The ’62 Skylark I spied in Maine is interesting for a variety of reasons, its generous specification being among of the more notable of these. A compact car with power windows and air conditioning wasn’t common in 1962, and we go out of our way to point out similar compacts and ponycars so-equipped through the early ’80s. As JP Cavanaugh noted in the comments this morning, it wasn’t until 1972 that he saw an A/C unit outside of a high-end sedan, and it’s only over the past ten years that virtually every car features it as standard (though there are still a handful of holdouts). I remember plenty of strippers through my youth which left drivers steamy behind the wheel, but I suspect this will be a much more interesting question for our more seasoned readers: what’s the first “modest” car you remember seeing with air conditioning?
As many recall, it wasn’t until 1968 when AMC offered standard air conditioning on the Ambassador, at a time Cadillac charged extra for the feature. While Japanese carmakers made a name for themselves by offering a lot of value for the money, it’d be a while until their HVAC systems matched those from American manufacturers, and mainstream European carmakers often lagged even further behind.
Some air conditioners even remained separate from the rest of the ventilation system through the ’70s, sometimes requiring expensive dealer installation. In such a context, we must consider the add-on unit found in today’s 52-year-old Buick to be very thoughtfully designed and even decorative.
Compare that to this unit found on a ’69 Volvo 1800S. It’s easy to overlook what a large device air conditioning actually is if one didn’t live through the era.
Fast forward five to ten years, and powerful, fully integrated units began (finally) flowing out of European manufacturers. The degree to which some manufacturers used to highlight these systems is a bit strange outside a historical context. After all, we’ve been living with systems like these for about thirty years, and these days, any physical link to heat blending and air distribution has been tossed aside.
This lowly Fiesta is a good representation of what HVAC controls look like in 2014, banished beneath infotainment, with everything operated electrically. Many of us forget just how much we take this most fundamental provision for our comfort (and even safety) for granted, let alone all the engineering involved in making it both effective and unobtrusive. Along with steering and braking assists, it’s possibly the convenience closest to being considered a necessity, even though so many of us went without not long ago (I’d even rank power steering below A/C). For those who can remember such times, when did you finally come to expect air conditioning readily available in your ride?
Our first family car with factory AC was my mom’s ’66 Fairlane. Four of my first five cars didn’t have it. Our ’68 Charger was the first one my wife and I bought that had AC. Every car we’ve owned since our ’72 Buick Estate Wagon has had it too. Would no longer own a car, truck or van without it.
Our first car with a/c was a ’65 Bonneville two-row station wagon, white with blue interior. Our last car that didn’t have a/c was a ’65 Bonneville convertible that my folks owned at the same time as the wagon (a friend of theirs was a Pontiac dealer). The oldest car I’ve seen with factory air integrated into the dash was a ’56 Pontiac Safari two-door wagon.
Pontiac was the first car to have “real” factory air intergrated into the dash. It had two round outlets on either end of the dash and a central outlet in the middle of the dashThis was in 1954. By `55 every other GM car with factory air had this basic set up, but oddly enough Cadillac had the old style trunk unit until 1956. In`57, it was in the dash. The GM in dash unit was by Harrison. If you search a few websites, you`ll see an ad for the 54 Pontiac that shows it. Sorry, I don`t remember the exact website, but it`s worth the search.
Here is the ’54 Pontiac ad you mentioned, An acquaintance of mine is probably the world’s greatest authority on air conditioned ’54 Pontiacs and has provided me with pictures of such units encountered throughout the years and I have the Pontiac club magazine which details the restoration of a factory air ’54 Pontiac Custom Catalina 2 door hardtop. This particular car was obtained by GM’s Delphi Division(formerly Harrison Radiator) and restored for permanent display in the lobby of company headquarters. The story of how Pontiac came to get the Harrison unit is quite interesting.
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
I remember the “knee knocker” a/c unit in my dads early seventies F100 but I know we had air in pretty much everything we owned as long as I was around. From my moms Vega to her last Grand Cherokee they had sweet air.
Dad’s 1964 Caddy Sedan DeVille had it, he later bought a 1969 Chevy Impala wagon with the third seat, 396, red with black cloth…and it could lay rubber with the A/C on. Cool car in more ways than one.
