Help Ideas: keeping my '37 original

[Guest Vetteman61]

I'm building a '37 Chevrolet for my wife. We want it to appear as original as possible, however I am going to be putting air conditioning on it because it will be a family car for us.

I absolutely HATE all the vent offerings from the aftermarket air companies. I'd like to have something that looks as though it would have been original had the '37 chevrolet come with air vents. Everything will be hidden except of course for the vents. I want to put them on the sides under the dash. I thought the great wealth of knowledge of what is available I might get some cool ideas. I really, really want something that appears period correct.

So far, I have had 3 ideas. I'll present them to give you an idea of what I'm thinking of:

I had the idea of using upside down ashtrays and concealing the vents inside them. One tray I really like is the rear 47 ashtray on a Cadillac. It's almost like a rolltop desk. It could be closed when not in sue and look almost original:

Another idea I had was getting the rear fresh air vents from a mid 50s cadillac 4 door with rear air conditioning and mounting them upside down under the dash and making them swivel.

The other idea I had, which is probably the least likely, is getting a reproduction art-deco style fan and taking the guts out of it and installing the vents that way, making my own directional fins inside of it.

I get so frustrated at vehicles that have had great money spent on them to make them look "just right" but then when it comes times for vents or for knobs they just seem to stick whatever they find in or under the dash. I'll admit, I'm very pick and want things to just just so-so, but this seems to be a really important detail to me.

I know there are tons upon tons of really nice looking things out there. I've spent a long time searching the web trying to find different ideas. Anything you think would look good would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Brandon

[1937hd45]

What a great post, RARELY do people post photos to go along with and explain things. What ever you deside on is going to look great, I like it when people take the time to get things looking right. That seat back vent is a nice looking item, same with the fan in option #3. Good luck and post photos of the finished product. Bob

[jpage]

How are you going to hide the compressor and hoses ? Please forgive my opinion,but if you really want to keep it original ...then keep it original!

[Guest bofusmosby]

I was also wondering about the 6/12 volt system. Did you convert your car to a 12 volt system? Where were you going to mount the coils that the air blows through? I know that on some cars, this was done in the trunk, with the air ducts running from the trunk into the cab. I'm afraid that any openings you put in the dash will not look like period, so I like your idea of installing them below. On my 37 Pontiac, there are ashtrays on the far right and left sides of the bench seat. If yours has these, could the air ducts behind the back seat and run them under these ash trays/arm rests? Like you said, just open the ashtrays for the cool air. With the ashtrays closed, it would look stock.

I would be more inclined to use what is already there instead of having to add something new. Does your car have the defrosting vents? If not, are there caps in your dash for this to have been added as an option? There are on mine. These could be used for the front vents. After all, what you are looking for is adding something without it looking like any changes have been made. This is what I did to my car when I added the blinkers. I added another bulb socket inside for the turn signals, so no changes were made to the eye.

[Guest Vetteman61]

Thanks Bob. Not to get too far off topic here but I like to keep all my cars completely original except for maybe a hidden radio or an alternator sometimes. My wife recently totaled her car which she had when we got married. She's always loved cars from the 30s and 40s. We talked about what kind of new car to get her because we were only married about 2 years ago and are anticipating children in the next few years. We discussed it over and decided we'd rather have an old car as our family car. If I build it then it should be the last car payment we ever have. We can simply maintain it and replace parts (engines, transmissions, etc) as the years roll by. Because it will be her car I am going to put a modern engine in it, but we are going to keep the outward appearance completely stock. I understand this is not a desirable situation for many people, and I myself prefer stock antiques and drive them as my only transportation daily, but this is our compromise so that my wife can drive a great car from the 30s and still be able to use it as a daily driver and take it on those 800 miles trips to Florida or Indiana. I'm sure many people here have their modern car they drive and use their antique car on the weekends. We prefer to drive our cars as our primary forms of transportation.

The other visible difference I'm making in the car is I'm installing 3 point seatbelts on the 4 main seats and 2 lap belts form the middles. If she and my children are going to be riding in it I want there to be seat belts.

Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand, that's why I want to keep it as original looking as possible. The car does have one defroster vent on the driver side, but I'll be using that as the actual defroster vent. It only has one ashtray in the middle. Some people have removed the middle ashtray and used that spot to place a square vent, but I prefer to keep the ashtray where it is.

So far, I think I prefer the rolltop style ashtray from the rear of the front seat. After measuring I can't find a fan like I pictured that is small enough in diameter to look, in my opinion, proportional. I also found out that around a 53 Packard has an ashtray on the back of the seat that looks similar.

It's important for me to be able to adjust the direction of the vent because I have a specific type of asthma that makes me very sensitive to air in the face and if I get cold or hot air in the face it can quite often give me a sore throat which leads to sinus infection.

Thanks,

Brandon

[Guest dminer]

What about a 'headliner-type' vent system? I've noticed it's very rare that someone other than a serious classics lover ever looks up at the headliner when they're just checking out a car.

[Guest Vetteman61]

I considered doing that for some rear vents, but I think getting the air routed into the roof would be difficult to conceal considering how small the a pillars are. Right now I'm thinking about possibly running one small vent tube into the floor and having a very this passage way on the floor which would then lead to a tube I would mount inside the seat and have it exit through a "hidden" vent on the seat. I would probably install another ash tray back there and have the vent hidden inside. I'm not sure I'll definitely go with a rear vent, but if I do that's looking like the way to go right now.

Thanks for the reply.

Brandon

[Guest Vetteman61]

Well, I found a 48 or so Cadillac ashtray on ebay and ordered it to see if it would work out. I believe I'm going to go this route. I really like how it looks. I'm going to modify it to accept a vent and to have directional levers inside. I'm probably going to have it rechromed.

Brandon