Family's first airconditioned car

[countryford]

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]

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

 

[countryford]

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]

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]

'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]

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

 

[hydralique]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[pulltostart]

Scoops

I don't think the scoops on that '59 Cadillac were functional at all. Back in the early days of GM air conditioning, when the blower was in the trunk there would typically be a pair of scoops on the rear fenders (one per side), they provided fresh air to the blower unit. Most of the time the scoops were right behind the "C" pillar, but in 1954 Oldsmobile had them just ahead of the tail lights.

lawrence

 

[whirlaway]

59 Cadillac

Those side scoops did nothing,that car was tacky in 59.Those cars were out of style by 63,no one would be caught dead in one.A 63 or 64 were nice looking cars,refined just enough! All factory trunk ac had outside scoops,usually by the rear window and dual air 60s and 70s limos.That was the big mistake Cadillac made in 77 when they downsized their limos the front unit just couldnt handle the whole car,the funeral home my dad was with had to have rear units put in them,it was kinda the beginning of the fall of Cadillacs.

 

[countryford]

As others have said, the scoops on the 59 Caddy were not fuctional. However it was only the 59 Cadillac Fleetwood that had those scoops. The other 59 Cadillacs (Eldorado, de Ville, Series 62) did not have them.

 

[pulltostart]

Cadillac Scoops

Here is a link to a site about an air conditioned 1955 Cadillac. This was the typical early GM A/C setup, illustrating the fresh air scoops and the interior distribution.

lawrence

http://www.airlinearchives.com/55cadac.html

 

[circlew]

The first air conditioned car we had was my dad's uncle's '64 Cadillac Sedan DeVille, which we got after he got a new '72 model. He had loaned it to us for long trips from the time he got it.

The first car my family bought new with AC was a '73 Buick Electra Limited; was a very nice car until it was badly damaged after it caught fire in the driveway, in June of '80. That was the end of it.

 

[cuffs054]

Rp2813, my Biscayne was a gift from an uncle who was given it by another uncle! It too had the manual tune radio, no tinted glass, not even an oil filter! It was a two door bubble top that I drove while I was in college. I sold it in 1969 to a young couple with a new born child. The husband got teary eyed when I agreed to hs offer. They really needed a vehicle. Since I was on a roll I immediately went and bought this 1969 Lincoln hat I HAD to have. What a friggin mistake that was!

 

[harpon]

Dad got a used '67 Cadillac Sedan Deville about 1968 I guess- that was the family's first. The first I RODE in was a neighbor's Mustang about 1966.

I recall buying used cars throughout my own life, and usually the thousand dollar ones I got had A/C that was non functioning- and I didn;t need it much then.

Now I'm amazed at how often the A/C is still working in older cars these days.

but I like to take it all off if the systems shot- one less belt pulley, and a lot of weight to not carry around- the motor gets better airflow.

just yesterday I was looking at the A/C on my 95 Escort wagon- which is working but needs some freon- and I noticed that if I ever wanted to take the compressor off- then a shorter stupid serpentine belt would not clear the area on the side of the motor where the tensioner sits- it would be a major project to replace the belt with one shorter - and I'm too old for those-

so the bottom line is, if the compressor fails- it still has to sit there and turn the bearings and tensioner- selling me more gasoline, which I find quite iritating, because I know the intent and careful engineering built into it just for that purpose- when i could always just pull it off and use a smaller belt on other cars in the past.

I'd likely get it fixed though- here in Florida. Haven't gotten it registered and on the road though, after a water pump and timing belt installation. If you park a car here for a bit, they want you to turn in your plate-DUMB!
Like to drive it soon.