My first with A/C was a 1988 Dodge Dakota, almost a great truck, a 1991 Capri, almost a great convertible, and a 1991 Ford Escort wagon, very nearly a great car and the one I still own. The Dakota was like a meat locker. The Capri rusted from the axles up, the Escort has a bit too much NVH and the legendary ability to drop an exhaust valve seat for no apparent reason, fingers crossed. The air works, the five speed is a plus and at 45k miles, it still has the original tires on it.
my buddy’s dad’s (how’s that for grammar!) 1972 Ford LTD was the first car I remember with factory air. what a difference it made even in southern michigan. man, i could feel myself getting soft. my parents did not have ac in any of their cars until after i went away to college. nope for me growing up it was always good ol’ gm “astro ventilation”.
i eventually owned a ’68 firebird with factory air but by the time i got the car it was non-functional so i removed it to gain hp and space in the engine bay.
the first car i owned with a functional factory ac unit had to be the ’90 honda civic wagon purchased new. i’ve had ac ever since, ususally because it already comes with the car.
I was born in 1970 and have lived my entire life in Massachusetts. I can’t really remember a time when A/C in cars was rare, but in the ’70s it was only truly common in somewhat fancy cars. It was not at all unusual for cars in the low to medium price range, even cars typically used as family sedans, to lack A/C. My parents basically had five vehicles over the course of the ’70s (’64 Ford Falcon, ’68 Pontiac Lemans, ’73 Pontiac Ventura, ’74 Ford Pinto, and ’78 Ford Granada) and none of them had working A/C. The Granada, which was purchased used from a salvage yard when it was less than a year old, had come from the factory with A/C, but it was no longer working by the time my parents bought it. The original owner had apparently had a fire under the dash which left the A/C inoperable. I remember my parents talking about getting it fixed, but they never did.
By the ’80s, A/C was becoming more common, even in smaller cars. But lower end vehicles without it were still by no means unusual. My parents got their first car with working A/C when they bought a used ’78 Buick Century in 1982. But I don’t think the other vehicle they owned during that period, a ’76 Ford Club Wagon, had A/C. As late as the 1987 model year, they would buy a brand new Plymouth Sundance that did not have A/C. I got my driver’s license in 1988. My first car was the ’78 Century, whose A/C was no longer working by then. My second car was a stripper-level ’85 Plymouth Turismo, which did not have A/C. I can remember my uncle moving to Florida in 1990 and being told to get rid of his A/C-less Ford Escort before he moved, because he would neither want to drive it down there nor be able to sell it to anyone else.
The ’90s is when A/C seemed to become near-universal. I believe that every vehicle my parents have bought since 1989 or had on the road since 1992, new or used, has had A/C. My wife and I got married in 1994 and bought our first car together in 1995. For that point on, our “good car” (generally my wife’s daily driver) always had A/C. I spent most of the ’90s driving a series of ’80s subcompacts, none of which had A/C (or in one case, not working A/C), but since 1999 both of our cars have always had A/C. Even the stripped-down Jeep Cherokee base model we bought new in ’99, with crank windows, manual door locks, non-tinted windows and grey steel rims with center caps, had A/C.
Our family’s 1960 Chevrolet Parkwood station wagon didn’t have it, but our next car, a 1966 Impala did as did every other car my parents purchased with the exception of the 1971 Duster my brother and I commanded during high school. My first three cars, bought from 1976 through 1978, a 1966 VW Beetle and two Karmann-Ghia convertibles did not have it, but my first new car (1979 Mustang, profiled on this site) sure did. I did use a 1962 TR3 for a daily driver in the late 80s without it (and in the St. Louis area it could get uncomfortable) but every car since then has had it. However, due to the fact that almost every previous car I’ve owned has had only four cylinders, my new (to me since 2012) 2002 Thunderbird is the first car I have ever owned that doesn’t feel like you’ve driven into two inches of water every time the compressor engages.
my buddy’s dad’s (how’s that for grammar!) 1972 Ford LTD was the first car I remember with factory air. what a difference it made even in southern michigan. man, i could feel myself getting soft. my parents did not have ac in any of their cars until after i went away to college. nope for me growing up it was always good ol’ gm “astro ventilation”.
i eventually owned a ’68 firebird with factory air but by the time i got the car it was non-functional so i removed it to gain hp and space in the engine bay.
