a/c in a hot rod? Can't we all get along?

I'm in Austin and none of my friends nor I have ac in our hot rods. I give them props for suffering for the look, but its admittedly hot as hell. We all judge to ourselves, but being an ass is dumb. I've been an ass before, I always regret it.

You know there are late 50s ac units and compressors, all of which are rebuildable. When I get around to building a 50s pickup for a daily, I am thinking that route. My english bulldog can not go outside if its over 80 and I want to make the truck for him.

 

Putting heat and ac in the 39, working inside has spoiled me.

 

Yes, I just read read Wikipedia and although I realise that they are in fact, not to be believed, it was my bad not not theirs as for some reason my brain didn't register the word "optional"
anyway, the point I was trying to make was you COULD have had it from 1939 onwards if you were clever/rich enough.
Thank you for your attention
Paul

 

My 64 wagon came with factory air but it is not currently working. It is a very low priority for me this year but I do plan to refurbish it to original working condition after everything else is in order. The only reason I would remove it is if for some reason I needed to shave three tenths of a second off of my 21.74 quarter mile time. In south Texas it gets pretty warm in town. On the highway the longroof is very comfortable without it. I can't use the wife excuse but my girlfriend loves riding in it so much she has not mentioned the A/C.

Rodney

 

Yesterday it was 108 in one place here. It was slightly shaded on the back porch of a clients house and that was the reading. Talked to a guy this morning and it was 113 at his house down in the hollow. I am going to have a big satin black car, of course it is going to have ac. If you don't like it, tough.

 

vintage air and the likes have made hotrod ac easy.
ac, pw, aod, cruise and a killer stereo make my hotrod sweet to drive.

there were many on the HRPT that did not have air
they looked beat up at every southern event (104f in valdosta, 103 in nashville)
there was even a T roadster pickup, high windshield, soft top, no side windows with ac.
he said that ac kept his feet, legs and butt from melting...

 

Yea, some "Car people" (Notice I didn't say car guys) are assholes. I'm so tired of hearing, "When are you going to paint it..... looks like shit". I'm tired of Getting agrivated so I just say..."Your Ole' lady looks like shit but you still take her out, don't you?"
On another note...I would like to install a/c in my 39' Ford, but I run with the hood off and it's an old school build, so I run w/o.
Someone told me about... (Here we go again) a guy that ran electric a/c from a Toyota Prius...Fact or Fiction?

 

Driving in style, maybe squealing the tires, enjoying your ride AND staying comfortable on a hot sunny day? ... what's cooler than that?

 

Im not into the A/C thing in Hot Rods..it seems counter productive to me..Customs, sure
but im not going to go and say what is right for the next guy..if its your car your money,and your comfort (or a family members comfort) than who am I to say what you should do.

if asked for an opinion that would be my response..if not, I dont comment

 

heres my two pennies,,,, if you have a fast bad ass ,,,, hot rod ,,, then no a/c,, wanna be hot rod ,,,, a/c is fine ,,,, and in a custom a/c is a must ,,,, but real bad ass hot rods dont get pulled out unless ,,, its time to go fast ,,,,

and they have old school set ups ,, to stay trendy,,,

so no a/c in a real hot rod,,,,, man up

 

Some narrow minded assholes just have to put a label on everyone and everything; deciding what makes a person a 'rodder' or a car a 'hot rod' or a 'street rod' etc.

Maybe they pump up their low self esteem by berating others.

As to the question, I've got A/C in all my stuff, including my '33 Plymouth and my '55 Chevy beater pickup, and I really don't give a fuck whether anyone else likes it or not - especially when the heat index is over 110 degrees.

 

i don't got that problem I got a roadster, if I had heat during those cool fall night that would be nice. if I had a coupe i would have a/c & heat.

 

Put the compressor under the floor and run it off the drive shaft. Mount it low and paint it black. The hard part is not hiding the compressor it is hiding the condensor.

I don't know if a Toyota Prius has an electric A/C or not but you can bet if they are an option someone would be marketing them. You could hide it all in the trunk and blow it up through the package shelf.

Yea yea gotta have 3 peddles I know the drill, I own a B&M Hydro guess that shoots your theory all to hell.

I think the original car in question is a long mile cruiser, at least that is the take I have on it. Fox correct me if I am wrong. It seems that the fella running his mouth didn't even own a car he just used to own a rattled out Chebby.

Truth of the matter is a lot of the fellas on here "woos out" on a lot of things. Or else maybe they are just being themselves and don't give a big ratz ass if anyone else likes them the way that they are or not. For the most part I tend to believe the being yourself part more than the "woos out" statement.

Some of the fellas have paid their dues and I don't think that if they decide to have a little luxury it will be that big a problem. If I decide not to run an A/C in my car I wouldn't expect the A/C crowd to say that my car is incomplete so I guess I don't have much room to say that their car is too complete if it does have an A/C.

