1941 Heater/type question.

[J. Russo]

Need some opinions on this heater. I attached pics of the cover that I am in the process of painting. I have 2 heaters, one with the side vent and one without. One is a Defrosting Heater. The one in the photos looks like the Ventilating Defrosting Heater, with the exception of the side vent attachment. The '41 Authenticity Manual has an elbow side vent attachment. The attachment that came with this side vent heater is straight, but it fits.

My main question is can the straight side vent attachment be used if I was to add the fresh air ventilation under the hood or is the elbow attachment a must have?

I'm a few months away from installing this to find out. Would like some input to determine if there are parts I need to look for.

Thank you

[39LaSalleDriver]

That setup is used on 39s, but may have stayed around for a couple of years, I don't know. The duct on mine leads to an intake in front of the passenger door. (see pic before I cleaned and repainted everything) Not sure where your intake is on your 41, so I'm sure this hasn't been much help. Just pointing out that the straight to the side arrangement was used on 39 model cars.

[J. Russo]

Jon,

Thank you for the response. This helps a lot. Your heater looks like a match with mine. I mainly bought this heater because it came with the switch that I needed more. The person I bought the heater from didn't know what model/year it was for.

I understand now why it came with the straight ventilator attachment. The air intake on my '41 is on the firewall just to the right of the heater. I would need the elbow ventilator attachment, but I'm not sure it would fit the opening on the side of my heater.

As I mentioned, I also have a regular defrosting heater that I will probably use unless someone can tell me if the elbow attachment would fit.

Thanks again

[39LaSalleDriver]

Glad to be of some small assistance. The Authenticity Manual definitely shows that type of heater for 39s and even has photos from the 1939 Accessory booklet showing it. I have a copy of the 1940 Accessory booklet and it still shows it being used. I suppose it's possible that they were still using it in 41, even if they had to use an elbow of some type. Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable about 41s will chime in.

[Paul Phillips]

The Ventilating Defrosting Heater is the same core unit for 39-41, with the main difference being in the outside air intake.  For 39-40, the air intake is a scoop on the side of the car, where for 41, a concealed air intake system is installed under hood.  The 41 concealed system intake is the same for Ventilating Defrosting Heater and the Deluxe Automatic Heater.  The elbow is for the concealed type, and the straight fitting is for the side scoop type.  Some relevant images from the VVI Databook are attached.

Paul

[J. Russo]

Paul,

I have both Ventilating Defrosting Heater and Defrosting Heater. What I was trying to determine is if the '41 elbow side attachment will fit on the '39-'40 cover I have. Sounds like it might.

I'll make another post on the looking for parts forum to see if anyone has the elbow. The only way I'll know for sure is to give it a try.

Thank you