Vintage Wards "Car Cooler"
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It was filled with ice and attached to the passenger door window and as you drove down the road, air was forced through the ice and into the car with little droplets of water before the ice melted. The melt water flew out of the back.
Thank you!
You mean to tell me persons drove down public motorways with a bit of metal suspended from car windows? Sounds inherently dangerous to one's ears.
Until now one had no idea such devices existed.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1832774
You mean to tell me persons drove down public motorways with a bit of metal suspended from car windows? Sounds inherently dangerous to one's ears.
Until now one had no idea such devices existed.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1832774
You used to see these a lot back in the 50’s and 60’s. I never rode in a car that had one so I don’t know how well they worked. But back then many people didn’t have AC in their cars so in very hot weather anything that cooled off the car would have been welcome.
Drivers on long summer time journeys used to also carry burlap sacks filled with water strapped to the front bumpers to cool off an overheated radiator. They were called “Desert Bags”.
Eddie[this post was last edited: 1/1/2024-01:31]
Drivers on long summer time journeys used to also carry burlap sacks filled with water strapped to the front bumpers to cool off an overheated radiator. They were called “Desert Bags”.
Eddie[this post was last edited: 1/1/2024-01:31]
That’s a good price so far! For some reason they go for a lot usually. I really want one for my 55.
These use evaporation to cool - so water drips onto a mat and the moving air through the device increases evaporation, which coincidentally requires a lot of energy to convert water from a liquid to gas, thereby cooling the airs temp. That air is then funneled into the car cabin. They are more effective in dry climates as evaporation can occur faster.
These use evaporation to cool - so water drips onto a mat and the moving air through the device increases evaporation, which coincidentally requires a lot of energy to convert water from a liquid to gas, thereby cooling the airs temp. That air is then funneled into the car cabin. They are more effective in dry climates as evaporation can occur faster.
We had something like this when I was a boy-used on our old hearse.The unit hung out the passenger side window.I vagulely remember having to pull a string hanging from the unit.Trying to recall what it was for.This would have been like over 50+ years ago!You indeed filled the unit with water and it was an evaporative cooler of sorts.When it stopped cooling you had to refill its water tank.When you sat in the very back of the car-not much cooling.When you sat beside it-was like a regular AC.
Evaporative cooler for your car
These could work fairly well in a dry climate, as mentioned pretty useless here on the East Coast where humidity is the biggest part of the problem.
Seen these at car shows they tend to go for a lot of money because people want them to complete their vintage older car., I think Thermidor sold a lot of them also.
The air drag at 60 miles an hour would probably use as much energy as a modern car air conditioner. however, early automobile air-conditioning used a lot of energy and put quite a load on the engine.
John
These could work fairly well in a dry climate, as mentioned pretty useless here on the East Coast where humidity is the biggest part of the problem.
Seen these at car shows they tend to go for a lot of money because people want them to complete their vintage older car., I think Thermidor sold a lot of them also.
The air drag at 60 miles an hour would probably use as much energy as a modern car air conditioner. however, early automobile air-conditioning used a lot of energy and put quite a load on the engine.
John
I remember reading about these - and the desert bags Eddie mentioned - in articles about trips on Route 66 through New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In a vehicle without air conditioning, one of those would be about the only way to survive a Summer trip through the desert during the day.
Some folks used to resort to extreme measures to cool off on long road trips before AC became common place in autos. For instance, when my Aunt and Uncle and their kids drove to Las Vegas for the first time in 1962 they had a ‘59 Mercury Monterey 2 DR HT with no AC. By the time they got to Southern Calif and were headed east to Las Vegas my aunt, who had kidney disease was burning up with the heat. Uncle Ray pulled into a gas station and bought a 25 lb block of ice and wrapped it in towels and Aunt Imogene held that block of ice on her lap for the rest of the way to Las Vegas.
Shortly after they got back home they traded the ‘59 Merc for a used ‘61 Thunderbird with AC and they never again had a car without AC after that.
My family never had a car with AC the whole time I lived at home. Mom didn’t get a car with AC until ‘81 when they bought a new ‘81 Malibu.
