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Found you one more article.
Wes

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I thought that I had just seen some pictures on Facebook about this. When I try to find it again it was gone. Did anyone else see them? Color pictures and up to date.
Wes

The interesting part of this post is the car sales figures. The non-major producers had as large a share of the market as foreign producers do today. What they lacked was government subsidies for product development.

I keep telling engineers here in Detroit that whatever manufacturer focuses on maintaining a basic model that is sturdy, reliable, and cheap to operate will dominate even if the model is a loss leader. This was true of the Model T, the VW, and the Toyota Corolla. The answer is always that small doesn't make money which is stupid considering that Toyota and VW are number one and two, with Honda weighing in as the number one producer of engines worldwide.

So what's next? India had been producing a no-frills car but dropped it. So that leaves China. If China starts building a sturdy piece of basic transportation to serve this forgotten market there will be a major shakeout the same way there was in the post-war period.

NOT a 1941 A/C unit
This is an aftermarket Frigikar trunk unit. The intact vent tube is different than any I have seen.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-Packard-/142366447091?hash=item2125b395f3:g:Pv0AAOSwX61ZBKM2&vxp=mtg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-Packard-/142366447091?hash=item2125b395f3:g:Pv0AAOSwX61ZBKM2&vxp=mtr

I've seen photos of those vents before. Probably on another Frigikar system. Purely a guess but the purpose of the slot is to let a bit of cool air shoot straight across and maybe benefit the back seat a bit since the taller ducts direct it all to the roof high up toward the front of the car. Not sure they would do much for the frozen neck issue back seat passengers sometimes endured.

Can't tell with the mounting plate but the two screws appear to be in slots. Maybe that lets the operator rotate the ducts a small amount and direct the slot more toward the middle. Something I've been curious about is why the postwar aftermarket trunk ACs didn't have an option to place a large outlet in the middle like prewar Packard did. Place the returns on the edges. Seems that middle seat space would be empty most of the time and would allow better air flow to the front without freezing necks.

None of the aftermarkets ran ducts above the headliner where the edge outlets would be better and for those cars like some GM and Chrysler models that did have ducts and outlets above, they built their own units anyway.

Let the ride decide, thanks for sharing. Good catch!

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Howard (HH56), or just a defroster for the rear window?

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It is hard to say from the photo but to me it looks as if the 4 frontward openings and louvers between them are slanted toward the rear window so I am going to guess defroster.

Even in Popular Science magazine in "Guss and the Model Garage" talk about the new Packards with mechanical refrigeration and air conditioning see:
http://www.gus-stories.org/november_1940.htm
Enjoy!
Wes

From the 2017 PAC meet.

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At the 2017 PAC meet

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