Packard Forum Index » General

Saw this in a car on ebay -- one without much room under the dash. Not sure whether to call the approach ingenuity or making do with what you have -- but as long as it works. Just hope the exhaust is intact and trunk is not ventilated in the wrong place.

Attach file:

---

  (58.86 KB)

Never fathomed the interest in air conditioning in old cars, especially a serious road car, like a Packard. Sure, Packard offered AC, was the first in the industry to do so. You're in business, you offer what people want, or think they need.

But for us here, now, what's with air conditioning? It adds weight, robs horsepower, loads the engine, wastes gas. We've got these wonderful things in our cars: vent windows, and cowl vents. And the windows roll down, power-operated in some 1941-42 closed 180s, tho' again, Packard was in business to sell cars, and offered such nonsense to attract wealthy codgers.

Okay, so you're down in the hot California central ag valley. Why subject a nice survivor to grueling heat on a lockstep concrete conveyor belt in the first place?

Enjoy your car in the morning, or in the cooler evening with your windows down, so you can hear that Packard engine purr.

Howard, cars accompany my whole life, they were my first love when I was 14. Many developmental stages passed me by, the importance of drum brakes faded out, leaded fuel was withdrawn from sale, incandescent bulbs with double-contact bayonet caps have gone out of style, three-point seat belts came and the asbestos ban, radial ply tires replaced bias tires, ohc, double-ohc, plastics, metallic finish, environmental aspects, electronics, injections, aerodynamic started their triumph, at the moment assistance systems are the latest craze.
With age I won a kind of general overview and realized that most of so-called revolutions have been nothing else than evolutions, quantitative milestones instead of qualitative developments (four valves, five valves), combinations of known things (engine management systems = injection + electronics), refinements (V-ribbed belts), new media (synthetic oils), advanced materials (composites, ceramics), advanced technologies (adhesive bindings), doublings (all-wheel drive, 6V/12V).
After more than 100 years a car is a car. Crankshafts in internal combustion engines translate up and down piston motion into rotation that drives rubber wheels. That's it. Where is the often promised big jump?

<iframe width="500" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IJhlD6q71YA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Some few developments are really new, as for instance GPS and air bags. Highly likely the majority of languages around the globe don't have own expressions for these innovations because such kind of devices don't have comparable forerunners. They are new. Air conditioners belonging to that category and the German language needed several decades to find a German translation for it.
What I'm trying to say is that living in a warm area and driving a car with or without A/C is as different as day and night. Howard, a great many people have read your previous threads that revolved around aircons. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful we are. Keep up the good work.

What strikes me as odd is the rather large hump on the rear parcel shelf to support the AC outlet vents.

There is an AC system method that is powered by HEAT. Automobiles produce very hot exhaust. Therefore, such an AC system (powered by HEAT, NOT mechanical pump) would be the most attractive AC system for automotive use in terms of efficiency. Such systems are available for commercial applications and were developed and used prior to modern refrigerants of which R12 and R22 are included as modern.

Such HEAT powered AC systems were also available to the general public as KErosene powered refrigerators, natural gas powered AC units etc in the 1920-1950's time frame. Very efficient and long service life refrigeration units that would effectively offer "FREE" energy powered AC units for automobiles.

A couple of years ago the local gas utility company offered such gas powered home refrigeration units.

Su8OVERDRIVE,

Yes, Packard in your own words is a "serious road car"!!!

One of the problems that any classic car owner faces is PUBLIC IMAGE of "old cars". Even by your screen name which includes the term "overdrive" indicates an attempt to make a Super 8 road worthy for MODERN road demands which here in the us means an ability to SUATAIN 70 - 80 mph for hours on end.

AC is just another demand of modern life whether we in fact need it or not.

The modern purist faces a dilemma that most such purists have not recognized yet. PUBLIC IMAGE!!!! It's one thing to relegate ANY (NON-vehicular) antique to a closet shelf or somekind of a conversation piece, display item or even lawn ornament. An automobile is in it's own right. It IS an AUTOMOBILE!!!

Since it is an automobile the worse thing that can happen is to display a negative public image. Negative images such as poking along the road at 45 mphholding up traffic, windows down trying to get ventalation from the heat of the summer, dim lights at nite, breaking down on the side of the road.

All of that is fine for the lone car driver. But noone else IN THE CAR or traveling behind it have any appreciation for it at all.

I am a purist at heart. However after operating and owning various collectibles over 40+ years i have evolved a realization that there are a few purist efforts that are simply no longer practicle.

Or to put it another way: The days of trying to live like somekind of a 1985 rerun of a 1965 Ozzie and Harriet episode have long passed away along with mullets and minivans.