First car with air that i owned was a `60 Olds 98 4 door hardtop sedan, the one with the flat roof. Black with red fabric interior, power windows and seat and a sagging headliner. Body had some rust, buy nothing serious. Paid about 200 bucks for it in `72. Got me thru my first year of college until it
was stolen right in front of my house! Mechanic`s car, bought
it at my local Texaco station where my neighbor worked as a night attendant. Got free oil changes on slow nights. Good car that served me well for almost a year. When I was young, my father had a `53 Buick Roadmaster with the GM trunk mounted unit, but almost every car our family had was air conditioned.
My Dad’s 1978 Fiat 132. Our first car with AC. I didn’t get to use it much as I has got my licence 6 months before.
For me, my Holden HQ Premier wagon. Factory air with that big old Fridgire compressor hanging of the 6cyl.
The first fam car I remember was our Mustang, no air but our 1st with FM; rock n roll baby! so the Delta 88- factory air, i’m guessing that workaday car means not deluxe, not expected, like the early cars you expect to have air like caddy, Continentals- so a 70s 88 you expect to have air, maybe that’s not workaday, but to me it is- it was mum’s regular every day commuter, car she went to shops, car she took the kids such as me, errands, everything- she drove that every day-
plus it was our move car, when fam moved we rolled in that, with factory air to help on hot moves, military so we always moved in summer with Pcs, change station, and fam holidays camping: that car. She hardly knew how to open windows- she would crack it like a centimeter and 1/2 with her left hand cocked up on the sill to let out the cig smoke, with air blasting right along, every day rain or shine.
😉
But for those who just cannot consider an 88 the workaday idea, then our Toyota corona wagon- Seventies: factory air; mum just knew with the 88 she needed air, not live without it, so the TOY came with the air!- the kind that cycled off to just vent when you stop at the light, when the auto clutch kicked in and idle, to keep the motor from overheating, was that a Japanese idea or they borrowed from US like with Falcons? did they do that too? boy that car got hot at every stop light in the South! did Pintos and Mavericks do that, or Valiant, Swinger, Duster? I rode in a Nova which didnt do that it was on always like a Malibu.
now, bonus story: first surprise for me, with no air; we went visiting the grans- Oregon, in middle of Willamette valley, summer, my gran took me in her beaut!, 70s Grand Prix super coupe, it was sooooooooooo awesome-
we rolled the windows down and shot off like a jet plane, and there’s me staring at the dash, out the window, it was 94 and a 1/2, back to the dash, the stereo, jazz music, nothing else, tried to look round her to the other side, she asks me Why you looking round me, so I asked her, there is No air in this thing? it’s a little hot outside-
she laughed! and said sure it gets hot in this valley in the summer, but only a short bit, this is the NW, it’s usually really nice, we dont need any AC! I could _not_ believe i’m riding in this moon dust glow brown, remember those, like little golden gems buried in the brown paint job, streamlined royal prince of a jet liner, blast off!, and no Air??
😉 (thought it was standard, maybe for NW dealers they got them without but with the vent registers, and offer credit ‘delete’ but put it in for those who really need and request it, like for 1/3 of them it’s not in there)
now: where’s that Ambassador post, must do a reply on that too, hey this was fun 😉
My dad would sooner have walked than buy any car without A/C in it, so from the first car I can really remember, our ’60 New Yorker, everything I have ever owned or spent a lot of time in had it. I only screwed up once, and bought my ’77 Power Wagon without it, in Vegas. Insane.
I remember going to Sears-Robuck with my Dad in maybe 1959 and having AC installed, under dash in our 1954 Olds Super 88. It was not pretty but it worked hard at trying to cool things down. Later the ’54 was replaced by a new 1964 Delta 88 that had factory air. We stayed with the roll-up windows, however. In 1969 the Olds was replaced with a Mercury Marquis mainly because the next step up Olds, the 98 had mandatory power windows. My mother did not trust those new things. If we drove off into a lake there would be no way to exit the vehicle! All these years later I have still never driven into a lake. Do not know anyone else who has had that misfortune, either. At least personally.
