I picked up this heater the other day and it has no marking for me to identify it. It was with a bunch of tractor stuff but this looks aftermarket to me because the core looks like it's factory fresh. The chrome pieces look older but nice and shiny, the back parts in flat look like they are a fresh paint job, the shiny black front looks like new powder coating and the grey fins look like they were sand blasted as they are bare with no paint or clear coat. The fin section rotates to direct the heat. Any help identifying the make is appreciated! . .
There's a bleed at each side but 180 Deg. from each other so you can mount it anyway you like or need. Has anyone seen anything like this in a parts catalogue? I can't find anything on the internet close to this...
I think it may be an Arvin brand, but there were so many brands of those aftermarket heaters in the '30s and '40s it's hard to say. Few cars or trucks had a factory installed heater before the late '40s. Even the ones that carried the car manufacturer's name on them were usually a dealer-installed option--most optional equipment was dealer-installed back then. Harrison division of GM made radiators and heaters for all GM vehicles and also made aftermarket heaters. The same heaters that were sold through Chevy dealers with the Chevrolet name on them were sold aftermarket with the Harrison brand name. Heaters sold by Sears under their Allstate brand and by Montgomery-Ward under their brand name were made by one of the aftermarket manufacturers and rebadged with the Allstate or M-W logo. I've seen some Arvin and Sears/Allstate heaters that looked almost identical except for the emblems. Most people who bought a new car or truck bought an aftermarket heater instead of buying one from the car dealer. There were probably 25 or 30 different brands of accessory heaters back in the day. I have a nice looking Hot Wave brand heater in my truck that throws out plenty of heat. Less expensive models were just a fan behind a heater core, while the nicer ones also had a squirrel cage blower and fittings for defroster ducts. Hoses salvaged from junk vacuum cleaners make great defroster ducts.