Search
Privacy
Curbside Classics Archives
Cold Comfort Archive
-
Cold Comfort: 1991 Jeep Grand Wagoneer – Last Mass-Produced Vehicle Without Integrated Air Conditioning?
Posted on November 16, 2021 | 25 CommentsI saw this 1991 Jeep Grand Wagoneer on an auction site not too long ago, and what caught my attention was the hang-on style factory air conditioning system. I thought […] -
Why Millions Of People Think Old VWs Had Terrible Heating – Operator Error
Posted on January 28, 2021 | 68 Commentscozy even in Antarctica If I had a dollar for every comment I’ve read over the years about the terrible/non-existent heaters in old air-cooled VWs, I’d be…a few thousand dollars […] -
Cold Comfort: R-12, R-134a, and Beyond: The Alphabet Soup of Automotive Air Conditioning Refrigerants
Posted on December 15, 2020 | 53 CommentsMy recent post on the 1953 Chrysler Airtemp air conditioning system and its rather unusual R-22 refrigerant spawned a little confusion over various A/C refrigerants, so I pulled together this […] -
Cold Comfort: 1953 Chrysler Airtemp Air Conditioning
Posted on December 14, 2020 | 23 CommentsAfter having covered most of the early GM and FoMoCo factory A/C systems, I’ll be turning my attention next to Chrysler, who made some truly interesting systems over the years. […] -
Cold Comfort: How People Kept Cool in Cars Before Air Conditioning
Posted on November 19, 2020 | 31 CommentsOver the past several years, I’ve detailed much of the early history of automotive air conditioning in my Cold Comfort series of posts. However, air conditioning did not really become […] -
Cold Comfort: The History of Dual-Zone Automatic Climate Control
Posted on June 19, 2020 | 25 CommentsYesterday, I covered the history of single-zone automatic climate control systems. Today, I’d like to talk about something a little more modern: Dual-zone (and multi-zone) climate control. Dual-zone climate control (the […] -
Cold Comfort: The History of Automatic Climate Control
Posted on June 18, 2020 | 33 CommentsMost cars today are equipped with (or at least have available as an option) some form of automatic climate control, where you set the desired temperature, press auto, and […] -
Cold Comfort: 1955 Cadillac Series Sixty Fleetwood – The Cadillac of Early Air Conditioning Systems
Posted on November 30, 2019 | 52 CommentsI’m back with a long overdue post in my Cold Comfort series detailing early automotive air conditioning systems. Today we’ll be looking at the factory system in this 1955 Cadillac […] -
Cold Comfort: 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser Factory Air Conditioning
Posted on September 23, 2018 | 45 CommentsI’m back, with a long overdue installment in my Cold Comfort series on the early history of automotive air conditioning. Today, I’m tackling this 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser I spotted […] -
Cold Comfort: 1958-60 Lincoln Continental – Craziest Factory Air Conditioning Ever?
Posted on August 20, 2017 | 36 CommentsPity poor Lincoln: As I mentioned in my 1957 Lincoln Premiere CC, they were still selling trunk-mounted air conditioning systems into 1957, well after most other manufacturers had switched over […] -
Cold Comfort: 1956 Lincoln Premiere Factory Air Conditioning
Posted on August 13, 2017 | 32 CommentsI regularly see the featured car for this post (a beautiful 1956 Lincoln Premiere with factory A/C) at car shows that I exhibit my Mark III at. I’ve long been […] -
Cold Comfort: World’s Most Optioned 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air
Posted on July 18, 2017 | 83 CommentsI’ve already briefly covered the GM Harrison air conditioning system in the third part of my original Cold Comfort series. This unusually heavily optioned 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air that […] -
Cold Comfort: 1962 Chevrolet Corvair Factory Air Conditioning
Posted on July 6, 2017 | 79 Comments(Doing my part to keep Corvair Summer alive) As readers of my three-part Cold Comfort series on factory air conditioning know, I have a preturnatural obsession with automotive air conditioning. The […] -
Cold Comfort: History of Automotive Air Conditioning, Part 3 – Post-World War II
Posted on June 3, 2017 | 94 CommentsAfter seeing the explosion of the aftermarket air conditioning sales in the early 1950’s, Detroit decided to get back into the factory air conditioning business in 1953.