse-reporting-for-duty/ has an aftermarket air conditioning system. It looks like a Mark IV derivative.
One thing that I didn’t mention in my article (only so much room) is that many automotive importers utilized companies like Frigikar and Mark IV for their “factory” air conditioning in their early days, either lacking their own system or realizing that theirs weren’t up to snuff for US duty.
I don’t have the full list in front of me, but some companies that went this route were Jaguar, Maserati, and Mercedes, I believe.
Family also had a Mercedes 230 W110 heckflosse with under-dash air that sure looked and worked like a Mark IV.
“Frigikar president Bert Mitchell often used his own wife and son in his ads, like the one pictured above.”
The benefit of this arrangement is not just financial. He could fool around with his model as much as he wanted and not get in trouble!
She was also a very attractive lady so I can see why he wanted to put her in advertising.
My dad ordered a 1970 Olds Cutlass with A/C. At the time most Canadian cars did not have it. For some reason the car was delivered with a Mk IV aftermarket system under the dashboard, instead of the factory system. My dad never questioned it, because he was unfamiliar with American cars and did not know factory systems existed or that they were superior . (He had just moved from Britain) .
He used the MkIV system only once. The air in the car got cold and uncomfortably damp because it worked on recirculating the air inside the car instead of drawing in fresh air. . Since this was his first experience with a/c, he never bothered to experiment with allowing fresh air through the vents, he just assumed cold dampness was normal. In retrospect the factory a/c in his later cars worked much better. He would have enjoyed his Cutlass more with the factory a/c.
Still, the aftermarket a/c would be better than nothing. I have a couple of vintage cars without ac and would consider adding a/c if I drove them regularly.
AC units whether recirculating (like the MkIV) or integrated and sucking in outside air never make a car “uncomfortably damp”, only colder. The underdash units removed water from the air like any AC does and had one or two drain tubes to let the water out under the car. Each time the same air recirculated through it would have more water removed. The air in the car does not get too cold because there is a temperature knob, adjusting a thermostat turning the compressor on and off, just like a window air conditioner.
Living in Houston Texas most of my childhood my father purchased his first new auto a 1962 Plymouth Bevedere 2dr. post. 225-6, Torqeflite and factory air. He traded in 1964 for a Fury 4dr. sedan. 361 V8, auto, power steering (ooh) and again factory air. Moved to New Jersey in June of 1972. This became my car. I was 17. The look on the faces of people who rode with me when they saw the A/C was priceless!
It is funny how geography often dictates what is standard versus what is optional. That certainly was the case with AC. You now see that with AWD. For those in the snow belt, it makes sense to have more traction, but here in the southeast, it is a waste of money for most passenger cars.
Heated seats and steering wheels are probably more likely in the north than the south as well.
I feel like heated seats are my generation’s A/C. Went from an unfathomable luxury to a must-have in say, 10 years or so.
Funny thing. I used to laugh a bit at the thought of heated seats, especially in southern Arizona. Now that we have a car that has them, we like them on chill winter nights and mornings!
On heated seats; my prior car had them, but on the new car I got, I skipped the heated seats, and went for dual Ac systems instead. I’m in Houston.
When your Ac breaks down in this region, it essentially makes the car useless. Its worse than having a car with non functioning reverse gear.
My first car was a 69 Chevy BelAir 4 dr. that I bought in 1972 for $1300. It was beautiful Olympic Gold with a white top and unusually equipped – it had a 327 V8 mated to a 3-on-the-tree transmission and had ARA aftermarket air conditioning. The ARA unit wasn’t as bulky as the ones in these pictures – it stretched all the way across under the dash and was contoured to match the dash such that it almost looked factory. As I recall, the ARA air conditioning worked pretty good. I expect that this was probably near the end of the era of aftermarket AC for cars. By the way Paul Niedermeyer would recognize the dealer I bought this car from (Mardsen Chevrolet in Towson, MD).
I owned a couple of cars with the after market, “knee freezer” air conditioning. The one in the 1963 Plymouth worked very well but the cooling system had not been updated so using the A/C in stop and go traffic tended to overheat the motor. The 1965 Pontiac that replaced the Plymouth also had one but I could never get it to work; for some reason it would blow the online fuse whenever it was switched on. It was beyond my skills to figure out how to fix this problem. In any case the Catalina was a four door hardtop so it was easy to get a lot of air flowing through the passenger area.
My first car with factory A/C was a 1978 VW Rabbit; the air conditioning worked well but the compressor was a drag on the engine, at least until you got up to speed. I quickly learned to turn off the A/C when accelerating from a stop, especially if going up any type of incline. Once I was in third gear I would turn the A/C back on and everything was fine.
