Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

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That is the "Air Conditioning" badge.

That is odd, I just e-mailed the seller and he says it is a six cylinder.....??? Said doesn't know the condition of the engine.
Where would one ever find a compressor for one of these?? They looked about like a refrigerator compressor from back in the day.
John

I count eight spark plug wires. The thermostat housing is the definite sign that this is our old car. Notice the two bolts on the front, where normally one bolt would be. We broke off the original front bolt, and drilled two holes on both sides and put two bolts in.

Compressor is probably the same one used in the Cadillac. Very, very similar to the ones used on the Senior Packards, but I think slightly different. Even finding the more "common" Senior Packard compressor is almost impossible, but to find one of the Clipper compressors is probably not going to happen. We may be the guilty ones in losing the compressor for this car, as I believe we sent it out to get rebuilt, and it eventually got lost. Like I said, we still have the bracket.

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If you still have the bracket, even a photo of that would answer a lot of questions as to how high and exactly where the compressor mounted.

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It was a modified commercial refrigeration compressor. I think I remember reading in some Packard literature them saying it was equivalent to around a 2 ton capacity. In the 70s you could still find similar looking compressors that were belt driven by the separate motors. I almost bought one when I bought one of the repro brackets that were available for a short time. Now it seems to be the round hermetically sealed kind is the replacement options.

There was a fairly recent episode on the TV show "How It's Made" showing the building of a refrigerated truck cooling unit. It was an Italian name company --Zanotti, I think -- and the compressor they used looked old school enough to almost be appropriate for the prewar Packards -- it looked small enough and might fit the bracket plus had no clutch. It didn't have the fins but did have the tall look. I haven't found an aftermarket compressor that looks like it at sites I have checked so maybe is proprietary or only sold in Europe. Possibly something like that could work if one could be bought from a US dealer that handle that unit.

I'll get a photo as soon as I can. It will be a while, though.

Hi West

Thanks, I should have guessed it would be an "Air Conditioned" script as they had attached such nameplates to the 1940-'41 cars so equipped.

This unfortunate Packard is proof of the saying "Good cars need good owners". 'Good owners',in this case meaning 'conservators'. It takes only a few years of weather exposure here in the dampness east of the Mississippi to turn a good car into a parts car.

Steve

Looks like 8 plug wires to me.
Wes

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Yes. I'm afraid the only value here is whatever is left of the a/c pieces. That's a shame, as... like I said ... it was a nice driving 42,000-mile car when we had it.

I just found the ad from 1988. It only had 38,000 miles on it.
The bumpers were replaced with postwar bumpers.

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Boy it sure went down hill....... John