Things that keep me up at night

[cuffs054]

The early to mid 1960's FoMoCo vehicles that came with factory air (excluding Lincoln and T-Bird) had what looked to be an underdash mount unit similar to aftermarket.
The question is, did these units offer "fresh" air or only "recirculated" air?

 

[tomturbomatic]

I remember those with the 4 round chromed turrets on the front.

 

[rp2813]

I'll bet they're fresh air only.  Because they're more or less the manufacturer's version of aftermarket I doubt there was any mechanism integrated for recirculation.

 

[yogitunes]

We had an AMC Matador, Ours was recirculation only, pulled air from the back, and shot it out thru 4 vents in front.....I also remember a "Desert Only" setting when the thermostat was turned all the way on....and I think only two fan speeds....
there was a hole drilled next to the tranny hump for the condensation drain tube....

 

[arbilab]

Ford offered 2 systems for a time. Polaraire, straddled the hump, recirc only, cheaper, our 61 Galaxie had that. Selectaire, integrated with heater, fresh or recirc, 'upgrade'. Our 64 had the 4 round chrome vents, more compact than Polaraire. But I spent little time in that car (grad in 64) so I don't know how it worked.

IIRC, once GM abandoned the trunk mount, all except the early discount Chevy systems were integrated, fresh/recirc.

 

[westie2]

FOMOCO's and GM's still had the side air vents until 69 or 70 that was the fresh air the factory air was just recirculating  Then the GM's got the Astro air with vents

 

 

[franksdad]

Then the GM's got the Astro air with vents

Oh my gosh!  I remember the much touted "Astro Ventilation"!   My oldest sister and her husband bought a new 1969 Chevelle Malibu in the fall of 1968.  Royal blue 2 door with royal blue vinyl upholstery and bucket seats.  Not only did it have the ignition switch on the steering column (a new standard on all GM autos effective with the 1969 models), but it also had the new "Astro Ventilation".  I remember the chrome Astro Ventilation slogan on the dashboard.  My other sister and her husband had bought a new 1968 Chevy Impala SS in 1968.  Gold with black vinyl top and SS hubcaps!  Loved that car!  The ignition was on the dash.  My dad bought a 1969 Chevy truck in the spring of 1969.  If I am not mistaken the ignition was still been on the dashboard.  I was so dissapointed that it wasn't on the steering column.  My brother bought a 1970 GMC pickup and the ignition was on the steering column.  I felt like an orphaned child.    For the record ours was a GM - mostly Chevrolet - family 

 

[firedome]

arbilab is right

Dad's '64 galaxie had Selectaire. First a/c car we ever had, and in Baltimore summers, let me tell you, that was a boon!

 

[rp2813]

Jeeze, yeah now that I've read additional posts, it makes perfect sense that these units would recirculate rather than draw in air from outside.  Here I was imagining a more intricate system of flaps for intake control as 60's Lincolns used for recirculation, when these under-dash units were much more basic with intakes that drew straight from inside the cabin.

 

[cuffs054]

Westie2,
Actually, when you got factory air in the GM's of that era you lost the "astro ventilation", since it was now part of the climate control. You could choose between fresh and recirc on every dash mount GM A/C I can recall. Even my 61 Biscayne with manual steering and brakes and FACTORY AIR gave you the choice. And yes that car was not easy to park! In fact on all (most?) of the Frigidaire, Airetemp and Philco/Ford trunk mounts you could select fresh or recirc manually in the trunk using dampers.

 

[cuffs054]

Firedome,
Did your Galaxy have the undermount unit or was it fully integrated in the dash?

 

[petek]

Didn't Sears used to sell under dash a/c's as well..

 

[cfz2882]

aftermarket,tack-on ACs

seems aftermarket AC units were common in the '70s;used to find a lot of these
in '60s and 70s cars-some were pretty good, some were pretty klutz...Saab 99 was
one of the clumsier ones with a large blower/evap case jutting down under the dash
into the passenger footwell area,the 2cyl york compressor to the left of the head
driven by a long belt prone to fly off.Some of the '70s units also used a axial
5cyl""abacus international"sanden 508 style compressor.My'69 camaro had the"astro
ventilation"emblems,some '68s even had "astro ventilation"etched into the door
windows.

 

[toploader55]

Under Dash Mount A/C

We had a 1966 Ford Fairlane Station Wagon.

My Dad had a ThermoKing Unit installed. Strictly Recirc. air. The engine would bog down when the compressor would kick in.

 

[firedome]

Dad's 64 Ford

had the deluxe under-dash mounted unit, called SelectAire. I just now pulled out of my files the 64 Ford sales brocure - I'm a big car nut as you can probably tell. The SelectAire unit is pictured on pg 23 and has 2 large rectangular vent outlets, one on each side of the 2 central control knobs. This is how I remember ours. It also mentions the lower price FordAir unit, I think this is the one that had the 4 round nozzles, iirc. After all the sweltering summers we suffered previously, going from Baltimore to Vermont for annual summer vacations, any kind of cool air producer was much welcomed by our family of 6!

 

[firedome]

Looked in the '65 Ford brochure as well

In-dash A/C became available that year with the compltely re-designed body and interior. Fresh air as well as re-circ modes.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Evolution of Automotive A/C, Windshield Wipers, etc.

I love old Chryslers, but I think you had to buy a 1974 model or later before "Vent" was a part of the A/C equipped climate controls, so there was no "Vent" air coming through the dash vents, but the floor vents on the left & right sides w/ the louvers still had the levers you pull, so if you wanted "Vent air" you'd get it, but down below, wheras "Strato-Ventilation" would be dash-level air, as well as standard heat & defrost, but you would have to go to after-market for adding A/C...

Delay or Intermittent windshield wipers weren't available until '74, either; same for GM, but Ford had 'em as early as '72 or '73 (and see the movie, FLASH OF GENIUS for history on that, too!)...

-- Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

P.S. 'Desert Only' setting found on AMC A/C:

Saw a Chilton's Javelin repair manual at a library on the 1968-1971 (models before the 1972-1974 ones that I liked best!)

And the different climate control panels, in addition to the non-A/C & A/C ones, showed that "Desert Only" setting that one described...

A used/classic car dealer had a Javelin with that climate control in there (it was from state in the Southwest, maybe California or Arizona) & if not for it having a manual transmission (which I still don't know how to drive) I may have been able to test drive that car & maybe the A/C (though here in MI we are far from "desert climate" even in the soaring heat we sometimes get (& got on that particular day!)...

-- Dave

 

[whirlcool]

What did the "Desert Only" function do? Did it put it in constant run mode? I imagine it was recirced air only.