I suspect that factory A/C is nearly universal on cars today, at least I haven’t seen a car without it in many years. Around thirty years ago several families moved into our neighborhood after job transfers from the Syracuse, NY area. Apparently A/C was not common on cars then and there because neither of our neighbor’s vehicles had it; one was a Chevy pickup but the other was an Olds 88. It only took one summer in the Ohio River valley to see both of these swapped for vehicles with A/C.
You mentioned a factor that was not mentioned in the article. If the does not happen to have extra radiator cooling capacity the aftermarket AC will cause it to over heat. Obviously you use the AC in hot weather. The condenser is in front of the radiator, reducing air flow and also making the air a lot hotter. A heavy duty radiator, a fan shroud if there wasn’t one already, and a fan with more capacity could all be added to compensate.
In fact a while back when cars might have factory AC or not these were typical differences between the AC or not models.
So that explains the Mark IV Parkway name in Fort Worth.
My grandmother’s 69 Falcon had under dash A/C and it worked well, the rest of the cars we had all had factory air from 69-on.
I live in the D/FW area so this is interesting that it was the hub of add-on A/C.
Tom, great piece of work. Willis Carrier’s work was really the turning point in comfort cooling. The understanding of how latent cooling affected comfort (removing water vapor with no change in temperature) was not widely known and this is paramount. Story goes that when President Garflield was shot they blew air over dry ice to cool his room. The end result was cold damp room and no humidity control.
Happy to have factory installed A/C in my 1967 LeSabre. Perhaps you could do a piece on the swamp coolers of the 50’s that hung on the windows of many southern cars.
I had aftermarket A/C on my 1981 Plymouth Champ [Dodge Colt], but at 65k miles the main pulley on the compressor broke off. Never got it fixed.
When it was working, it barely cooled the inside, especially with 2 or more riders.
I had a ’56 Cadillac hardtop SDV with factory air. Similar to this picture it had those cool little quarter panel scoops, and the clear plastic tubes ran the cool air into four headliner mounted directional outlets.The cooling unit was contained below the parcel shelf in the front of the trunk. There was a sliding temp control and fan blower switch in a little aluminum panel below the middle of the dash. Of course like in most other old cars, it didn’t work, the belt had been removed from the compressor. During my two or three years of ownership I didn’t try to have it fixed, I just left it alone.
Nowadays companies like Vintage Air do a great business selling a/c for 50’s cars and 60’s muscle cars.
The first car I remember seeing with factory A/C was a ’56 Cadillac, with the clear ducts coming from the rear shelf up to the headliner, owned by the parents of a elementary school chum.
Before I finished my second cup of cawfee I was looking for today’s Part II.
Tomorrow’s Part III will be found before I finish my first cuppa cawfee.
Truly excellent writing, Tom!
The car manufacturers’ idea that a/c would only be of value in certain regions makes sense. For 17 of the 22 years I lived in Michigan, I only had cars with (working) a/c for a few of them. It’s really only necessary and/or useful for perhaps 6-8 weeks a year.
Per my COAL series, I’ve only ever bought 2 brand new cars, and both were in Michigan. Neither the ’89 Omni nor the ’95 Ranger were equipped with a/c. For the Omni, buying one with a/c would have literally added 20% to the price, and I simply couldn’t justify it.
These days, the only brand I can think of that still has a/c as optional is Jeep. At least the Wrangler and Renegade both list a/c as an option. You might find a Wrangler on a lot up north that doesn’t have a/c, and maybe a dealer has ONE Renegade on the lot without a/c so they can advertise it as a loss leader.
I suspect that 99.95% of all new cars sold in the US have a/c.
It’d be great to see the production numbers for new, non-A/C Jeeps. I can’t imagine them being anywhere near four figures.
Here in Austin TX A/C is needed 12/12… Yes, you need your A/C in December.
Another important design advance that could be mentioned is the modern rotary A/C compressors. I remember borrowing a late-’60s Toyota wagon from a friend whenever I had some light hauling to do around Nashville, and on hot days when the unit came on the car would almost stop! Same thing with my Alfa 2-liter Berlina. Replacing the old York compressor with a modern Sanyo can make a great difference.
All A/C compressors are “rotary”—they’re turned to do their job. The closest thing to a compressor that could be designated as “rotary” would be what is called a scroll-type compressor. It does not have pistons. Sanden has made some of these for automotive service where extremely small packaging is required; other makers have probably made them, too.
But when you say “rotary” you probably mean to refer to the compressors that have a cylindrical body, such as the Sanden (originally Sankyo, not the same company as Sanyo, who don’t make auto A/C compressors) or Seltec units. These are no more and no less “rotary” than any other design; they still use recipriocating pistons. The difference is in the arrangement and drive of those pistons: they are driven by what is called a “swash plate”, which moves the pistons fore and aft along the axis of the cylindrical body. In a Sanden (-type) compressor, there are five or seven pistons. There have been other swash plate compressors, too, such as the giant 12 cubic inch GM Frigidaire/Harrison A6 (with six axial pistons) going back to the 1960s.
There have been radial-piston compressors (GM R4), too, but prior to the advent of the Sankyo/Sanden compressor, almost all aftermarket A/C setups and a great many factory systems used 2-cylinder compressors with a crankshaft. The York (aluminum) and Tecumseh (cast iron) brick-shaped compressors, displacing between 8 and 10 cubic inches and interchangeable with each other, were the most common on the aftermarket systems, also used on most POE systems and Ford and AMC put a whole lot of them in as factory equipment. Chrysler had their own V2 design, same principle but the cylinders were arranged in a vee rather than inline. These compressors tended to be very durable, but they were also made a lot of pumping noise (warranting large expansion-chamber mufflers on the low- and high-side refrigerant lines) and created a great deal of vibration and belt slap due to the very peaky torque loads they applied to the belt when each of the two pistons would be on its compression stroke.
The two advantages of a multipiston swash plate compressors like the Sanden: elimination of that noise and vibration, along with more compact packaging. Contrary to popualr misbelief, they’re not significantly easier to turn or more efficient, they’re just smaller and less peaky in the torque load they apply to the drive belt.
Yes, you could really feel it when the compressor engaged in your friend’s late-’60s Toyota. Not because the compressor was unreasonably inefficient, but because the engine had little power to begin with and lacked such niceties as automatic idle speed control to compensate for the parasitic load of the compressor.
That explains why the compressor rumbled so noticeably in my 1970 Torino (factory air). It cooled beautifully, but the rumble was a constant annoying companion.
Today, some cars have gone to electric compressors; Toyota uses them in their hybrids so that cooling is uninterrupted when the engine shuts off. They work very well.
Yup. Same compressor and same rumble in my ’71 Volvo. There are kits (even still) on the market to mount a Sanden/Seltec compressor on York/Tecumseh brackets.
My first-generation Prius A/C compressor ran off the ICE, which required it to operate anytime cooling was called for. My 2011 was the first I’ve owned that had electric A/C which allows the ICE to remain off much of the time in mild weather. A fringe benefit is the compressor is silent as far as I can tell. I can’t hear it running at all, and it certainly is effective. It switches in and out of recirculating as needed depending on how high the temperature is. Sometimes I think it’s aware of the humidity level, but I don’t know how if that’s so. Love the fully automatic temp control, too!
Thanks for that explanation. A friend’s father had a 77 Newport. With a/c on and at idle, a rhythmic shudder went through the car. When I later got a 77 New Yorker it did the same thing. I had never noticed that on other a/c cars, not even on the air conditioned Mopars of 1972-73 that my friend’s dad owned. I always suspected that the V-twin design of that compressor was the culprit.
Yup. Some cars got what Chrysler called “inertia ring” compressor clutches. That is, they had a heavy iron flywheel built into the compressor clutch pulley. This reduced the effect you describe. So did extra belt tensioners and idlers. But not all cars had room for the inertia rings, and not all the bracketry arrangements were conducive to effective idlers and tensioners (Slant-6s got short-changed, for example, because cheap), and the issue was inherent, so it couldn’t be eliminated while keeping that V2 compressor.
Thanks for the history of one of the greatest automotive inventions!
Many new cars are sold without A/C in Canada. This way manufacturer can advertise a lower price. Summers around Toronto can get pretty humid. I’d never consider a car without a climate control or at least an A/C.
I posted this story about aftermarket A/C for a VW when Perry wrote his piece on auto A/C. I had air conditioning installed in my 69 VW Beetle at College Mall Volkswagen in Bloominginon, IN when the car was about a year+ old. It was a unit made by Heatransfer in San Antonio, Texas. From the patent information, this is basically how it worked:
“In accordance with the present invention, a reversible evaporator-condenser unit, including necessary coils, valving, and blowers, is mounted compactly in a casing which fits in and rests on the slightly modified flooring in the compartment provided in the Volkswagen body just behind the rear seat. The control console is mounted on the flooring tunnel in convenient position for access by the driver and is connected to the evaporator-condenser motors and the source of electrical energy by means of suitable cabling which runs along the central tunnel in the flooring. The compressor is conveniently mounted on the rear engine, and a hose cluster connects the same to the evaporator-condenser unit. The hoses are provided with quick connect fittings of the type provided with check valves so that the evaporator-condenser unit can be safely precharged in the factory or at any time prior to installation.”
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3595029.html
It worked well and kept the car icy cold; however, power loss was an issue.
Heattransfer was later involved in a very interesting anti-monopoly lawsuit against VW that you can read about here:
http://openjurist.org/553/f2d/964
Frigi-King supplied many POE (Port-of-entry) A/C systems for imported cars that had no need of A/C in their home market. Volvo, for example, contracted with Frigi-King for the “factory” A/C system in my ’71 164.
Another player in the A/C aftermarket was Vornado.
One major reason why most new cars come with A/C in North America is that with A/C it’s much easier to meet the defogger performance requirements contained in Federal (and Canada) Motor Vehicle Safety Standard № 103, Windshield Defrosting and Defogging Systems. The outside air gets the moisture wrung out of it by passing through the A/C evaporator, then the heater core warms it up before it is blown on the windshield. The dried air much more quickly defogs the glass.
The defogger is probably the best part about A/C to me, I’m fairly small framed, so hot humid weather isn’t a source of discomfort to me near as much as cool/cold, so I deleted the system sometime mid ownership in my 94 Cougar, and where I came to regret it was when the windows fogged up in winter time, not summer.
When I started working for VW in SoCal in 1974, there were more than a few air cooled VW’s running around with aftermarket ac, most were DPD or VPC brand but there were many others as well, Mehierline, Behr, ARA, Fridgiking, etc. It could be a challenge figuring out the manufacturer and sourcing replacement parts. VPC was Volkswagen Products Air, and was the unit most VW dealers would install on cars in the dealership. Just about all of these brands were based in FT. Worth or Dallas, Texas area. VPC units were also installed at the docks in Long Beach and delivered to dealers, sometimes customer cars were driven to the docks and AC would be installed there instead of at the dealership. By around 1978 most water cooled VW’s car began to arrive with optional factory AC.
The oldest VW running around with working AC I saw at this time was a ’62 Beetle a teacher had in high school, the system was 6 volt as well. All the systems for VW’s I saw had the condenser and blower assemblies mounted up front with the components taking up most of the front trunk room, with the underdash blower and vent setup. I did see some parts catalogs showing the rear blower Beetle AC system, however.
I had a ’75 Rabbit with add on VPC ac, the system did use the factory center dash vents for the heater and fresh air, the downside being now the heater and ventilation air only came out the defroster and floor vents.
The system worked well but was pretty loud and the huge square dual piston York compressor drew a lot of power. I once got a freon leak out of the compressor, I bought a head gasket hit for around ten dollars, replaced the compressor head gasket (easy to do with the compressor still mounted to the engine). R12 was still available in cans and recharged it in my driveway, system worked well after this.
Thank You! This is fantastic. I work in HVAC-R and tend to nerd out on stuff like this.
On the side. I tried Propane in a vehicle once. It was a 79 Cherokee with the big York compressor. It worked very well, insanely well. I was getting air in the 38 degree range on a 90* plus day with high humidity. I pulled the system down two days later out of fear. Fun experiment though.
I’ve known people who have used stuff like Envirosafe (a mix of propane and isobutane) to replace R12 and it works well. The safety record worldwide for hydrocarbon refrigerants is very good, and for those who care about such things there is little environmental impact. I’ve seen some demos purporting to show them catching fire or blowing up but those invariably have either been rigged or someone doing something really stupid.
Just bear in mind if using such refrigerants that you don’t want to smoke when working on the AC system! 🙂
I want to correct in detail (again) this dangerous bulk wrap you’ve just posted, Inspector Gadget, but I can’t bring myself to put forth the energy—and I’m not about to get in a pissing contest with you about it. I’m sure the hucksters pushing flammable hydrocarbon-blend “replacements” for automotive A/C refrigerants are very happy with the results you demonstrate of their misinformation campaign. Take note the guy you’re responding to (Sean) is an HVAC-R professional—that is, he knows what’s what on the subject—and he did not continue with flammable hydrocarbons in his system. H’mmm…!
In short: MVAC systems are not designed to carry flammable refrigerants. Using flammable refrigerants in them is beyond foolhardy, and no amount of handwaving and excusemaking and made-up nonsense about rigged demonstrations changes that. And even if we leave that aside, there’s still a good collection of sturdy reasons not to use hydrocarbons in a MVAC system. Thoughtful, smart people don’t do it.
