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Optional heater in the 50's?

Started by TJ Hopland, May 25, 2014, 09:18:15 AM

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TJ Hopland

A friend was remembering his families cars and I started looking up some of the details for him.   One of them was like a 54 or 55 Eldo and he remembered it having wire wheels so we looked up the options and it was listed.  What was also listed was heater.  We were wondering was that a heater period or was that some sort of supplemental heater? 
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

quadfins

Heaters became standard equipment in 1962.

Seems strange, but true.

Jim
Jim Eccleston
1961 Coupe de Ville
BATILAC
Senior Crown
DeCou Driving Award x 4

TJ Hopland

Anyone know how common it was not to get a heater?
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

quadfins

I have analyzed build sheets for about 250 1961 Cadillacs, and have not yet found a single one that did not include a heater. Most likely, that's why they went ahead and made them standard equipment in '62.

Can't say about earlier years.

Jim
Jim Eccleston
1961 Coupe de Ville
BATILAC
Senior Crown
DeCou Driving Award x 4

Jay Friedman

#4
In 1949 a heater/defroster was optional equipment.  The automatic deluxe heater cost $85 with 2 (front) underseat blowers and a defroster blower on the firewall.  It has a thermostatic control which turns the blowers on and off depending on the temperature.  The standard heater cost $55 with 1 (front) underseat blower and a defroster blower on the firewall with no thermostatic control.  Most '49s have the automatic deluxe heater.  I've only seen 2 standard heaters, both on hearses.
1949 Cadillac 6107 Club Coupe
1932 Ford V8 Phaeton (restored, not a rod).  Sold
Decatur, Georgia
CLC # 3210, since 1984
"If it won't work, get a bigger hammer."

signart

I found this in a box of papers with a bunch of stuff I bought at an estate auction years ago. I knew optional heater was fairly common on pickups of the day, but this documents the extra costs plus installation in 1955.
Art D. Woody

Alan Harris CLC#1513

My 1940 LaSalle has an aftermarket Arvin brand heater. It is a simple recirculating hot air heater with no defroster. I once saw a 40-62 series Cadillac with no heater at all. The owner told me that it was sold new in Philadelphia!

Either they didn't drive in the winter or they were true curmudgeons.

When did Cadillac begin offering heaters as options? I have always wondered.

Jay Friedman

I don't know when Cadillacs began offering heater, but Ford did so with the Model A in the late '20s.  These were not "hot water" heaters as we know them, but "hot air" heaters.  Their brand name is "South Wind" and I don't know whether they were factory installed or were one of the many after market products sold for Fords.  They have a baffle like device on the exhaust manifold which captures hot air and which is in turn connected to a tube which directs the hot air through the firewall into the passenger compartment.  The downside is that sometimes exhaust gas would accompany the hot air with obvious consequences.  This system was also available on V8 Fords through the late '30s when hot water heaters also became available on Fords.

Air-cooled Volkswagens have factory installed hot air heaters.
1949 Cadillac 6107 Club Coupe
1932 Ford V8 Phaeton (restored, not a rod).  Sold
Decatur, Georgia
CLC # 3210, since 1984
"If it won't work, get a bigger hammer."

TJ Hopland

In the 20's and 30's it kinda made sense since not too many people had heated horses or buggies.    I can even sorta see it up till the post ww2 era but I was really amazed that it was an option into the 60's. 
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason