Hot Rods Do you have heat in your hot rod or custom?

I watched a video of cars driving in at the 1988 Louisville event the other evening. Back then, nobody had Vintage Air. Cowl vents were still very common. Suicide doors were open to let air in. Lots of towels around necks. I wonder if the percentage of people driving their stuff year around is any different than it ever has been? When many of us were young, we only had one vehicle but as times have changed, that's not the case.

 

Very few of my cars have ever had heat, but the one car that does is my Phaeton. Pretty helpful since there are no windows. Every time I use it, I say to myself, "I need to get a heater in everything." And somehow never do.

ironandsteele.com​

 

All three of mine have or will have heat, but my wife’s 40 pickup will also have AC (my build thread is here on the hamb). I come for the NE so if you want to extend your driving season, you have heat. Here in VA, in cool, cold, or frigid temps the wife will take a ride with me as long we got heat. As long as there’s no salt on the roads, they get out regularly.

 

Wondering why there is no mention of electric seat heat. Has anyone tried them? They should work as long as the generator/alternator can handle the load and gives more room in the cab.

 

With the exhaust running under my wooden toe boards, I get just enough heat on a cool day. I have AC for the hot days, but no heater is really required.

 

Yep I had heat in my 55.2 3100 that worked fine. I installed a vintage air system in last spring so I now have A/C and a new heating system in the truck. Both work great!...I have the original heater box that I removed if anyone is interested.

 

Like you I put it off for many years but as time progressed and these old bones started convincing me to drive one of the daily's in cold weather and leave the hot rod at home I knew the time had come.

I hate all the hoses under the hood but I don't show off the engine anyway. HRP
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Don't need heat if you dress properly!

 

Hello,

Here in sunny So Cal, it has turned into a “heater” mode inside of our daily driver. Outside it is down to 44 degrees and fluctuates between 40 and 50 degrees. Then when the day goes on, it does not climb higher than low 60s. It is a pure jacket/sweatshirt weather for us. My wife usually has the A/C on in the car, but the heater is now her best friend. Our trips to the beach for some clarity? We still sit outside in the sun as it does get warm, if we are not moving and the ocean is glassy.

As teenagers, if we were dumb enough to surf Rincon in Santa Barbara with no wetsuit in the Winter swell season, then it was pure luck we did not freeze to death. The water there is usually much colder than the big OC surf spots a 100 miles South.

For us, there was none better than Rincon even if the water was 20 degrees colder. We had an advantage, of sorts… My brother got us some wetsuit “seconds” pants and cut off the legs of the new, but flawed suit. So, now, we had a pair of shorts under our longer trunks for some warmth in the “valuable” area. Those wetsuits at the time were just awful with stiff shoulders and legs that rubbed the wrong way when getting up and down. So, we never wore them.

Now, we had warmth under our longer trunks and it helped stay out there a little longer. It was the cold wind blowing from the shore that was the killer. We could last in that water for only a couple of hours. Yes, we were very cold inside of the sedan delivery. Since we were going to stay all day, got dry, ate some hot chili and drank some warm coffee or chocolate. Then of course, the cold made us take a nap.

Dumb teenagers doing whatever it takes to get some good solid waves. the warmth, food and nap helped, as we were energized for the next go around with vigor., cold or not... But, the heater helped on the way home or to the closest campground.

Now, when the El Camino showed up, the small cab was the most wonderful set up going. After cold water surfing in Santa Cruz, that heater got the small cab toasty and instantly the warmth got to us quickly. Even if I had changed clothes to dry ones and put on some socks, it was still “body cold” underneath, so that Chevy heater was like being in heaven.

The college neighbor girl that went with me to Santa Cruz a couple of times in the El Camino and in her sporty car, always made the trip memorable. I was frozen after a long session in the wonderful “Pleasure Point” waves. Not many So Cal surfers were out in the water. The question was asked many times about my surfboard and why I was there, without a wetsuit.

But, my surfing style was a little different and I guess it was memorable to say the least. Deep bottom turns, drop knee cutbacks on the long lines down the beach and a nose down first, for the last underwater reverse to get back outside for more great waves. The rolling white water continued down the shoreline cliffs.

Jnaki

But, afterwards, as I was trying to warm up for the trip home, the girl said she could drive while I got warm with the heater. Since she was not cold, I had the heater up as high as possible. After we started for a few blocks, she pulled over and took off her T-shirt for the rest of the drive back to our college apartments, going through on Highway 17. She was “too hot to drive” (pun intended) comfortably for the next hour and it was a nice view all the way home. Surfing in cold water has its rewards… ha!