A little googling will find that it is not an opinion that all HVAC professionals hold. There are some in the comments to this article, found with just a quick search:
http://www.truckinginfo.com/channel/maintenance/article/story/2011/05/the-risks-of-hydrocarbon-refrigerant-blends.aspx
Individuals of course are free to do their own research and come away with their own conclusions.
Gosh, a coupla comments on the internet totally debunk the real experts and stuff, oh you betchya. Yes, there are some AC techs who think hydrocarbon “refrigerants” are great stuff: the ones who sell it. Gee!
(EOD)
This topic is fascinating, excellent work. I’ve only, at 33 ever owned one vehicle without factory AC…another thing taken for granted now. One oddity…I could swear that under the dash on mom’s 84 Town Car was a sticker that read “Mark IV”. I know it wasn’t add on as it was factory automatic climate control. Did they make parts for OEMs also?
Well, Lincoln did sell a Mark VII in 1984…! 😉
My grandmother suffered with asthma, so AC was prescribed for her in the home (a window unit) and in the car. My Dad installed an under dash unit (probably from Sears) in her 67 Barracuda. I remember some trepidation about drilling through the floor for the drainage tube. In a few years when she got a car with factory AC, he transferred the unit to his Rambler Rebel. Still, when we got a second car as his commuter (an Opel), he didn’t get factory AC. So, of course, we immediately got transferred from upper MD to Fayetteville, NC, where the lack of AC was significantly noticeable.
While I was growing up, we didn’t have A/C in any of our cars. When I started college, I got a ’62 Plymouth Valiant station wagon with Mopar-branded add-on A/C. It was awful. It cooled inadequately, and always made the poor 170-cubic-inch engine overheat. It wasn’t till 1978, when I bought my 1970 Torino Brougham, that I found out what a joy factory air was. Never been without since.
Terrific articles, enjoying reading and learning .
.
-Nate
My dad had a 1960 Mercury Colony Park wagon, and I remember it had the Frigidking A/C. It was a big aluminum cased unit that sat on the transmission hump, and seemed it was older than the 60 Merc. I never got to see it work properly as my dad never had it fixed or charged. But it would draw hot air from the floor heater, and blow heat thru it’s vents. This was in the days before dash outlets, so it was very neat to have heat blowing on you on cold days. Only heat outlets then we’re floor or defrost. I miss that big Mercury.
In 1965 my electrical engineer father installed a mark 4 system in his 1961 Chevrolet station wagon in preparation for a summer vacation trip to Florida from California. I remember having to wear a heavy sweater all during the trip. Unfortunately the rest of the car was not up to the additional heat load and electrical requirements. We fried the generator brushes on the first day and had multiple overheats all throughout the trip until we got a radiator upgrade in the middle of the desert. Underhood temperatures skyrocketed causing spark plug wire failures and multiple components melting. At 10 years old I learned enough about automobiles on that trip to serve me well for the rest of my life. The Mark 4 did freeze up and it did leak on the floor but boy was it cold.
This is so interesting to me, for me air conditioning is actually one of the modern conveniences I truly could (and occasionally have) lived without, but the technology, evolution and societal impact of it is very interesting no less. I’ve been around many old cars that had these under dash systems, it actually seems like there are more surviving examples of cars with these than factory equipped, and I never put much thought into their origins until this series.
My dad installed a Frigi-King unit in his ’69 F100 not long after he bought it used in ’70, and it worked well for many years. By the time I bought the truck from him, it was non-op, so I pulled everything off and sold a few of the components online.
We bought a ’90 Honda Civic hatch new, and at that time, all a/c was dealer installed, so we opted out to keep the cost of the car down. After a year in Atlanta heat, I went ahead and had it added, and it was actually cheaper doing it that way.
I think the first car I personally owned with air was my ’82 Cavalier.
Japanese cars back then (well at least Mazda’s from what I was told back then) with factory air were shipped with the unit in a box in the back seat. The heating and ventilation system was built to have the evaporator etc. slipped in and the dashboard controls switched. I guess they had enough radiator capacity to take the extra heat. However, my parents had a 1984 or so Corolla with AC. On a hot day the heat guage needle would climb to the top. Never blew though.
In 1980, I acquired my first car with AC, a black 1966 Mercedes Fintail 230, as a possible replacement for my ’61 Mercedes Ponton 180. The 230 was a fairly loaded version, also having automatic and power-steering. The ‘factory-approved’ Kuhlmeister hang-on AC worked OK, except in the middle of very-hot, sunny days when it would struggle to keep that black sedan comfortable. Then, it was only effective if I kept the AC blowing right on me. It also had the famous “vibration-king” York compressor that droned at speed like there was an extra engine under the hood, and the gas mileage was lousy.