Dave, that’s funny because my parents had the same irrational fears about power windows back in the ’70s, but they never drove into a lake either!
Evidently a common enough concern that Mythbusters did an episode on it!
Even to today my parents do not trust power windows, not for fears of driving into a lake, but because they’ve had bad luck with them and they’re so dang expensive to fix (unless you do it yourself like I do now). My ’97 Crown Vic was their car previously, and when I got it, there was a strip of packing tape covering over all 4 power window switches so you wouldn’t accidentally use them! Sure enough the driver’s window had failed, but they rendered all of them inoperative “just in case.” If you could still get a car with roll-down windows I think they’d prefer that, but they’re hen’s teeth these days.
One more A/C story – here, in the Ohio River valley, air conditioning was pretty universal in cars by the late seventies/early eighties. You could buy a new car without A/C but you would need to look hard for it, or order it. In the late eighties Bristol Myers Squibb transferred a substantial number of people from their Syracuse operation to Evansville. We became good friends with one of these couples who moved in down the block from us. They had two fairly new cars, including an Olds 88, and neither had A/C; they said that in upstate New York this was the norm and not the exception. They pretty much changed their way of thinking after the first summer here in humidity central. I can only imagine the reaction they must have gotten from dealers when they were trading in a two year old Olds with no A/C.
Our family was late to adopt A/C compared to a lot of the other commenters. My parents ordered a 1986 Aerostar brand new without A/C. It was such a POS that they traded it in instead of running it until it was ready for the scrapyard, as they normally would. After the sale, the dealer called them to say that they wanted money back because they had assumed that the Aerostar had A/C when calculating its trade-in value. My dad laughed and hung up.
Our family’s first vehicle with A/C, as well as power windows and power locks, was my dad’s 1984 GMC van, which he bought used in 1988. By the time I got it from him 10 years later, the A/C had sprung a leak somewhere so had run out of freon. I never bothered trying to fix it.
All of my cars but two (85 Toyota pickup, 86 Astro) have had air, but most were inop by the time I got them, or failed during my ownership. I’ve never lived in a house with central air, and growing up parents generally didn’t use the air in their cars. Here in Michigan, there’s generally a fairly limited number of really hot/humid days. As time goes by it gets more appealing to me though, and more accessible with the proliferation of R-134A, which is easily and cheaply obtained.
The most interesting A/C equipped stripper I’ve seen is my late grandpa’s pickup. 1979 Chevy 2wd, 350/350, only other options that I could tell were power locks and factory A/C. It had a vinyl seat and floor, no radio and no headliner.
While my ’79 Monza may have been my first car with A/C, that didn’t necessarily turn the tide. While the main car for the household, bought new, invariably had A/C; my personal rides (second car, something interesting bought used) didn’t. My last vehicle without A/C was my ’91 Dakota pickup (5 speed, 4 cylinder) and it was bought new that way. By this point, my reenactment sutlery business had started to take off which meant I was doing an annual trip to St. Augustine for Drake’s Raid in early June. The ’91 was replaced by a ’94 Dakota (V-6, automatic, 4×4, A/C) and I’ve never looked back.
Being a hard-core, long-term motorcycle rider; I rarely use the A/C. I really prefer to ride with the windows (and sunroof if I’ve got one) open. A/C only comes into play if I’m driving thru a summer thunderstorm.
I never paid extra for electric windows. Other than my ’86 Century Estate Wagon (inherited), I never had an electric window car until they became standard. I think that started with the ’90 E30 325i BMW.
Props to Perry for the Ambassador ad. It’s definitely a product of Wells Rich Greene.
Growing up in Florida, it was rare to see a “modern” car, even cheap ones, without A/C in the 80’s. At this time, there were still hoards of 70’s iron on the roads down here, and even most of them cruised windows-up in the heat. The ones that didn’t were mostly transplants from up north. That said, my parent’s ’77 Plymouth Volare (Ohio car) didn’t have it, but our ’77 Buick Skylark (bought new in Florida) did. When my mom bought a new Nissan Sentra in ’89, it was still an expensive option on the list.