I think it is funny what defines a hot rod? Can we say that it is a rod if it goes real fast? I am probably wrong on this but it seems to me that Vintage Air owned a '53 Stude that went 200+ with the A/C cranked then drove it home. I am faster than a speeding bullet most of the time I don't own anything that will drive to the salt crank out 200 MPH and carry me home.

Granted by most of our rules that car counts as a street rod (not in the purest sense as it is not pre '48) but if fast makes it a hot rod that is plenty fast enough in my book and it is air conditioned.

OK that said do whatever you want I'll try not to step on your toes some of the time you try not to step on mine some of the time and I think that at least part of the time we'll get along just fine.

BTW did I mention that I don't give a damn about the rules? Just thought that I would throw that out for you fellas that missed my intro.

 

A Prius has an electric AC compressor. It takes special oil in the refrigerant because of the electric motor. Not that talking about Prius' is on topic. You guys brought it up....

 

Say all you want about Hot Rods or bad ass fast cars not having A/C but remember that Jack Chisenhall went 219.585 at Bonneville in his 53 Studebaker WITH THE AIR ON!
Most of the guys bitchin about A/C couldn't drive their heap 200 MPH off a cliff.

 

I installed a heat &air unit in my pickup when we built it,the heat works great but I haven't put some sort of tension device on the belt for the air,,it SCREAMS like a banshee when it runs. HRP

 

I'm in Texas...........Hot-rod takes on a whole new meaning.

I like the spizzz

 

Shawn,
Imagine that how many volts? Does it pull a lot of amps? That may be worth looking into to market to the high zoot crowd. Or to put in the trunk of the wifes long mile crusier. You could actually hide the condensor under the floor with a cooling scoop.

 

Really? I know a lot of cars with A/C running 11 & 12 second quarter miles. Plenty fast for a street car.

Even with living in Florida, I didn't really plan on putting A/C in the Stude. But then friends keep talking about doing Route 66. And then changing the time to do the trip to the end of June or the begining of July . I just listened to 6 weeks of trial coverage and discussions of decomposition. I don't want to be decomposing on my cloth seats driving thru Death Valley.

Now, the problem? I have an original under dash unit. I also have an FM converter and an 8-track tape player. Oh, and the 3 2-5/8" gauges. Hmmm, how much can you hang before it gets too crowded...?

 

I dont have A/C...that means it would be stupid for me to take a trip, heart patient, diabetic
I am mostly staying home til things cool off

 

So they picked on your car because of AC. Hell, I've got a '39 pontiac coupe that I built in the late '80's that I have driven almost 100K miles. It's a great car, that my entire family has enjoyed for over 20 years. It was built on a tight budget when my kids were small, completely by me in my garage.
I love the car, but I can't even show it here because it's got a subframe, gray "tweedish" interior, painted bumpers, and so called "Easter egg" paint.
So you don't have to go to a show to find them, assholes are everywhere, and we sure have our share of them here.

PS
it doesn't have AC though, dammit.

 

I am going to drive the wife's jelly bean over to Social Security in air conditioned luxery right now. I hope I fixed it good. gotta test it before I give the little junker back to her.

 

Of course not, then what would we have to talk about?



(working on son's 25 year old late model suburban trying to get the AC working for a trip to socal....leaving tomorrow...we'd take the 55 without air, but the back seat is kinda small for the other kiddo who's 20 now)

 

my 2 MGs and my 68 camaro do not have ac and I live in an area where it can hit 125 in the summmer. When we started building a 55 Fairlane for my wife she said, this one WILL have AC, because she wants to actually drive it. I have actually been thinking of putting AC into the 48 Dodge when it as well. I guess it is part of the reality of living in a desert.

 

Hackster...

The day you drive your car over to Phoenix and sit all snuggly on your supossed vinyl seats with out A/C on a typical July/August 115 degree (what the hell is a "heat index?) day is the day I'll admit that I wussed out and am not much of a man... Aint happening any time soon I'll bet. And, for the record, my A/Cd, 12 to low 13 second "not rod" has been driven all over your state on many occasions... Kinda mild and nice as far as I'm concerned, most places...

 

Both the truck and the 49 fleetline have a/c ... if I could figure a way, I'd have it on the bagger also ... it's hot here.

And squirrel ... it was in when I got the car, but my 49 has cruise also.;-)

Barry
anything worth doing is worth doing to excess

 

race cars are supposed to be bare bones... if you need to strip stuff off a street car to go faster, you didn't build the motor right... when the 50 is done it will have power seats, AC, a nice sound system, etc etc... its my car, if you don't like it, go away!

 

Quilty and the a/c is charged......

 

I'm with ya 150%! It's MY car, and I'm the one driving it, insuring it, feeding and fixing it, etc. My comfort is all that matters to me. I can't do the 110 degree, 60 percent Summer days anymore without air conditioning, and that's the way it is.

 

Life is too long, not to have AC.