So in 1982 I decided to sell the 230 and install an AC system in my Ponton. I went to a salvage-yard, and found a Kuhlmeister under-dash unit in a Fintail 220S. But I wound up using a mini Sankyo compressor and condenser out of a rotary Mazda, as the under-hood Fintail AC components wouldn’t fit the more limited space in my Ponton.
I made up the compressor brackets and added a Honda water-pump pulley to the engine crank to drive the AC belt. The system worked as well as the AC in my 230, without that roaring, droning York compressor. But it put a heavy load on my Ponton’s four-cylinder engine and cooling system. Still, it was useable for my short commute to work, or any trips no longer than about 30 minutes, until a few years later when I finally bought my first car with real factory air – a ’72 Mercedes 220 sedan.
If I had to fit AC to a vintage car today, I would use a smaller crank pulley, or a larger compressor pulley, or both, to reduce engine and cooling-system loads. My poor old Ponton would’ve run much happier that way.
Happy Motoring, Mark
When I bought my first car (1967 Galaxie 500 convertible) in early 1977, it was equipped with an underdash a/c unit, possibly from Sears. It did not blow cold and I did not know enough yet to buy a recharge kit to suck some more R-12 into it, which would probably have fixed it.
But the thing was an irritant to me. It took up space, hung in a way so as to eliminate the only interior light in the whole car, and just seemed so unnecessary in a convertible. Air conditioning was for old people and 17-year-old-me wanted to experience the wind in my hair all summer long. Factory a/c might have been ok, but this thing certainly was not. I pulled the system out and threw the whole thing in the trash. Stupid, right? I should have sold the components to someone sweltering in another 67 Galaxie.
@ JP :
.
They say hindsight is 20/20 ~ this means mistakes you made long ago are not necessarily ‘stupid’ .
.
-Nate
I remember buying my first car a 78 ford fiesta, the dealer offered me a/c install for 750.00, this was in 1986. Even then my father just looked at me and said its a waste it will never cool not even the fiesta.
The adjusted price ($5000) doesn’t mean much without some idea of what A/C costs now. Unfortunately A/C is mostly standard. However looking through some of my price guides, I see that A/C started to become standard in the 1980’s. At that time basic A/C was about $730 with auto climate control near $900. The inflation index was set to 100 in the mid-80’s, so our dual or tri-zone systems probably cost about $2500 if not more.
Did GM offer a aftermarket unit for Buick and Oldsmobile, ? like they offer for Chevrolet and Pontiac.
Yes, they did. I’ve seen some GM-produced brochures/catalogs for Oldsmobile accessories dating from the 1964 and 1965 model years, and air conditioning is listed. Can’t lay my hands on an image at the moment, though.
Yes, I found a 1958 Buick after market A/C ad brochure on line
Magazine ads of the late 50s for aftermarket a/c, The Cattleman from FW show the Mark IV for a few June issues and they show the Frigette, ad. Some where I read that Frigette took over Mark IV.? I read through your work that Mark IV sold unites into the 1960s. ?
Thank you for mentioning my dad, Robert V. Anderson, inventor of the Mark IV in your article. And yes, the litigation between he and the John E. Mitchell Co. could fill a book as it took up most of my childhood.
I am collecting Mark IV memorabilia as I find it and am always on the hunt for Mark IV items – advertising, manuals, etc. I am looking for a unit from the OKC plant before my dad sold to the Mitchell Co. and hope I can come across one some day.
On a side note, my (not yet at the time) stepmom was a secretary at the Mitchell Co in the late 1950’s and was actually a model for the first ICEE machines. I have copies of the old B/W photos with her and the original ICEE machine someplace.
Thanks again and have a great day!
Here’s a modern (2020) aftermarket, below dash air conditioner recently installed in my ’66 Ford Falcon Ranchero.
Under hood pic showing the smooth running Sanden-style A/C compressor. Quite improved over the large and vibration-prone 1966 factory Ford unit.
A few minor corrections & additions are due;
1. Chrysler didn’t use the Bishop & Babcock system as used in Packard and Cadillac pre-war cars. W. P. Chrysler had contracted with the Airtemp Corp. to build the new Chrysler building in NYC with central A/C. He like it so much, he bought the company [where have I heard that statement before?]. When Chrysler decided to offer cars with A/C, he chose Airtemp.
