@PasoJohn @Moriarity @Sky Six and anyone else in the know. Where does a person get one of the cooler than kool coolers? Dan
Those are Thermador car coolers. they really don't work very well. Makes the car kinda humid inside is what I found when I had one. People are pretty proud of them these days https://www.ebay.com/itm/3769008812...Gzp2OMk0EsXsHGwaFG9pi3Zg==|tkp:Bk9SR8yBi46AZw
Thanks Mark. Yea a little pricey. I asked my wife if she wanted to run Rt 66 this summer with me and the Dirt Cheap Dart. Kim asks “does it have AC?” uh no “Well I’m not going then” She used to go with me on road trips air or no air. Must’ve spoiled her. The car doesn’t have PS or PB she didn’t really think I was going to clutter up the engine bay with an ugly AC unit did she? I’m not asking Dan
You can get swamp coolers cheaper than that. There's a vintage one in ebay for around 400, and there's a company that makes them new (not as cool of course, pun intended) for just under 300 I think? I agree they really aren't great tho. They kinda look neat, but I'd put the money toward adding ac before paying a grand for one. Personally I just roll down the windows... Lol. Nothing more vintage than sweating on a hot day.
Personally I just roll down the windows... Lol. Nothing more vintage than sweating on a hot day. Exactly women folk don’t see it that way though! Dan
In 1966 we moved from PA to SoCal. 6 of us in a '63 Galaxie towing a Ted Williams tent trailer without a/c.. Now my dad wasn't a mechanic but he was a gifted scientist (still has several cl***ified patents from when he worked at Oak Ridge after the war). He built what he referred to as an air conditioner for our trip across the desert. In reality it was swamp cooler made from a gl*** jar window washer ***embly from IIRC an Oldsmobile. Anyway, it was with great anticipation when we started across the desert and he turned on the "air conditioner" Unfortunately it wasn't one of my dad's better inventions and it didn't provide any cooling at all. His response was that it just wasn't hot enough for it to work. It was a family joke until he died at 100+
We were going to take a road trip from So Cal to Colorado Springs in our 1970 Buick Electra 225 during the summer and our air conditioner went out just before we were getting ready to leave and we didn't have time to fix it and my step grandfather told us to stop by the house and he had something for us. He gave us an old window swamp cooler. We packed it with ice and cold water It really didn't work all that well. I still have one!
Had one on my 63 Impala back in 72 and it was like a warm sauna in the summer. Never removed it. It was cool looking.
Original coolers are not that efficient and that is a fact, it basically fills the car with damp air. You can find them at most lowrider swap meets and shows. Just be prepared ... the nicer the nice, the higher the price. If @51mercules has an original, get really friendly with him
They really don't help much, a baggie of ice works better but you have to stick it inside your drawers.. HRP
Wisconsin to Arizona is a drastic change. Down in Pheonix one day, I came upon a Motorcycle that was fitted with a roof. Much like you would see on an old Ford Touring ( A or T ) I've done some labor there and found my clothing soaked in 20 minutes.
If you live in the heat, you try to plan the time of your trips to make it not so bad. Doesn't always work, though...seems I often end up driving through the Phoenix area when it's over 110. You know it's hot when you gotta put your phone in the ice chest for it to keep playing music. Fortunately it doesn't get very hot on rt 66, the elevation along that part of the country is rather high, limiting temperatures. Still, spring and fall are better than summer or winter. The tricky part is getting there at just the right time! Snow in Amarillo in October is real....so is 100+ around the AZ-CA border area. The window swamp coolers look neat in loweriders, but don't do anything to keep a woman comfortable, especially if she's used to the HVAC in modern cars.
The problem with Route 66, is that the humidity doesn't start to disappear until you are west of OKC. You still have to drive the eastern half that goes across Eastern Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois where it is 92 to 95 with sauna level humidity nearly every day in the summer. Those conditions make an evaporative cooler less than worthless.
Just go in April or early May? Your wife should be happy that you want her to go. Even if you go in the summer and it is hot, that makes swimming in the Hotel pool all the better.....None of my old cars have air and I would never put air in them....