Note:

These days, our current heater in the daily driver is really good. Modern technology… But it has not been on since before the pandemic started in early 2020. For some reason, it was on from the Christmas season 2019 to around March 2020 and then has not been on since then. So Cal is a funny mild climate area that definitely has its rewards in more ways than one. But, it is and has been cold for the last two weeks, this year. YRMV

 

My Dad had an off-topic car once that overheated in the dead of winter. My uncle tested the thermostat the following morning and it was fine. Never overheated again, but the heater never worked again, either. Dad drove that car for a couple more years like that, including driving twice a week to UMO when he was working on his masters degree. He had to wear a snowsuit to stay warm on those trips! Finally traded it in on a new car, and the salesman delivered the car to Rockland for him, then drove the old one back to Brunswick. We sure felt sorry for that guy!

 

In WI it's almost mandatory to help stretch the season out at the beginning and end of it. Not so much for the heat, but for the defrost, which is a byproduct of it. I find it helpful to see when I drive. Helps to blend it in with the style of the car also.

 

I put in heated floors in my house and garage. And central air. i would post pictures but some of my cars are newer than 1964 . I dont want to piss off the HAMB POLICE AGAIN.

 

Yep. Old Arvin heater.

 

Me too, but I didnt mind drilling holes in the wood floor. That got all the hoses down from the engine, hiding them pretty good. The A/C compressor is way down low too for the same reason. Got it away from view.

 

I'm not the HAMB police but it seems weird that Moriarty allows a 'nut and bolt' restoration of a car that has never been nor ever will be a hotrod and definitely not a traditional hotrod. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1956-sunliner-continuous-upgrades.1275500/

 

HEAT - AC ?

 

Here in Az. @ 5,000 ft. the winter nights get chilly. But around mid day it gets warm enough to not need the heater. The Stude Truck has the factory heater... the fan doesn't work, but that's O.K., 'cause when moving along enough heat comes out to get the small cab toasty. I put a ball valve on the heater hose so I can control the heat... "On or Off"' that's it.
None of the other vehicles have heaters. Wing vents serve as A.C. in the summer.

 

This thread has me thinking that a heater in my '31 Ford Coupe might be a nice addition. I don't want to lose any leg room in the already tight interior with a firewall mounted "box" heater, so thinking maybe under the seat with a small fan blowing forward along the floor? I'd see the whole thing would have to be custom fabricated, and that's do-able, however if anyone has any photos of an under-seat heater in a Model A posting photos it would be a huge head start on such a project.

Thanks

Lynn

 

Had my 49 out today in the Blizzard of 2022. real temp was -3, the "feel like" temp was -35. The truck sits outside, today is was surrounded by a 12" high snow drift. I started the truck and let it warm up for about 10 minutes, had to engage the 4x4 to get through the drift.
The windows were clear, and the cab was warm. It was about a 10 mile run we had to make.

Heaters are nice!

 

Hey Lynn. You might have an easier option than under the seat. Do you have the original tank cut out? If so the heater box can be mounted high enough and standing out away from the firewall enough to allow the passenger's feet to stretch right out with their toes behind the heater box.
My '30 coupe is channeled the width of the frame with the original tank cut out. I built a custom bench seat with the package tray removed. The heater was mounted as high as possible, so as to still allow clearance for the heater doors to open. The box does not impede passenger comfort at all. My 6' 2 buddy loves the amount of room he has to stretch out.
I posted a pic of the box earlier in this thread (post #58) but don't have a recent pic of it installed. All I could find was an old dark pic taken during mock-up years ago. Pretty piss poor pic, I know but if you can make it out there is plenty of foot room.
There are many different designed boxes, many without any doors to open, that would allow mounting even higher. That's all I got, other than suggesting the most important feature needed is a good windshield defrost function which is tough to do with a under seat unit.

 

You wouldn't want it in your car and the heater coil would be way too spendy but back when I was going to Trade school I had a 55 Buick Special 4 door hardtop that had the heater under the front seat. That The double dating car of choice for my Buddy's girlfriend no matter if I was driving or if he was driving. All in all that was probably the most comfortable 4 people car I ever owned.

 

Lynn, I have a Packard, I believe, under seat heater that might be used. About 10 inches square and 2-3 deep.

Ben

 

Wisconsin resident, heat is a necessary item though my HighBoy Roadster did not have a heater. It did have a bolt on top and I made snapin side windows from lexan material, PIA snapping window in/out after entry/exit but worth the effort and had a 12V electric blanket for help that with appropriate clothing I could extend my cruising time early and late Summer season.

