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Howard, take a look at the bid history.

All signs point to a reserved price of $1,500 and a winner who was willing to pay more.

Not sure what to think on the ducts. Whether the bidder was desperate, a perfectionist or just plain had more money than sense is a question only he would know. The seller made out like gangbusters, the budget for anyone next time is out the window so hopefully it works out and all is well.

The compressor price is more reasonable but----- If it needs repair or some minor but vital thing such as reed valves, good luck. I have two in my garage that are right now mostly good for doorstops. They both need valves and a valve plate gasket set which appear to be NA. With all the aftermarket Lehighs noted lately, it would appear lots were used so would seem like parts shouldn't be that hard to come by.

Try to sell them in Russia and ask for $10,000 (each) to lend credence to it. Laugh at me but try it.

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In 1990 the German car magazine "Oldtimer Markt" (classic car market), by own account the classic car magazine with the widest circulation in Europe, published an article related to a ZIS. The author described a kind of "hydraulic" device that occupied about two-thirds of the car trunk. In further consequence it was removed and discrapped. Without photograph one can only assume that he held one of the first Russian air conditioners in his hands.

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Without photograph one can only assume that he held one of the first Russian air conditioners in his hands.

Oh, lets hope not but you're probably right. Not much else would take up half the trunk. As rare as they were here, I'd almost bet it would have been one of a kind there. Would certainly be interesting to see if there were any major differences in the Soviet version.

If the story is true, would imagine it was just treated as an old car by ordinary citizens? If not done by a regular owner, then does kind of make one wonder about the qualifications of people working on the car not knowing or throwing something like that away -- or the journalist maybe embellishing the tale.

I live in Phoenix Arizona, it only hit about 102 today June 5.

I plan to leave my office in my 1954 Packard Cavalier with the air conditioning running, the AM radio tuned to the only listenable AM station, and the windows up.

My A/C is an underdash add-on with its own 12 system, the car is still 6 volt. It doesnt appear to add to the engine temperature.

The top of my car is a dark blue (Maridian Blue) and when the car is out in the sun it gets very hot inside. Fortunatly the office provides indoor parking.

Jim

Jim, I also live in Phoenix and would be most interested in the details of your current setup!

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Both, a shortsighted restoration or an embellishing journalist are imaginable reasons to talk about "unknown prehistoric devices" and even to hold the weight of this "device" accountable to overload the garage lift. But the well known quality of the restorer (Conrad Engel) and the journalist (Eberhard Kittler, official VW brand ambassador) and last but not least the good quality of the reportage are in sharp contradistinction to the above mentioned assumptions. It seems to be a simple misunderstanding. The author wasn't present at the garage and probably misquotes the restorer. He believed to have heard about an experimental drive for the hydraulic windows but power windows have been standard for the ZIS. Its pump and its brake (!) fluid reservoir were installed next to the engine. I think that there was something intermingled but its base, a large device in the trunk, could be true.
BTW The story revolves around an interesting business model. One of two brothers fled from the East German communists and lived in the Western part of Germany. He was capable enough to acquire money for new projects while his brother on the dark side of the iron curtain looked for interesting cars and everything else that was not nailed down.
Moral: money makes a wall porous.

Jim (Jim McDermaid) and Dan (Dangermiller), sorry but my next post will return to the topic.
Abide by Howard (HH56), because you'll hardly find a better man to talk about retrofitted aircons.


[picture source: www.Abendblatt.de]

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HH%6 writes:
"two in my garage that are right now mostly good for doorstops. They both need valves and a valve plate gasket set which appear to be NA. With all the aftermarket Lehighs"

Can u post a pic of the reed valve here at P'info.com?? What is it just somekind of a spring steel little plate like thing???

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Valves -- along with illustrations from manual showing the plates with valves mounted and the gaskets required.

All of unknown materials other than valves are an alloy of spring steel and gaskets were of a composition material which must be oil and high pressure resistant.

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