1936 Heater

[Guest dougklink]

Wondering what the correct heater would be for my 1936 5 Passenger V-12 sedan? I think they offered the rear exhaust heater for my car but not sure, long gone in any case. No holes in the firewall where they had a hot water heater. I'd like to at least get a hot water heater in the front. Is an Arvin correct or did Packard have their own brand?

Seems that mounting it in the usual spot would interfere with the exhaust pipe.

[Owen_Dyneto]

Heaters, either hot water or hot air, were optional in 1936. The hot air heater that Packard offered thru 1939 was a Kelch-brand heater and had registers in both the front and rear compartment floors. It used a monel or stainless steel heat exchanger on the exhaust header with an electric blower and the floor registers were adjustable for direction and volume. There is a fairly extensive article with illustrations of this heater in an older issue of The Packard Club's publication The Packard Cormorant. PM me with your email if you'd like a copy.

[Dave Mitchell]

There were a couple of different hot water heaters that Packard offered in 36 also - a rectangular one and a round one. Both have two doors. The small rectangular one I have only seen one of, the round ones are also hard to find, but pop up now and again. I reproduced some of the floor vent parts for the hot air heater if you need any of those. I have a 35 and a 38 sedan with the hot air heater. Dave Mitchell packard12s@hotmail.com

[Owen_Dyneto]

Dave, as the author of the article on the Kelch heaters some years back and owner of a 34 Eight with one, I'd be interested in knowing what parts you've reproduced and other other info on the Kelch you may have. If you'd be so kind, could you email me at dlxzirr@optimum.net with any info like that?

[Dave Mitchell]

Dear Owen Dyneto, I tried to email you, but it bounced back. I will be at Hershey - GCB 36. My email is packard12s@hotmail.com

[Rusty_OToole]

Heaters were just becoming popular then and there were many brands installed as accessories by local garages. Of course Packard dealers offered their own brands but many cars had Arvin, HaDees, South Wind and others.

Being yours is a V12 if it had a heater it probably would have been a dealer installed genuine Packard accessory. I don't think the car factories were putting them in yet.

A cheaper 110 or 120 would be more likely to have a non Packard accessory brand.