2. Packard re-introduced Air Conditioning with the 1953 model year and the system they used thru 1954 was a trunk-mounted Frigidaire [GM] unit, and the compressor was the same as used on the ’53/’54 GM cars. This time they included an electro-magnetic clutch. The heater system was separate.
3. For 1955 & ’56, Packard designed their own fully integrated dashboard system with 2 large adjustable vents on the top of the padded dashboard. If my memory is correct, the internal refrigeration parts were from Harrison, a GM division. The engine mounted compressor was a huge Lehigh V-4 unit. This was controlled by a single knob. Turning the know energized the compressor clutch, and twisting the knob increased the blower speed and lowered the temperature.
The 1957/58 Packards, being re-badged Studebakers, used the same under dash unit [Frigiking I’m told], with a Packard label instead of the Studebaker label.
4. In addition to the 1954 Nash Kelvinator in-dash A//C, Pontiac was the only GM division to offer a in-dash A/C system for the 1954 model year, with Chevrolet to follow in 1955. It wasn’t that Chevy kept using a trunk mounted unit, Chevy didn’t offer A/C of any type until 1955. The B-O-C divisions waited until 1957 to offer in-dash units.
I’ve owned many 1950s automobiles with factory installed A/C, including:
1953 Packard limo, 55, thru 58 Packard Patricians, 1955 Buick Roadmaster, 1953, 55 Cadillac 60s, and 59 Cadillac Eldorado convert, 56 Chevy Nomad, 54 Olds 98, 54 Chrysler New Yorker, 1955 Imperial limo, 1956, 58 & 59 Imperial sedans, And probably a few more I can’t recall.
My favorite was a 1955 Packard 400 2-door hardtop with Factory A/C and 3-speed & Overdrive transmission! In a junkyard I found an older Mercedes 220 with under dash Kuhlmeister A/C, I pulled the A/C out of the car, and plan on installing it on my 1962 Tatra T2-603, once I’ve figured out how & where to mount the condenser and compressor, as it’s an air cooled motor.
Hey Bill, can you reach out to me – I’d be interested in finding our more about your corrections. thalter[at]gmail.com.
Tom, I just saw this, will reach out to you. My email is billmccoskey [at]aol.com
Studebaker didn’t offer A/C until 1955, but Studebaker would retrofit that system into ’53 and ’54 models. They never got around to designing a built-in A/C system and used added under-dash vents through their last cars in 1966.
Packard offered built-in A/C in ’56-56, yet cars so equipped seem to be exceedingly rare, with seemingly a lower percentage equipped than Cadillacs and Chryslers/Imperials from those same years. Or maybe the a/c cars just didn’t survive.
Dad’s pal, John E. Mitchell Jr. air conditioned our 54 Chevy wagon and we removed the compressor drive belt in winter.
At age 18 John and Chief Engineer, Orville Mitchell Sr, gave me a trial to prove if I could draw Mark IV and ICEE parts and Bob Anderson’s question to me was about BOMs and part #s. I drew all the drawings for the ICEE, Monitor And Allegro (which I shared later with Vintage Air). My Christian mentors John and Orville made my BSME a reality. First prize was working with the Sankyo/Sanden patent holder, Bill Olson and supplying him with engineering calculations.
Later I coauthored “How to Air Condition Your Hot Rod because I just love AC. How bout you guys?
Hi Norman. Yep, I am sure Bob Anderson questioned you, that was his way. I know, because he was my dad. I love reading all these articles about the Mark IV, specifically early times. I have small collection of memorabilia and am thrilled to hear accounts from people who knew my dad. Thanks so much!
Bob Anderson was on a retainer salary to promote the AC opportunity and use his connections. His secretary was red headed and gorgeous. Bob signed off on me, a 18 year old draftsman. Dad signed a contract with Bob for his pioneering warranty on our 54 Chevy. Bob’s OK engineer, Bill Oleson, and I were friends and I helped him since he had terrible cateracts and could barely see to make drawings on his now popular patented Sanden Compressor.
My one experience with under-dash AC was when I bought an absolutely pristine red used 1962 Plymouth Valiant 2-door Signet Coupe, their top of the line at the time, in 1969, to transport me back and forth to UCSB from LA for the next two years. I don’t believe Chrysler Airtemp offered a factory unit in that model in ’62..I may be wrong, just never saw one. The unit I believe was a Frigiking…very chromed, high-end, and it worked like a champ, with no compressor rumble or overheating. The car had the 225 slant 6 with three on the tree, and was very peppy, lots of torque and barely registered the compressor load. I bought the car for all of $475, and the prior owner had doted on it. Perfect condition in and out, and polished to a high sheen. I loved that car and it was totally reliable (except the body design made it look like a fish). It met an untimely demise after the end of my sophomore year when I was rear-ended, totaling it. My last two years (at Berkeley) were with a 1968 Ford Galaxie 2 door hardtop…with no AC…bought it from a midwestern lady who didn’t like AC. I never added it, but the buddy I subsequently sold it to, did. It was also a great car. Love this article and comments…takes me back to happy, simpler, and kinder days.
