Stopped in to a buddies place that was havin a July 4th family get together in Ohio. Somebody asked something about air conditioning in my Hudson and I pointed to the cowl vent. My friends 90 something year old grandmother grabs my arm and pulls me down to say in my ear "Back in my day we called that a pu$$y cooler". I'm thinkin she might have been fun to hang with 70 yrs. ago...
I agree and I will be cutting mine out and replacing it, the vent was welded in years ago and the heat stays in without it....... sucks!
I'm keeping the cowl vent in my '35 3-W, even though it will also have A.C. Just altered the handle a little bit so everything works. Also keeping the cock-out windshield and roll-down rear window. A.C. is sort of a last resort, but I like having it as a backup. I've also never understood why people remove vent wings-- I know it's to clean up the look, but I love the way those function, too.
I plan on cowl-venting my A sedan. Kept both the cowl vent and the ball-cooler on the 50 Burb! kept the louvers on the right side too, all the blower fan resistor packs are in there.
I spent all sorts of time and labor to keep my cowl vent operational on my '35 sedan and still install the A/C. I ended up with a servo kit which works pretty slick. Sometimes I wonder why I took all the time to install the A/C.......I rarely use it.....I open the cowl vent all the time!
"LOVE THOSE HOLES IN THE COWLS" I wouldn't own an old Rod without one. The Forty just made its fifth trip tp B-Ville and back. Cowl vent open ,windows down, foot about half way to the floor. It also has 150 Louvers in the hood, never noticed much if any heat coming in, (Well at speeds anyway) "Wouldn't yA Rather Have a BUICK"
I blame the 80's for doing stupid things like filling cowl vents. On my 32, when you look under the dash, you can see the original vent just smashed down. Not sure how they smoothed it up top. Probably the same guy did this that wanted to Pro Street the poor car. Putting the vent back to original is on my long list of things to do.
Its all because of the old "bee in the crotch syndrome" brought on by rodders running functional cowl vents that have the screens rotted out of them_____
...with no insulation anywhere in the coupe, I was really glad I had a cowl vent and swing out windshield in the coupe on the way to the Nats. I wasn't glad about the wasp that came in thru the windshield and hit me in the chest at 80mph...
I'm curious about the latching mechanism. I have one on my 42 Plymouth but it's missing the hardware. I just welded 2 small beads on the bottom of the vent and just kind of force it open and closed. The weld beads hold it in place!
I can't remember what old car I had---think maybe it was an old pick-up. I was blasting down the highway in mid summer, in one of those crazy pop-up thunderstorms, and it was hotter than Hell. I had a brainwave---it was raining too hard to open the windows, but Hey---I'd open the cowl vent (which I had never had open before) for some cooling air!!! Holy Shit---talk about "desert storm"!!! There was dead spiders, live spiders, 2 pounds of gravel, old wasps nests, you name it, all hurtling around inside the cab of that pick-up. I nearly lost it right there. It seemed like a good idea at the time----
Everytime I drove my old Coupe I wanted to find the dude that filled the cowl vent and punch him in the face.
A lot of people told me that if my '37 was going to be a custom, it's got to have the cowl vent filled or the lines won't be right. hahaha...I guess I just have to suffer with the way it looks and all that cool air I get! I love cowl vents.
When I widened my 26 roadster body to fit the 32 frame it only seemed like the next step to fill the cowl door. (not a vent as it was actually the gas door) Smoothed the cowl and looked pretty good to boot. Well... that and I didn't have the original door to widen. So, you ask why... that's my reason. At 23 years old it made sense and now 10 years later I would probably do the same thing. Smooth = better. (Especially when an original isn't exactly in the budget)
Anyone have a vent section from the cowl of a 27T?I want to make molds so I can install a vent in my glass T RPU
I have been told it was originally for 1 of 2 reasons already listed - both more function than style. 1. block heat from a louvered hood or no hood car 2. prevent water leaks Later it became a style thing.
I used a power vent window motor to open my cowl vent that way if I ever get my under dash A/C in I can still open th cowl vent. I heard the rear vent window motors from mini vans also work. Love my cowl vent.
I hate mine right now because its rusted and seized shut from underneath! Once I free it up,I`ll like it much more and glad to hear that they work well,I won`t have AC
Back in the early 60's my daily driver was a '36 Plymouth coupe and I tell ya that the cowl vent was the only way to cool down during a hot Southern California day, because a coupe just does not have good air flow without one. I offten thought why do these guys mold off their cowl vents? Now I know AC..... candy asses! I have AC in my '63 T-Bird but I'd rather drive with the vents and windows open.
I need the cowl vent in my 37 chevy p/u to cool down the heat that comes off the firewall and I still open it up when its cold,if I could get the rear window to roll down like some of the 30s coupes did I would be in heaven.
The Jalopy Journal
