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"Overheating" should never be an issue with any postwar Packard that is at factory specs. Overheating is often in the mind of the owner, rather than a reality. I define overheating if there is boiling in the radiator or coolant loss. A temp. gauge pointer that is close to H does not necessarily mean the car is overheating.

There are companies that retrofit antique cars with a/c, either 6V or 12V. There is no need or reason to change to 12V. You should NOT use 134A refrigerant. Instead, use R414B or equivalent. It is a replacement for R12, with the same characteristics, and offers superior performance to 134A, which can cause excessively high temps. in the condensor. Any refrigeration company can provide R414B to a licensed a/c technician.

Any retrofit a/c should NEVER damage or permanently change any feature of the car that cannot be easily and inexpensively corrected.

Classic Auto Air is in Tampa, FLclassicautoair.com/

Old Air Products is in Fort Worth, TX
oldairproducts.com/catalog/

Major changes to an antique car can have a serious impact on value. Many changes can be costly and unnecessary. Be careful what you do.

I thought you could not get air in a 6 volt car? All new air were 12 volt

I'd also be curious about the 6volt unit because it's unknown by many if they are available new. This is a topic that's been going on via numerous mfgs forums for years about how to do an older car. The question has usually been that the person had checked and no 6v units are made today so what to do and then various ways to do it with a 12v unit were discussed. One hopes they are checking with the people mentioned.

When discussed on the forums. options usually mentioned were convert to 12, find an old system and reuse if possible, hide a second battery to run just the AC & charging it externally when needed. Some mentioned trying a 6/12v battery (issues there) and of course, the usual car didn't have it new so do without.

Anyway, that seems to be the state as far as anyone seems to know. I find it hard to believe there is not enough demand for a 6v system that someone couldn't make a profit by building one --or at least the electric components you could buy to convert a 12v-- but if they are out there, no one seems to be advertising them very well. I do know of all the AC sites I frequent, none have any large blower motors in 6v or clutches.

There was a report of one Packard being successfully run on 6v using a regular 12v Sanden compressor but again, no further information as to how and any issues.

Sanden compressor required 7.5v to clamp the clutch, which you could turn up your voltage regulator to get i would think, or the 8 volt battery route, and 6 might just work.

Also, you could just run it clutchless and compressor on all the time, but you'd need to set it up like an old ac system that did that, and use a hot gas bypass like the 6v caddies of that era or something else to relieve the excessive pressure.

We researched the crap out of this topic and the best advice is this:

Get a cheap sanden, mount it and wire it up with a toggle switch, fire the car up and flip the switch, and see if it closes.

If not, wire it up and convert the car to 12v and be done. There's rigging you can do with voltage up-converters and what not, but testing and if it doesn't work, then converting, is the most sensible way.

Instead of converting to 12v why not ADD a 12v Kubota or Suzuki Samuria or other small alternator just pwerful enuf to keep a small auxilary 12v motysickle battery charged. THE Samurai alternator has built in regulator. pRICE SOMEWHERE AROUND $75. I'm using one on a motysickel application rite now.

Mite be able to instsll the alernator to act in place of compressor idler.

Air conditioning was first offered on SIX VOLT cars!

I have a Sanden compressor on my 1954 6V Packard, with a 12V clutch, that works perfectly on my 6V system, under all conditions. The Sanden technician said it would, and it does. That is a FACT. My 6V blower motors work PERFECTLY! My Packard does not overheat in the summer when the A/C is on. Packard designed the car so that it would not overheat under any circumstances.

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Dwight, that is good to know about the Sanden clutch. This is the first report that has been positively absolutely without rumor that there is a working 12v Sanden on a 6v car and that there are no issues. You say "blower motors" so are you using a factory trunk unit or older era 6v aftermarket hang on.

I talked to Classic auto air in Tampa and he told me that when putting air in a 6 volt car they use a 6/12 battery
Half the battery is 6 volt and half the battery is 12 volt
and you run your air conditioning off the 12 volt side and you do not need to change anything.Anyone ever hear of that?
The installation man is going to call me tomorrow. Let you know more later.

If memory serves me correctly, the combination 6/12-volt battery switching was marketed to owners of 6-volt cars who wanted the extra starter boost of a 12-volt battery for starting only, and then run on the 6-volt side after the car started. I believe it was a series-parallel switch using two 6-volt batteries.

I know of one owner who is running modern Saden compressor and clutch on his pre-war Packard. He has a 12-volt battery mounted in the trunk to provide electrical power for the compressor clutch. Says he needs to recharge the battery from time to time, but that it is a satisfactory fix until he can get his original compressor repaired.

More mud for the water.

(o{}o)

I have read of 6/12 running AC on various other make forums. The one question would be how Classic does the charging of the second battery half when the AC is running. If they recommend it, then they must have developed a special switch, battery or circuit. That has been the issue for others but unknown if those with issues have used the classic setup or something they put together.

In light of what Dwight says about running the Sanden clutch on 6v I would also be curious if they could or would build an evaporator that could take one or two 6v heater motors and fans instead of the 12v setup. I know those 6v motors and wheels are smaller so a single heater motor/fan would not have the CFM of a 12 but maybe 2 would and current draw should not be any more than a 2 blower 53-4 factory trunk setup. Heater motors are available numerous places.