My earliest memories of automotive A/C involve my parents’ ’71 Plymouth Scamp. I believe it was factory, since it had a really cool push button control panel in the usual HVAC control location that had neat black faced buttons which turned white when back-lit at night. The vents were black and in a row under the center of the dash, which admittedly gave it a very dealer-installed look anyway.
For some reason, condensation exited the evaporator into the interior instead of onto the ground. We had a cylindrical two-quart Tupperware container that tucked under the one-piece vinyl floor mat against the center tunnel and caught the deluge. It had to be emptied frequently on road trips in the summer.
For my Dad, it kind of tracked where we were living at the time after a point, all the cars he bought had air conditioning. He had bought a ’69 Country Squire Wagon without air conditioning when we were living up in Vermont, and kept it a few years after he had gotten transferred to Virginia, where he replaced it with a ’73 Country Sedan (Wagon). Interestingly the Country Sedan was equipped much better with options that the “higher trim” level Country Squire Wagon we had before, in addition to air conditioning it had power locks (no power windows) and AM/FM stereo (first car we ever had that in too). After that car, all the “big” cars we had that replaced it had air conditioning.
At that same time, my Father also bought a smaller car, for his use, usually an import, that didn’t have air conditioning…I think the smaller cars had a harder time having enough power to handle the airconditioning. We had VW Beetle, Renault R10, Datsun 710, Subaru DL, and Dodge Omni all without A/C. This changed after moving to Texas (imagine that)…every car he bought after the Dodge Omni, small or large, he bought with AC.
I was similar in that respect; I got the Datsun 710 as a hand me down, without AC (but I was living up north at that time)…which I sold to buy a ’78 VW Scirocco which didn’t have AC either…in the meantime, I also relocated down to Texas, and sweltered for 4 years without AC driving my Scirocco until I replaced it with a VW GTI, my first airconditioned car…and I’ve had AC since then (and plan to keep it that way, unless the AC goes out before the car itself dies, and is too expensive to fix…at which time I will have to figure out how much my sanity is worth, since I’d probably not last very long with non-functioning AC and have to do something to get a vehicle with AC) .
Mom was pissed because my brother bought a new ’72 Ford F150 with factory A/C while Dad was still driving his ’64 Impala wagon sans an air conditioner. Eventually, the “cheap bastard” (note: Dad was “not” a school teacher, but just as cheap with 7 children) relented and bought a ’74 Comet with A/C. This made a big difference while growing up in New Orleans.
My wife had a 1990 Ford Probe that did not have air conditioning. She had this car when we were dating. At the time, we both worked part-time at a grocery store at night as a “second” job. Back in the early 90’s, there were a series of hot and humid summers here in Eastern Pennsylvania. My wife would travel to work at the grocery store in the hottest part of the day. She would always have several ice packs and bottles of water in her Probe to survive the ride to work. Her commute was 18 miles or so, and that was how she kept cool.
She bought the Probe when it was new. However, after a series of mechanical problems, she traded it for a 1994 Mercury Tracer. The Tracer had air conditioning, as did all of her cars from that point on. Of course, air conditioning is now basically a standard feature, as many pointed out.
My mother had a series of “junker” (or disposable, as she called them) cars between the time I was about 11 until I was about 14. Sometimes, these cars did not have air conditioning. I don’t remember minding the heat so much back then. Mom, too, has had air conditioning in all of her cars since those days of “disposable” cars.
Most of the cars I have owned have not had A/C or it did not work.
I recall that it worked on my Dodge Spirit and it certainly works in my current Honda Civic.
We don’t get a whole lot of heat in Vermont. In fact, this summer has been pretty mild and feels more like an extension of spring.
When we do get heat, everyone retreats to the comfort of cold air. I’m used to the winters to where even temperatures in the 40s no longer bother me.
First car with A/C was a 1970 Chevrolet Kingswood station wagon, with the 350 engine and THM transmission.
We then had a 1973 Volvo 144 which dad purposely did not get with A/C because he said it would tax the 4 cylinder engine unnecessarily.
Granted we lived in Northern California where we didn’t have to use A/C all that much.