I didn’t have a car with AC until ‘89 when I bought a new ‘89 Hyundai Sonata. This was right after we came home from a trip to Santa Barbara in our ‘86 Honda Civic hatchback with no AC. All the way home I had the windows down and it was like a blast furnace until we reached San Francisco. I drove all the way home and David had fallen asleep. When we got to Gonzales on Hwy 101 he woke up and said, “Do we have to have the GD windows down?” I said, “Yeah, unless you wanna fry your a** off!” There was no peace until we reached the welcome fog on the Golden Gate bridge. I seldom use the AC in the car, but when it’s hot as hell I’m sure glad to have it!
Eddie
Shortly after they got back home they traded the ‘59 Merc for a used ‘61 Thunderbird with AC and they never again had a car without AC after that.
My family never had a car with AC the whole time I lived at home. Mom didn’t get a car with AC until ‘81 when they bought a new ‘81 Malibu.
I didn’t have a car with AC until ‘89 when I bought a new ‘89 Hyundai Sonata. This was right after we came home from a trip to Santa Barbara in our ‘86 Honda Civic hatchback with no AC. All the way home I had the windows down and it was like a blast furnace until we reached San Francisco. I drove all the way home and David had fallen asleep. When we got to Gonzales on Hwy 101 he woke up and said, “Do we have to have the GD windows down?” I said, “Yeah, unless you wanna fry your a** off!” There was no peace until we reached the welcome fog on the Golden Gate bridge. I seldom use the AC in the car, but when it’s hot as hell I’m sure glad to have it!
Eddie
The first new car my family had with AC was a '73 Buick Electra Limited. In late '71 my dad's uncle got a new '72 Cadillac Sedan de Ville, and my dad purchased his old car, an air conditioned '64 Cadillac. When mom, my sister, and I went to California in July '72, he loaned mom the '72 to use. Good thing, too, as it was 120 when we got to Needles. After we returned home, mom decided she wanted an air conditioned car.
During the times we had that "hang on" cooler we also had the canvas water bag.It hung from the hood ornement.The water was so good on the hot car trip days.Dad was budgeting to get us boys thru school -so we either car campted by the road or stayed at some flea bag motel.Later Dad bought a used Packard that had AC.The AC came out of two plexiglas pipes in the back.When bored we loved putting marbles down the tubes and have them blow back out.This game ended when some of our marbles stayed in the AC-it still worked-but noisey from the marbles.Dad later got them out.At the time Dad had a strange collection of older cars to the delight of us kids.Esp the 1932 Lincolin that had the rumble seat-we took turns or fought over who rode there.
Rex,
You and your brother’s putting the marbles down the AC tubes sounds just like something my brother Joe and I would have done. We kids back then would find all kinds of ways to break up the boredom of a long car ride didn’t we. Thanks for sharing this great story of 50’s Americana.
Eddie
You and your brother’s putting the marbles down the AC tubes sounds just like something my brother Joe and I would have done. We kids back then would find all kinds of ways to break up the boredom of a long car ride didn’t we. Thanks for sharing this great story of 50’s Americana.
Eddie
Back in the 60s when factory air was becoming more common, Chevrolet used to have a blue sticker in the form of the chevy bowtie, that was applied to the lower rear window that said "air conditioned". I guess to brag to the neighbors your car had it, and to maybe let those driving around you know you hadn't lost your marbles driving around with the windows up.
My dad briefly borrowed one of those window car coolers, and the only thing I remember was if you pulled the cord to fast while in motion, you got sprayed with water.
My dad briefly borrowed one of those window car coolers, and the only thing I remember was if you pulled the cord to fast while in motion, you got sprayed with water.
Our '57 Lincoln's AC system had round vents placed in each of the four corners of the ceiling. The evaporator and blower were located in the trunk. Two wide, oblong clear plastic tubes ran from the rear dash up to the ceiling to feed the vents. My parents always told us to aim the adjustable vents toward the center of the cabin (the louvers were stationary but the entire assembly could be turned). That never worked and even today's cars' AC systems need to blow the cooled air onto a person to have any effect. I'd turn the vent towards myself when nobody was looking.
