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This way please, to an interesting story at Hemmings.

Great story... Chris.

photo is earlier engine, not a 356

8-5-19
Thanks Guscha for the heads-up.

That Hemmings story of the 1941 Packard, really a 1942 model, would be a great addition to my 1941 or 1942 Packard air-conditioning chapter.

Unfortunately, there are no images of the A/C compressor, control knob, rear cool air vent, or the trunk-mounted evaporator cabinet. Those images would be essential to include it into the chapter.

archiveman2977

The comments at Hemmings contain the e-mail address of the brother of the former owner and moreover a lot of knowledgeable information (esp. related to the build year and current location of the car), provided by one of our members (West Peterson), who owns a car with factory A/C.

8-5-19
Hi Guscha,

Thanks for your info. As a matter of fact West Peterson has provided multiple images of his 1940 Packard Custom Super-8 One-Eighty Touring Sedan equipped with factory A/C. His car is a classic in that it offers a first year, unusual, expensive option. It is featured in the Spotlight section of the 1940 Packard A/C chapter.

Stay tuned. That first chapter of five has been sent to an editor. The other chapters in Volume 1 of an illustrated history of automotive air-conditioning are: 1941, 1942 Packard, 1941 Cadillac, and 1941, 1942 Chrysler/Imperial.

When I say illustrated, it offers legible images of color brochures, data books, supplements, dealer bulletins, road tests,and service manuals. The five chapters now offer 400+ full color and B&W images.

I hope to self publish it before years end.

archiveman2977

Here are some pictures of a factory A/C unit, if you need any
ebay.com/itm/40-41-42-43-44-45-46-47-PAC ... h=item5d8fdc9ba2:g:sO4AAOSwlf5c0EO4

What I think is a casting date is on one of the ebay photos of a component that I believe might be the compressor but not enough view of the item to say for sure.

Bracket or compressor, 3-9-45 makes me wonder if it is a service replacement standard refrigeration item B&B made during the war or were the compressors different enough they or Packard were actually gearing up in the thinking there would be a postwar AC.

How well did the prewar air conditioning actually work. Seems like the option was dropped after the war and not offered again till 1953.
John

It was necessary to manually connect or disconnect the drive belt to start or stop the first A/C version. Albeit the ability to suffer was higher in 1941, I don't believe that such a procedure met the expectations of the upper ten thousand.