I remember this conventional wisdom – air conditioning on a small engine will damage the engine. Never mind the fact that it was offered by the factory and came with a warranty. Still bad for the engine. At the time (and maybe 12 years old) I accepted the idea, never thinking about the fact that if the small engine could push around a 2500 pound car, it ought to be able to handle a little compressor too.
The other rule (my mother’s) was that rolling down a window, even a crack, with the a/c on was an offense on the same level as armed robbery. “Roll up that window! The Air Conditioner is on!”
I remember that too JPC – although I always understood that the ‘damage’ meant the increased stress and load on what may be an already stressed engine. As in my comment above, the enormous compressor on my sister’s old MkII Ford Escort was at least half as long as the engine block. Wider too! The 63kW 1600 cc ‘Kent’ engine swapped in could handle it (although with worse fuel consumption), but the original 1100cc Kent in my sister’s car had just 40kW! It would have handled the compressor at idle, but when under load, I can see that the engine may have been under stress. As per my comment above, we just hope the first owner of the car, who installed the aircon in 1979, swapped in the bigger motor first!
How is it that moms all over the world, who never met each other to agree on a game plan, had that line about the windows up down cold???
My experience with smaller engined cars is that A/C adds to an already heavy heat load under the hood. Smaller engines tend to run faster and hotter. The engine compartments are smaller as are radiators and grille openings, among other things. With the A/C on you have additional load on that already hot engine and the condenser trying to exchange heat right next to the radiator.
On a hot day in traffic with the air on, coolant temps can rise on my old Mercedes. I can tell just from how the engine feels and the warmer air coming out of the vents that it’s time to shut off the A/C. Every old Mercedes I’ve been in behaves the same way. If you don’t keep an eye on the temp gauge and run the A/C when it’s too warm, you can overheat the engine and a blow a head gasket. Very expensive.
On my old Cadillac in the same conditions I can open the hood when I get home and rest my hand on the metal radiator support, that’s how cool it runs.
Earliest AC car I remember – a 68 Olds 98 regency, i think, with aftermarket. Absolutely froze you out.
As a 70s kid, I distinctly remember the local doctor giving me a ride in his mid 70s Lincoln. Power seat i got to play with, windows, and air. Soon after my uncle got a 78 Cadillac. But other than those two cars, no one in our large family had air or PW/PS until mid 80s.
I have a mother in law that resisted PW for years, worried about how to get out in an accident. They special ordered a buick loaded with manual windows.
There could not have been many air-conditioned VEHICLES, let alone cars, in Israel in 1968. Not even houses – you had to go to a big Tel-Aviv shopping mall or a bank to experience this. So when my uncle bought the 1965 Buick Skylark pictured below it was like space age has arrived – people came from all over in the neighborhood to stick their heads against the air outlets just to make sure it really was what he said it was. Hard to believe now, when ALL cars sold in Israel must have A/C by law. We somehow got by back then – you just opened the windows. In a country with the same weather as Arizona. My father and I joined him, aunt and cousin on a road trip to the Sinai Desert in 1968, a few months after the 1967 war when civilians were first allowed in – that little V6 performed without a hitch in Death Valley-like temps (uncle complained a little about the loss of power when the A/C was switched on, but on those Sinai Desert “roads” you did not want to go over 50 MPH anyway).
My father, the frugal person he was, could not be persuaded to purchase an air-conditioned vehicle until he bought a Chevy Citation; the A/C was probably one of the few things which performed as they should on that thing. He (perhaps unsurprisingly) never bought another US-made car until he died last year but each one of his later cars had A/C… Like others above noted, in certain climates, once you discover the benefits you don’t want to live without it.
Any idea what the rationale is for legally requiring AC?
I wonder if you are also required to keep it functional. Maybe safety, security, must keep doors locked and windows up?
The Israeli DOT came to the conclusion that the reason local drivers were so bad was due to the weather (we have two types of seasons: hot and, er, very hot). A/C would help to alleviate this. So now they drive badly… with the A/C on. I am not making this up. Israel can be a very strange place.
I can actually see this. I think a comfortable driver who’s not all sweltering and irritable likely would be a better driver.
That’s a good point. If cars are required to have it when new, do safety inspections check the functionality of the A/C?