There was no integral A/C offered in the Chrysler compacts until 1965, before which it was gonna be a knee-knocker. If you ordered it at the dealer at or after vehicle purchase, and the dealer weren’t a corner-cutting type, it would be a Chrysler unit—”Airtemp” for the de luxe model with chrome and an illuminated control panel and side air outlets, or “Cool Comfort” for the basic unit without those features. In 1961, the first year A/C was offered by Chrysler for the compacts, a Tecumseh HG-1000 compressor was used: an iron cinderblock-shaped 2-cylinder item interchangeable with the aluminum York unit used on most of the aftermarket systems at that time. For ’62, that went away in favour of the Chrysler V2 iron paintshaker.
Yabbutt :
That V2 A/C compressor always seemed to do a good job ~ some folks I know wh are still die hard MoPar addicts use it to very good effect .
-Nate
It does a fine job of circulating refrigerant, and it is quite durable. But its weight; noise, and vibration are quite excessive.
One of the ‘standard catalog’ books lists AC as an option on Imperials in ’51 and ’52. It doesn’t give any details, though.
Polistra,
About 25 years ago, while working on an article about the history of air conditioning in vehicles, I found several technical articles suggesting Chrysler was intending to offer A/C in both ’51 and ’52, but further research suggests otherwise. I spoke with a [now retired] vintage Mopar parts retailer who said the parts books for both years didn’t have any parts listings for A/C equipment, and there were no sections in the service manuals, or addendums for A/C. Brochures for both years do not mention A/C.
He suggested that because in 1951 Chrysler’s Airtemp Division was manufacturing window mounted home and office A/C units, there may have been some confusion over those units being sold for vehicles.
1953 was a watershed moment for true factory installed A/C units in cars, as Cadillac, Buick, Packard, Chrysler, and Lincoln all appear to have offered them. By 1955 virtually every US manufacturer offered factory installed A/C, in 3 basic systems: In-dash, under-dash, and trunk mounted.
For 1953 there were 2 basic innovations that made A/C more acceptable and reliable. The first one was a reliable and powerful 6 volt magnetic clutch for the compressor. The other was a variable orifice for regulating the amount of refrigerant entering the evaporator coil.
Prior to these 2 improvements, the compressor ran all the time the engine was running, unless the belt was removed. And the interior temperature was regulated by the fan speed. This could cause the evaporator coil to freeze up from frost & ice buildup. By regulating the amount of refrigerant thru a mechanical sliding “temperature” control, the problem of evaporator freeze-up was lessened.
The ’66 Dodge Polara wagon my family had when I was a kid had an aftermarket Cust-O-Matic A/C in it. There was a fairly slim center unit with the controls and two rectangular vents; there were also ducts leading from it to the left and right sides of the dash where there was a chrome round eyeball vent on either side. Most of the added pieces were painted red to match the interior. The result looked better integrated than most aftermarket A/Cs of the day were. Unfortunately it had failed sometime around 1975; a few years after that my dad yanked the whole system out, and it felt so roomy and airy up front without the full-width underdash A/C taking up space. But it made traveling in the black wagon with loads of untinted windows unbearable in the summer. Even when it worked, it had difficulty cooling all that interior space, and IIRC it was recirculate only. Normal procedure was to roll down the windows for a few minutes before closing them and turning on the A/C.
I can’t find anything about these or the company who made them online, although I’ve occasionally seen them for sale on eBay. Can anyone fill me in?
My grandfather had an oddity. He bought a 59` Chevy Biscayne 2 door post coupe with factory air, in dash system. The car was three years old when he got it. The fact that it was a detective`s police car from South Florida-Miami Dade area splained` the air conditioning.A very cool car that I was hoping he`d give me when I got my license, but it developed major motor and transmission problems, so he junked it to get it off his hands.
In Dallas, I replaced the factory AC compressor on my red 59 Impala with a knockoff made in Asia and charged it myself in 1968. The ladies loved the AC. It got 18 mpg with a off brand carb.
Easy to imagine such a knockoff today; much more difficult in 1968. Where in Asia, do you recall?