Sounds like a York or an A6 . . . ?!
Sources? Yeah, French Lake Auto Parts (FLAP). They have acres of old cars 70âs and older. Thatâs their specialty. Bring your tools and battery powered Sawzall.
My dad bought a 1963 Buick LeSabre in 1966 that had all the power accessories and a Mitchell Mark
IV add on air conditioner. My brother had a 1963 Buick LeSabre with no power accessories and a three speed manual transmission. My brother and his wife and my parents drove 350 miles to my brotherâs home with my parents following my brother in their car. My brother bragged about having no air or power assists as well as the manual transmission saved gas. What is interesting is that my brother averaged 19.1 mpg in his Buick while my dad averaged 19.7 in his Buick. My brother could only brag about the fact that his Buick ran on regular gas while my dad put premium in his car. My guess is that two things accounted for the difference: 1) my brother had his windows open which created more drag on the highway than my dad running the air conditioning in his car; 2) the higher compression engine in my dadâs Buick was more efficient.
driving style can add or subtract several MPG easily.
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The first time I ever rode in an air conditioned car was in 1957 while hitch hiking as a student. It was brutally hot and the guy who picked me up had a cool 1956 Pontiac. He explained to me he had severe allergies and also could not handle heat well. The car had a list price of $2600 or so and the air would have been $600 extra in those days. You needed a V8 as the standard six with automatic would feel very anemic with the air on.
I enjoyed the 150 mile ride and bought him lunch.
@BillRussell. My brother and my dad were traveling in tandem so they were traveling about the same speed. About half the distance was on an interstate.The other half was on state and U.S. highways through smaller towns. They stayed together through the entire trip. My brother was the more conservative driver and he was in the lead.
My brother and my son are both conservative drivers. When my son was a teenager, we had a Ford Eddie Bauer Aerostar with a display that indicated miles per gallon (it wasnât a real common feature in the early 1990s as it is today). My son could always post a higher mpg than anyone else who drove the Aerostar.
[quote=âotterhouse, post:20, topic:105678â]
just cries out for a little fast moving fresh air
[/quote
Then just buy a convertible because you will spend money and not gain a thing. Or you could look for a restored 1950âs vehicle and realize just how good we have it with modern vehicles.
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If you think vent windows or windows down or even a convertible are substitutes for a flow through ventilation system all I can say is you are pretty young.With the windows up you could travel in near silence without even a fan noise to disturb you and enjoy the smell of fresh cut hay or grass. Those old flathead inline engines were much quieter than OHV or OHC engines. Our 41 Studebaker Landcruiser Commander had both side vents down low for your feet and a cowl vent that came out right under the high mounted dash.
I will admit, I have never lived in a place that got to 100 degrees.
If William Carrier had not invented the modern air conditioner while working in Buffalo NY, we would never have lost jobs or people to the South.
@oldtimer-11 Did that 1941 Studebaker have the optional overdrive? I remember how quietly the Studebakers and Nashs cruised the highways with the overdrive as compared to other makes.
Nash was the first manufacturer to integrate the heating and air conditioning systems and place.the entire package under the hood and behind the dash. This was in 1954 and the option cost $345.
I feel your pain. If it was like my old Taurus the air coming out of the dash through the heat/ac vents always was warmer than the outside air too. More ductwork and components to pass through I suppose than a simple vent had I suppose. My 72 Chevelle back in the day had what were called Astro Vents that brought fresh air through vents in the dash, but it had no A/C.
I do miss getting the occasional dead leaf in the face from the old school ventilation systems
âŠas well as bees, yellow jackets, wasps, and all sorts of otherâŠinteresting insectsâŠ
During our last vacation trip in a car without air condition, we were crossing the Mackinaw Bridge in Michigan on a scorching July day, and a wasp flew in through the window and down my shirt collar.
You canât easily sop on this long bridge and I then decide our next trip would be in an air conditioned car.
When I was a kid in the '50s, none of our cars had A/Cânaturally.
At least once on each long summer drive, it would be the job of either me or my mother to try to âshooâ a stringing insect toward a window so it could be sucked-out.
Aside from the glorious comfort of non-humid air, using A/C is actually somewhat of a safety factor because it helps to prevent the driver from being distracted by a nasty, stinging insect that is buzzing around his headâor worse.
After being stung repeatedly from bees going down inside a leather jacket while riding a motorcycle, it doesnât matter how hot it is, that thing is zipped all the way up while underway.
I used to find all manner of wet/humid preferring animals taking up residence on my vehicles in the morning. Got to the point I would examine the door jamb before closing it on an unsuspecting little creature. I had a daily habit of escaping the office to have lunch and read the paper. Kind of break up the day into two segments seemed to help make it more tolerable
One day, while reading the paper, a quite large tree frog lept onto my face and stuck there on my cheek. I cannot imagine what my reaction would have been if I was driving down the road and that happenedâŠ