That could get very expensive on an older car…
Not sure about the yearly roadworthiness test – need to ask my contacts there (I left Israel a few years ago)…
IIRC the take rate for A/C on American cars first reached 50% in 1969. By then all American auto manufacturers offered fully integrated in the dash units that were generally reliable and delivered copious amounts of ice cold air. Also the cost of this option, while still not cheap, was less than before and a far smaller % of the total price of the car. A/C in GM cars in the latter ’50’s cost over $400. As a 1957 Bel Air 4 dr. listed for $2,290, getting A/C added almost 20% to the price. Like a $6,000 option today. By 1969 a new Impala listed for $3,100, but A/C was only $385.
Had a friend in college who said that when he lived in Florida his wealthy parents had a 1954 Pontiac Star Chief with factory A/C, notable for being the first car with fully integrated in dash vents and all components under the hood. A bit later Nash offered “Weather-Eye”, a similar system. Cadillac, Buick and Chrysler all had cumbersome trunk mounted units with clear plastic tubes that ran into the roof, where overhead vents distributed the air. By 1957 basically everyone had the under the hood units we see today.
Had a/c in my 1955 Pontiac Firechief. I don’t know if it was factory (never bothered to get it fixed-I was a punk kid and sold it to a collector before I could destroy it), but it had the whole mess. compressor, evaporator, etc. on its 287 cid engine.
83 Rover sd1 3500 Vanden Plas. Ran for about a week after replacing seals and topping up from a can!.Back in the day the only standard a/c came in a Rolls or a Jag xJ12 in the Uk. A/C was considered an exotic toy as the temp never went above 75.
First car in the family with A/C was my Grandfather’s brother’s 63 Galaxie, with the underdash kneeknocker style. I couldn’t miss it, as I was riding in the middle in the front seat at the time. He lived in Kansas City, known for heat and humidity.
My Aun’ts 70 AMC Ambassador of course had A/C. The system was not nearly as integrated as they were a few years later. Whenever she switched from heat to A/C, she had to reach around the dash, closing some vents and opening others by hand. Now that task is done by vacuum or electric motors.
Of my cars, the 67 Thunderbird didn’t, nor the 70 Cougar. The 78 POS Merc Zephyr did, and it distinguished itself by being one of the very few systems in that car I did not need to get repaired in the two years I had it….the A/C quit on the next owner about 4 months later.
After the Zephyr, the 80 Renault, 85 Mazda GLC and 98 Civic all lacked A/C. The Civic hatch was only available in low trims and A/C was a $1,500 dealer installed option. I passed.
The 62 Beetle our art teacher had in high school. She brought it into auto shop to be worked on, this was in 1973. 6 volt, 40 hp, dealer added when she bought it new and still working. The 72 Pinto Dad bought new had factory AC. That would be the oldest 4 cylinder economy cars I remember with AC. We had a 62 Monterey that had factory air that was a hang under dash unit. I thought it was add on, but the exact same unit was pictured in the owners manual. I had a 75 Rabbit with dealer added (VPC) AC. The compressor slider switch was in a good location so you could flick it off with your finger when passing on freeway. That was my first car with AC, and after that never went back to no AC.
Forgot about my 73 Sport Bug I bought in 75 from the dealer I worked at. It was my very first car with AC. It had no air but I sent it down to the harbor in Long Beach and had VPC AC installed. At that time VW was installing AC at the docks as the new cars rolled off the ship. Dealers were getting away from installing AC so often car were stocked or ordered with air so it was delivered to the dealer with AC already installed. If a customer wanted AC they would send the new or late model used car back to the docks at Long Beach and have it installed there. Later factory air was available and that process went away.
1972 Comet LDO 4 door-I remember being all fascinated by the hissing, swishing and clunking of the vacuum operated flapper doors as you shifted modes on the control panel.
My grandparents had a ’66 Chrysler New Yorker with A/C, but some might consider that a luxo-barge?
The first “real” car with A/C in our family was a ’76 Buick Century.
While not a “low end” car, my uncle’s ’64 Buick Sportwagon was the first car I remember riding in with factory A/C. When dad was shopping for a station wagon in ’65, there was a 9-passenger Belair on the lot with “Air Conditioned” printed in a Chevy Bowtie sticker on the window. I wanted him to buy that car, but he bought the 6-passenger Impala wagon without A/C.