 

I now Winter in Az. I was born, lived in Wisconsin all my life, now sometimes thinking I should have packed up and moved to a warmer climate many years ago, the Apache Junction Az. Winter is equal/better than Northern Wi. Summer. My catch phrase " So Soon Old, Still Waiting On Smart" says it all. I lived in the Milwaukee suburbs and had summer home "Up North" for 30 years, now my retirement residence, here in Az. you have a "Up North" home up the mountains to escape the extreme Summer heat of the Phoenix area, exactly the same deal just in a different part of the country. We don't get Do Overs, So All Is Good, No Regrets, Thankful for my life, family and friends.

 

In 1957, Chevrolet offered 2 heaters. The deluxe unit, utilizing fresh air from the screened headlight vent. The other was the recirculating heater. Mine is the cheap one. Couple of extra braided hoses under the hood.
Also, I put Speedway seat heaters in the low back buckets.

 

I did something similar on my '40. A new core for the '41-up heater was modified so hoses would also pass through the far right passenger side of the firewall, staying clear of the engine. Cables operate the heater control and defrost valves.
I did not plan for a heater in my '32, while trying to keep the engine compartment clean and thinking most of the use would be in warm weather, but wished on several cold mornings I would have! I didn't make that mistake with the '40!

 

A 2 B .....Your suggestion and approach has a lot of merit but I still use the stock tank so using that area isn't really a viable one for me.

I keep coming back to a thin, fabricated under-seat deal like firstinsteele suggested. I'll have to take a look and do some measuring under the seat to see just how much room would be available. I still use the stock seat. I don't know if that far from the engine would let the water cool too much to make the heater ineffective though?

I still need to work on the car some to get rid of a really dead spot off-idle so I'd probably be best off to make that the 1st priority to at least have a better running car come warmer weather when I'm more likely to use the coupe anyway.

Thanks.

Lynn

 

Vintage Air offers this guy now https://www.vintageair.com/custom/product-pop.php?pn=660066. I'm thinking of measuring up my RPU when I get far enough along to see if it fits. I'm thinking I'll install heated seats and a heater. Here in Alberta, no heat really shortens our cruising season as you sometimes even need one in July and August in the mornings/evenings.

 

of course! Ohio will always need a working defogger.

 

It's taken the expected six months for thoughts of car heaters to come round to those of us in the Southern Hemisphere. As most of the HAMB is dealing with record heat, we've been having a colder winter than usual. Johannesburg sporadically gets snow, and this year it was more than it's been in a long time. Jo'burgers were like, "Why is it raining pap?" (porridge or grits). Here in Cape Town we've seen a return of 'n regte ou Kaapse reën, "a real old Cape rain" which drizzles softly for days on end, after an absence of years. "She's got her winter coat on," my wife says of the city; and indeed it becomes a different place, one the tourists never see, whose true nature is all about fog which has the angry seagulls straying far inland, and a strangely comforting miasma of fish.

Enough of the waxing lyrical, though.

The Morris was export/CKD spec, and that ordinarily excluded a heater. Mine never had one, and for the most part it wasn't a problem. I was living in Pretoria the time I drove it regularly, and though it gets bitterly cold it's a summer rainfall area, meaning that winters are too dry for demisting to be that much of an issue. The heater valve control cable coming loose on my DD is more of a problem in the winter-rainfall Western Cape, though not so much to get me to do something about it — yet.

Just as my fancy turns to such matters as roof coolers every summer, not a winter passes these days without me going down a heater/demister rabbit hole. It's because my dream build involves reducing the electrical system to the absolute minimum that I keep coming back to unusual ways to pull heating and demisting off. Ideally I'd want to keep the entire electrical system excluding the starter under about 20A; then hooking up a 15A blower motor makes no sense. And I hate that isolating wuffle an electric fan creates. This year's excursion yielded:

1. Expanding @Bandit Billy 's approach and burying under-seat heater cores in buckwheat/rice-filled chambers.
2. That would require a different way of dealing with foggy windows e.g. anti-fog sprays, desiccant pockets, etc. But how about a heater core inside a desiccant pocket? That would render it self-drying. Consider a top-vented tube running all along behind the top of the dash, with silica gel cat litter inside, and a finned copper coolant pipe inside that?
   
3. Using a small 4-stroke weed-eater engine as both the heat source and the fan drive of an in-car heater. Lots of possible ways to do that, but we're back to a wuffling fan, and perhaps overall a bit extreme.