It's either a ROAD CAR or it becomes a lawn ornament.

The REAL WORLD dictates that we move on with our cars. Otherwise they become something like old great grandpa's pocket watch the doesn't work anymore and is laying at the bottom of a dresser drawer or finds it's way eventualy into the gold recycler hands.

Which one of those ways does anyone want it???

Perhaps "approach" instead of "idea" would have been a better word in the title.

I just thought the implementation of the rear AC using a regular underdash unit instead of a proper trunk unit was interesting -- not that I would recommend it for the Packard. It kind of reminded me of the photo Big Kev posted early in the forum days of a pickup with a house unit hanging in the back window. I can't tell from the photos but think the vents in that car are actually part of the rear seat back and the hump is the top of that.

As to the heat operated AC Keith mentions, maybe it is time for another look at possibilities now that solar is becoming more of a common undertaking. Some more house units might be available & small enough they could adapt. When I looked for absorption units that might be able to work a few years ago, there was nothing but huge commercial units and the already mentioned fairly small refrigerator units. One would almost need a trailer behind to carry components, the other would barely cool the glovebox since it was designed for a confined well insulated space. Peltier units were too low in BTU output for the large amps needed to run them. It is rather odd with CAFE and weight concerns that auto mfgs haven't figured a way to use exhaust heat to some advantage. Must be some real limitations with the technology still.

As to AC in a Packard, all I can say is to each his own. The 4 @ 40 does not cut it with this old geezer. Even when I was young and dumb(er) in the 50s, my car had "AC" (if you could call an evaporative unit AC).

Different kinds were common and fit my budget (meaning free or cheap) and I tried them all-- A square box that sat on the hump that you filled with water. Had the typical pads but only humidified the car and did not do much else in the way of cooling. Another kind which used some kind of material in little metal box shaped cans you froze in the freezer & then slid onto a metal finned shelf in the unit. A fan would blow over them. Worked better -- until the boxes warmed and the stuff melted. If you were on the road, some of the gas stations had exchange programs for the cans. Of course, we can't forget the water filled tube hanging out a passenger side window.

The first real refrigerant unit I came across was in a 57 Olds but father was somewhat narrow minded in my opinion, and wouldn't let me try & move it from his car to mine.

I would think there is still a problem with the trunck mount (as pictured) relative to recirculation of interior air. AS pictured it appears that the evap is picking up air from the trunk and cooling the air and then blowing it into the interior of the car.

There is a problem there unless the interior is vented to the out side of the car. Like trying to blow into a whiskey jug unless there is a hole in the jug somewhere it is impossible to blow into it. Cabin pressure.

The other problem occurs in extreme humidity conditions.

I'm not sure but most likely the evap could have been mounted verticaly and high with the outlets of the evap directly at the parcel shelf instead of using hoses.

I'm in my 70s and I don't want to go to a hot outside event with high humidity in a non a/c car. No matter how you slice it, you arrive hot, sweaty and tired in such a vehicle. The drive home--even after dark--can be pure torture.

A/C lets you arrive fresh and revives you on the return trip.

Around here August often pushes 100 degrees with very high humidity. Sweat doesn't cool you, it makes you wet and stinky. Having vent windows and cowl vents offers little help. A/C cools the air and dries it.

I just can't work up any enthusiasm for a heart attack or stroke, no matter how delightful others may find them.

Yeeeshhh

One of the better A/C Factory set-ups I've seen was in a 1955 Fleetwood I almost bought in 1967. The system was in the trunk like all GM cars of that year and sent the conditioned air through two clear plastic ducts into ductwork hidden by the headliner. There were four registers: one over the driver and the rear seat passenger directly behind him; with a duplicate setup on the passenger side of the car. The only drawback was you could freeze your head if the system was set to "Ice-age".

Maybe that's why so many Caddy drivers of that vintage wore fedoras in the summertime?

I agree with Pat for the reasons he states. My '55 doesn't have A/C - but it will.

For a trunk system, those Cadillac systems were fairly well thought out. I believe other GM cars as well as possibly Lincoln also had some version of ducts overhead.

Kind of makes you wonder why Packard, being at the forefront of auto AC and even buying the same GM unit, did just the bare essentials. In 53, their answer was just a flat louver with non adjustable forward facing slots on the package shelf. Instead of a cold dome, rear seat passengers had a cold neck. Apparently sometime during production - although not documented in parts book - they also offered the short clear plastic tube that afermarket units used. That got the cold air to the top of rear window but front seat passengers still had to wait until the entire car cooled down.