Air Conditioned Cars: A Brief History of Stiff Nipples and Crotch Coolers

I got the name "Stiff Nipples" from the name of a UK-based company of that name that services air conditioning units and found it naughty, but not offensive.

According to Wikipedia (yeah, I know not 100% reliable source) "a company in New York City" offered aftermarket A/C installations in cars beginning in 1933.  "Most installations were in limousines and luxury cars."

For better readability: I have written the article above, word-for word.

"With all windows sealed, and a stream of fresh, filtered air at just the right temperature entering through a special duct, the world's first air-conditioned automobile recently made it's debut in a successful test run on New York City Streets.  It demonstrated a remarkable new system that promises all-the-year-'round driving comfort, regardless of of summer heat, or winter cold.  Air is drawn into this system through a concealed inlet, filtered to remove dirt and dust, blown over coils that chill or warm it as required, and admitted through grills to the car's interior.  Cooling is effected by a refrigerating compressor beneath the floor boards, resembling that of an electric refrigerator, which takes it's power from the car's generator,or may be run from a special battery.  To heat the air, hot water is circulated through the coils from the car's radiator.  The air-conditioning equipment may be turned on or off at will from the instrument board or rear seat.  Since the windows of the car are kept closed, outside noise is excluded.  Any closed car, new or old, may have the air-conditioning system installed, according to the New York concern sponsoring the invention, which expects to manufacture it in the near future at a sufficiently moderate cost to permit its use, even in low-priced cars.  The makers foresee the car of the future provided with air-conditioning as standard equipment.*
In that event, many of the inconveniences encountered at present will be removed, along with a decrease in the danger of suffering carbon-monoxide poisoning."

*AMC made air-conditioning standard equipment on the Ambassador in 1967.

 

1930 Nash with prototype A/C system.  Nash owned Kelvinator, a manufacturer of home refrigerators. With such an alliance, you'd think they'd have been first to market with factory air, but not so.

Packard was the first to offer A/C on a production car on 1940 models.  The unit was supplied by Bishop and Babcock of Cleveland, Ohio, the "Weather Conditioner" was bulky and unreliable.  You could switch the blower off, but cold air would still waft into the car.  The belt could be disconnected from the compressor, presumably, to shut down the system.  The option was discontinued after 1941, but your author has read of and seen pictures of a 1942 Packard used by General George Patton equipped with air conditioning.

Cadillac and Chrysler were second to market with air conditioning in 1941.  Cadillac produced about 300 cars with it.  No 1941 Chryslers were ordered with the option.  The 1941 Cadillac system had about the same drawbacks as the Packard system.

Nash was the first manufacturer to have all A/C components under the hood in 1954.  Pontiac also makes the same claim for it's 1954 models. Discuss amongst yourselves, I'm feeling Verklempt.

1954 Nash Ad Images from the ad collection of Neil Settle

1953 seems to be the year that air conditioning returned to the options lists after WWII.  GM installed units optionally in Buick, Olds and Cadillacs.  By this time, electrically-operated clutches allowed the systems to be completely shut-off from inside the car.  Most 1950s cars equipped with factory air can be immediately spotted, regardless of manufacturer, by quarter-panel-mounted fresh air intakes.  These were sometimes nicknamed "Frog's Nostrils".   These provided fresh air to the bulky, trunk-mounted evaporator and blower units that were found in most 1950's air-cooled cars and was also set up that way in the pre-war units.  Trunk-mounted evaporators/blowers would persist until as late as 1957 on many cars.

1954 was Lincoln and Chrysler's turn (in addition to the makes already mentioned) to return air conditioning to the options list.  I'm making an assumption here, but, in my opinion the independents probably also were offering A/C by this time.

According to author Langworth, Chrysler's system was superior to all others.  A Chrysler could be cooled from 120 F to 85 F in about two minutes.  It drew in 60% more fresh air than other systems. The fresh air intakes were flush-mounted.  It completely eliminated dust, pollen, and tobacco smoke.  It was silent and unobtrusive. Package-shelf mounted blowers, aimed at the ceiling, allowed cool air to waft down over the passengers.  I've also read accounts of them freezing rear seat passenger's necks. The underhood compressor took up only one cubic foot of underhood space.  The evaporator/blower unit took hardly any trunk space away.

The "clumsy" plexiglass tubes and frog's nostril fresh air intakes, as seen on a 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood.  Photos by the author.  I rode in this car and liked the roof mounted vents and adjustable nozzles and the way that the cold air did waft down around you.

Chevy, Ford and Plymouth appear to have been last to get factory A/C boxes on their options lists circa 1955. The Chevy's components were mounted completely under the hood.  Not sure about the  Ford system.  With Ford, the vents were initially built into the top of the dashboard, until Ford came up with a brilliantly simple system around 1958 (read on).

1955-56 Ford AC ventilation system (Photo courtesy of Doug Harley--thanks, Doug!)

 Some from GM in the later 50's, had vents mounted at the base of the windshield to blow air at the passengers.  Chryslers, in the late 50's and early 60's had pop-up, swiveling, periscope-like vents that popped up out of the dashboard.

Ford, in the late 50's, abandoned a dash-integrated A/C system for a hang-on unit mounted under the center of the dashboard.  This unit could be installed at the factory or later, by the dealer.  This persisted well into the 1960s.  The more upscale Thunderbirds, Mercurys and Lincolns had vents integrated into the dash panel.  A neat ad I saw showing a green Galaxie sedan going down the street on a sweltering day was captioned "Coolest Car on the Block"

What's a "crotch cooler"?  It's a nickname I've heard used for cars that placed vents down low on the instrument panel.  The Driver's side below the steering column, the passenger side below the glovebox.  These directed refrigerated air at one's midsection.  These were seen on a lot of 1960s and 1970s cars, but are not present on modern cars that I know of.

During this time period, companies offering aftermarket units sprung up.  I can't find much information on these companies.  I've seen pictures of cars with trunk-mounted units made by Novi (you say "No-vee and I say "Nov-eye").  I've also seen vintage cars that copied Ford with units that hung under the center of the dashboard.  These were much bulkier than the Ford units and resembled scaled-down AC units that mount in the windows of houses to this day.  A Company called DPD made units for Volkswagen Beetles and Busses!

   

With the exception of the blue 1955 Cadillac photos, none of the images in this blog are mine and I make no claim to them.

Bibliography:

Chrysler and Imperial: The Postwar Years by Richard M. Langworth

Cadillac: Standard of the World, The Complete History.  Maurice D. Hendry With the Editors of Automobile Quarterly

Wikipedia

Google

The Memories and recollections of your author and articles he's read over the years
Doug Harley

Pontiac: The Complete History, 1926-1986 by Thomas E. Bonsall

Lincoln: Sixty Years of Excellence, by Thomas E. Bonsall

Lincoln and Continental: The Postwar Years, by Paul R. Woudenberg