Try Craigs List Northern Virginia. There is a guy that rebuilds them and makes the New ones from Scratch...even Right hand Drive, Die stamped ends and more parts. Sometimes he has a few used ones 2 wowzers
The 64 Chevy station wagon probably has real stock factory A/C. The swamp cooler on the window is in the program of “we have more stuff on our car than you” group. Including the obnoxious cooler and red balls. My friend’s dad got a new 1963 Chevy Impala and he ordered the A/C. The built in one was the coldest unit of all of our friend’s family cars. That was the slogan our dad told us this giant thing hanging on his 1949 Buick Roadmaster Sedan was for, in those old, hot summer days in the Westside of Long Beach. Hello, When our dad got his 1949 big 4 door Buick Roadmaster, it was the largest car we had seen. There was plenty of room for two brothers to play and have fun as our dad took the whole family on his many road trips. Despite the complaints of our mom saying it is hot inside, due to no A/C at the time, driving through the Mojave Desert areas and even into hot Baja, Mexico locations. Our dad and everyone’s solution was to roll down all of the windows for some fresh breezes. It worked, but the breeze turned into warm breezes in the hotter areas. Wet towels on the forehead and neck also work with the warm winds… So, after our vacation days, our dad came home one day with a black cooler attached to the p***enger side window/door of the 49 Buick. The idea was for water to be place inside the tube and the wind would come inside to cool off the water and send the breeze into the car. In the local coastal cruises, it worked as the cool ocean air cooled off the car. Not freezing, but just cooler than before the large tube sticking on the window and door. (In 1949, our dad was tired of having two boys messing around in the back of the 49 Buick Roadmaster with the windows rolled down. He was also tired of my mom saying how hot it was driving around. So, he like many others at the time decided to put these giant window coolers on the outside of the car to cool down the cabin while driving around.) I can’t remember the brand name, but it was filled with water and shot the cool mist inside the car as you were driving along. It worked for a while, but then everything inside of the car got a little moist if you ran it a long time. Also, every time you stopped, the water dripped outside of the car. As you drive, the drips flow back with the outside movement of the air p***ing the car. But, it was my mom’s window space that was taken and that did not go over well on that side of the front seat. There was a large blob covering, at least half of the window. Then as we drove on, it was slightly cooler, but water began to drip inside. So, of course our mom was the first to tell our dad to get rid of that leaking contraption. Women and wet hair just did not go over well. Especially if she spent time at the hairdresser for an occasional formal gathering. Being the fanatic that my dad was about his cars, he got rid of the cooler and went back to the open windows for cooling. He did not get air conditioning until several Buick model years later. 1963 to be exact. Jnaki Despite all of the current cruiser cars with the cooler attached to the p***enger window, they were not good for cooling down the inside of any car with the windows rolled up. One cool thing was, (pun intended) if we were in the back seat, if we rolled down our rear side window, we got some cooling mist from the leaking water drops. That did give us the feeling of moisture on our faces and the wind blew it cool. YRMV Within the next week or so, the black, outside of the window cooler, was history and we did not see it again. We had to be happy with the wind in our faces for the next several years. His next Buick was a 57 and it too did not have A/C. We still went on long road trip vacations. (But, sadly it was to be our last family road trip. My brother and I were now driving and those cars provided their own adventures... ) as the new 1963 Riviera was the first car our dad owned with a real COLD A/C system. Yippee! NOTE: If one wants an outside cooler for extra points in a car show, get one and do what the original posted station wagon did. Give it some pizazz. That is all the unit is good for on those cruisers. My wife and I took a vacation car trip on Route 66 from So Cal during one summer. We had our daily driver with A/C. It had to be used from home to the return we had to take near St. Louis. Not only was it hot, but dry hot as we crossed the Las Vegas area through Arizona and ended up in Albuquerque. As we walked around visiting the sites there, it was hot to hotter and those old town places were not the most comfortable to wander around. We took a side trip to Roswell, N.M. to see a family history location. Needless to say, A/C was necessary from that point on towards OKC and beyond.
I lived in West Texas for several years Hot. We were there for maybe a month when one day I came home from work it was 117, my Neighbor Morris always treated me at our shared fence with a beverage. Morris says to me Dan what you think of our West Texas weather? I tell him damn it’s hot the pavements melting Morris. He says but it’s a dry heat with a *****le in eye and a big old West Texas grin. I miss him RIP Dan
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