Why for the last 60 years have people filled their cowl vents. I know it is supposed to clean up the lines, but I think they are the greatest and would not fill them on any of my cars. The only one I ever agreed to fill was on our '35 coupe for Bonneville, and even then it just felt wrong. My Dad's 3 window has the cowl filled but we are going to cut it back out. There is nothing better than cruising down the road with the cowl vent open, the windshield open, and the back window down. Who needs air conditioning?? Just need to get that off my chest.
I unfilled mine on my 32 never understood the filling either, excapt for saftey in drags or salt flats I think running down the road on a sunny, cool day with that open is great stuff
I love the cowl vent in my 40, when it gets hot around here. I like the way it looks, I like the way it feels. 2/60 airconditioning..2 windows down 60 mph..cowl vent open!
I'm so glad I didn't fill mine. I love it. Plus, it ended up being the one-and-only part on my car that is not modified from original.
If you take the hood off or louver the hood on a HOTROD all the hot air from the radiator blows straight onto your feet, just like a heater does. Fine in January, a real bitch in August! Besides, Boyd wasn't the first hotrodder to want to smooth off some of the huccups. Shaving the cowl vent visually goes along with a three piece hood and a shaved radiator shell. I kept the cowl vent on my 40 GMC, and if I'm driving, it's open because it balances the air pressure and keeps some of the wind from blasting me in the left ear and messing up my hair but I hated it when I drove through a "flock" of bees on the back road to the dragstrip in Bakersfield...
I dislike them so much that all 3 of my hot rods have cowl vents!,,,, I would NEVER fill one in,,,,how whold bees get sucked in without them? How would you get only your right foot wet when it rained,,,even with it shut! How would you get that nice refreshing breeze in the evenings. HRP
I think in the old days before repro rubber parts were common, stopping the water leak on your foot was a big factor. The first repro cowl gaskets were piss poor. People tried universalfitall rubber gaskets with limited success. Same thing for the fabric top insert. Fill the sumbitch and be done with it. I believe it was more for practical reasons than aesthetics. Like split wishbones on a flathead powered hot rod, it became stylish but not necessary. I've come home from a rod run with a wet right foot on more than one occasion. For me. I want a cowl vent, fabric top insert, and a push out windshield. Of course the cowl vent linkage interferes with the climate control system in a modern street rod.
Last night I mowed my grass. Hotter than hell...92 with 90% humidity. I was soaked! Went into the house to cool off... didnt work even after a cold drink of ice tea. Jumped into my 34 pickup for an evening cruise, opened the windshield and cowl vent. I instantly cooled down. I could have driven all night! The very best thing about these old cars!
I used mine on my way to the Pride of the champ show in Antioch last weekend in my '35 and it felt great Cowl vents rule! some day i'm gonna add one to a Model A coupe.
I use the cowl vents in all of our cars. The only down side is getting wet when it rains because they all leak, opened or closed, new gasket or not. It's part of the fun of driving old cars...
One more vote for cowl vents. They work well and look cool when open. I've always liked the way they look when open.
We drove up to paso this year, i was the only one with an unfilled cowl vent (50 chrys.) and just past L.A. i had to close it cause we were cold. A few minutes later we got off the freeway to eat and everyone else (5 other cars) was dripping with sweat. Yep, the cowl vent is staying.
In Oklahoma, the heat and humidity result in a human match-stick. The person is all dried out, and POOF! goes up in flames when someone lights their cigarette... The next owner gets to pull all the bugs out, try to get rid of the mildew and smell, and maybe shoot some paint up onto the rust while upside down. Yea, love em...
My 3W had it filled, but fortunately it was just leaded in ... not welded. You can see the lead that was saved. Mine was filled back in the 50's ... The Roadster was never filled.
Cowl vents do not leak if the linkage is properly adjusted, the gasket is properly installed and the trough is not rotten and full of holes. It's nice to have a good screen in place to keep the bees and wasps and junebugs and lovebugs out too.
Ford kept developing and put a lot of thought into ventilation...my '48 has the cowl vent, vent windows, and rear windows that can be cranked slightly BACK rather than down to create a smooth flowing air exit...I really miss all that when driving a modern car, where the choice comes down to suffocation or air conditioning. Opening the windows is barely an option at most speeds because the designers gave no thought to flow or preventing buffeting--they just assumed perpetual use of the AC. The best old cars were designed to fit you into the world comfortably, not to isolate you from stuff like air!
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