My first vehicle with A/C was an ’84 Toyota pickup. Even then it was a dealer installed kit.
We had an air conditioned car before we had air conditioning in the house. The car was unusual because it was a first year offering for factory air conditioning and because it was a Studebaker….
A 1955 Studebaker President “Ultra Vista.” Named so because of the wraparound windshield that became available in January of 1955.
Studebaker finally offered factory installed a/c (or one could get the unit retrofitted at the dealer) in 1955 at a cost of $500.00 + dollars. Only about 200 or so were equipped that year with the trunk unit (and clear plastic ductwork behind the seat) which was purchased from NOVI. NOVI sold the same unit with one small detail change to aftermarket installers to be fitted in just about any car on the road. The small detail change was a “Studebaker Car Air Conditioning System” tag placed on the box of the trunk mounted unit instead of the regular “NOVI Air Conditioner Tag”. I guess this was to make the buyer think this was a Studebaker produced unit. However, closer examination of the Studebaker tag showed In small print “Novi Model 54-F.”
I understand Studebaker had to make a volume commitment to NOVI in order to get these systems. Studebaker sent a notice out to dealers before this option was officially announced asking them to project how many cars they felt they could sell with air conditioning and to make a commitment to order that number of cars. Imagine their horror when the dealers did not stick to their commitment. In fact, the number of cars actually ordered fell FAR below the projected sales volume.
From what I have seen, Studebaker must have had some units left in stock in 1958 as I have seen both ’58 Studebakers and Packards equipped with these units. At this time they had switched to a lower priced, unattractive box unit mounted under the dash that was cheaper.
Dad’s President was fully loaded otherwise as it was a Charlotte NC dealer’s demonstrator and used by his wife. The a/c was still blowing cold when this car and a ’49 Studebaker Champion were traded for a new ’71 Chrysler Newport Royal.
Few people wanted a Studebaker in 1955 and even fewer were willing to pay for a/c in one. However, it did happen.
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
Here in Europe we’re always late to the party. MY dad bought his first car with AC in the year of 2000. A Peugeot 406, brand new. You americans wouldn’t guess how much a basic car like that costs in Norway 🙂
My first car with AC was a 1967 Riviera who I owns still today, bought in 2003. Great car. Imported from California in 1997. Manual AC and not the optional climate control.
I belive Cadillac was the first in the world with it’s automatic climate control in 1964?
My Dad’s 69 Buick GS350 was our first a/c car – a very big deal for a family trip from California to Winnipeg.
My first AC car was my 1975 Fiat 131 Mirafiori, a California car with a little chrome badge on the back with a snowflake and “climattizata” under the logo. Needless to say, it didn’t work when I bought the car in ’79 and I never bothered to fix it; no big deal in Vancouver. In fact, I had the unit and hoses take out to save weight. My Dad liked my car so much he bough a 1980 Supermirafiori Brava (although he came very close to buying an Alfetta Sedan), a wonderfully-handling but gutless wonder that came with AC (that worked fine and was trouble-free…By then Fiat gave up on trying to build its own AC marvels and installed vastly superior Nippondenso units at the factory).
During that time the rule of thumb was always to use the AC “sparingly”. Received wisdom was AC was hard on the engine, reduced fuel mileage, etc. For some reason I think this is this orthodoxy amongst many taxi drivers. Last week in St Louis and a few weeks ago in Houston (!!!) I had to ask the taxi driver to turn on the AC.
I think the best air conditioner I have ever encountered was in a 1968 Buick Skylark that for a number of years was the “good” car for my mom and dad. It was like a meat locker inside with it running and I could swear I could see ice crystals pinging out from the vents.
When this car was finally traded off in 1983, the original Frigidaire unit still worked flawlessly and as cold as it was when new. I know some people think Ford had good air conditioners but I feel the old GM units were hard to beat.
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
The old systems was big, and the old R12-gas was cooler and didn’t leak as much as trhe R134a.
I converted my 67 Riviera to R134a, but the system was way better with the R12-gas.