Family's first airconditioned car

daveamkrayoguy · Jul 7, 2014

1986 Chevy Celebrity... Also the first family car w/ a grid-type electric rear window defrost...! We were so impressed with the operation of it, too!!!! Everything cleared off that heated back-lite, so easily...

Hard to believe that my mom would, thereafter, actually SCRAPE that rear window on her other, later cars that had that feature, and probably never even turned it on...!

-- Dave

norgeway · Jul 7, 2014

I think Nash

And the Rambler cars had the first in dash AC units, I know they claimed to have Kelvinator AC, but the older ones I saw used York compressors like Fords had.

cuffs054 · Jul 7, 2014

I think, and can't remember how I know, but the 1953 OLDS 98 had in dash ac and used the same type of vents as airplanes. The screw open closed nozzle type. I remember me and car bffs looking at this 98 in the early 1970's at a dumpy used car lot in St.Pete. the ac stuck in my mind because of the vents and the huge pulley on the no clutch compressor. The car also had powrr windows but only for the front windows.

dirtybuck · Jul 7, 2014

I completely forgot about this little gem. This was the best way if you could tell a Chevy had ac. It was found on the bottom right side of the back windshield and on station wagons, the bottom right side of the panel window.

cuffs054 · Jul 7, 2014

Dirty, my 61 Biscayne had one! No power steering or brakes, but A/C. What a bear to drive in traffic!

rp2813 · Jul 7, 2014

A Biscayne with A/C? Now that's a rare bird!

My sister's first car was a '65 Biscayne that could not have been more stripped down. Six cylinder, three speed column shift, and even the factory radio came without any pre-set buttons. What a pain!

I did learn how to master a manual transmission on that car though. It was far more forgiving than the '50 GMC, and my sister was a better teacher than my dad was!

cornutt · Jul 7, 2014

PhilR, thanks for that photo of the Riveria dash... haven't seen one of those since 1969! (When dad got rid of ours... in two years, it spent more time in the shop than in our driveway.) One other thing I recall our Riveria had was a "rear window defroster" that consisted of a little blower that drew air from the cabin and blew it on the rear window.

You mentioned not being able to get the A/C compressor to run in any setting that would put defrost air on the windshield... I recall that being a "feature" of GM systems in the '60s. In the early '70s, I remember some Chevys with selector knobs with two positions for the windshield, "defrost" which ran the compressor, and "deice" which didn't. Later, as I recall, they put in a semi-automatic system in which the compressor would run in defrost unless the outside temperature was less than some value.

supersuds · Jul 8, 2014

It's interesting how the designs evolved, not only mechanically but cosmetically.

Came across this pic of the AC controls from a 1960 Thunderbird. The styling is neat, and it let your passengers know you had AC whether you were using it or not!

norgeway · Jul 8, 2014

71 Olds

The Delta 88 my Mother had had a DeFog position???

philr · Jul 8, 2014

David,

My car also has the rear window defroster, the heated glass version was still not available in 1967 so all cars that had that option had the blower type. I heard that a few 1968 Rivieras had the heated glass but it was officially available on the 1969 Riviera and the following year on other full size Buick models. The blower-type rear defroster remained available as a cheaper alternative for a while. The 1966-70 Rivieras that have the blower-type rear window defroster have a molded plastic grille over the blower on their package shelf. These grilles didn't age well and many have turned into dust over the years while the plastic covering of the package shelf remains intact! My grille is still good and I bought a spare just in case it would start to disintegrate. Most other 1960's GM cars like my 1965 and my former 1968 Wildcat have a metal grille and the seventies cars that still had a blower-type defroster had a plastic grille that was more durable and made of a different black plastic. Unfortunately, the plastic used in the rest of the interiors of most 1971 and newer GM cars didn't hold that well!

About A/C

Some cars, including your father's 1967 Riviera with the Automatic Climate Control had their a/c compressor working in all settings except "OFF" and "VENT". But those with manual a/c didn't have that yet.

The 1968 Buick manual a/c control panel did include DE-FOG and DE-ICE but neither positions engaged the a/c compressor. It still engaged only in REC and A/C and the system had to be set on "HTR" to let some air go through the defrost outlets.

In the first link, there's a note that suggests running the system on A/C or REC for 30 seconds before switching to DE-FOG or DE-ICE but the manual isn't clear about the fact that you also need to move the selector to HTR if you want air to come from anywhere else than the 3 air conditioning outlets in the dashboard... Another thing that the manual doesn't say is that switching the A/C on for 30 seconds doesn't really help. I tried it!

http://oldcarbrochures.org/NA/Buick/1968_Buick/1968_Buick_Owners_Manual/1968-Buick-Owners-Manual-27
http://oldcarbrochures.org/NA/Buick/1968_Buick/1968_Buick_Owners_Manual/1968-Buick-Owners-Manual-28

Again, the automatic system allowed using the defrost position while the compressor was running. In both 1967 and 1968, the automatic system was much better on paper than the manual one. Unfortunately, it didn't always work as it should!

http://oldcarbrochures.org/NA/Buick/1968_Buick/1968_Buick_Owners_Manual/1968-Buick-Owners-Manual-29

See this link for a better view of the 1968 Buick manual A/C controls.

And a similar conversation on Flickr about A/C systems!

[this post was last edited: 7/8/2014-03:48]

countryford · Jul 8, 2014

Supersuds, if the 60 thunderbird had factory a/c it had a vent above the radio. If it didn't have a/c there was no vent.

supersuds · Jul 8, 2014

Love that Thunderbird interior, Justin. The exterior styling not so much, but inside was a cool place to be, AC or no.

countryford · Jul 8, 2014

Supersuds, I love the styling of the 60 Bird. Inside and outside. My grandfather had one. His had the optional 430 Lincoln V8. My dad still has one. My father's (pictured below) has factory A/C as well as power windows.

countryford · Jul 8, 2014

There are only two cars, that I think, has better styling than the 60 Thunderbird. One is a 59 Cadillac Fleetwood and the other is a 48 Tucker.

davey7 · Jul 8, 2014

'90 Civic DX dealer installed AC

It's mine now and the AC died several years ago and was not worth the money to fix.

davey7 · Jul 8, 2014

Hmm, forgot about my '83 Scirocco. That had good, working AC.

hydralique · Jul 8, 2014

A good friend of mine has an '82 Scirocco, bought new and in daily use since then. Last time I checked it had over 500,000 miles. The a/c has always been maintained and works well.

davey7 · Jul 8, 2014

I liked the Scirocco, but it was a lot of work - I got it used from our mechanic and he got it from some local doctors kids who had no clue about things like checking oil etc....

whirlcool · Jul 8, 2014

Were those body side scoops on the 59' Cadillac functional? My father told me when you see cars with those it means that they have air conditioning. Cadillac that year was the only car I had ever seen them on.

As for those rear package shelf rear defrosters, my Mothers Caprice came with one of those. It was almost worthless. If I remember correctly Chevy didn't put hot rear glass into their cars til 69' or 70'. Now I have hot glass on my 70' VW. I replaced the on/off switch and believe it or not it works!

daveamkrayoguy · Jul 8, 2014

The fam. car before the 1986 Chev. Celebrity was a 1978 Nova... It had a blower-type defroster too... (And the compressor, heater, fan. etc. was right below it in the trunk...)

I don't recall it ever working as much as making a lot of noise... The 1973 Olds Delta 88 Hardtop across the street I remember having some of the frost melting away on the backlight on the driver's side, must have had one that worked better...

-- Dave

Family's first airconditioned car

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