In the Motor City, not every big new innovation came from the Detroit Three. In 1954, Nash introduced the first modern, fully integrated automotive air-conditioning system.
Nash Motors was not the first carmaker to offer air conditioning, of course. Packard offered the ultimate comfort feature in 1940, followed soon after by Chryser and Cadillac. (See our feature on the Packard system here.) After World War II, air conditioning was offered again, but these setups had little in common with modern A/C. The compressor and condenser were mounted under the hood, but the evaporator, blower, and air distributor were mounted in the trunk, behind the rear seat. These units were bulky, heavy, complicated, and most of all they were expensive, putting them out of reach of all but the most affluent car buyers.
In 1954, Nash changed all that. Already an industry leader in heaters and ventilation with its Weather Eye system, the company called its integrated air-conditioning system All-Weather Eye. Here, all the hardware that formerly filled up a good part of the trunk was now neatly tucked into the cowl and hidden behind the dash (above)
What’s more, the heating, cooling, and defrosting functions could be controlled by the driver from a single instrument panel control. A long-term development, the basic layout was patented by the carmaker back in 1942. Finnish-born Nils Wahlberg, Nash’s head of engineering for the company’s entire existence, and engineer Joseph F. Sladky led the effort.
By cleverly repackaging the hardware and fully integrating it into the vehicle, Nash was able to slash both the weight and the retail price of its air conditioner by nearly half compared to Chrysler, Cadillac, and the rest. As a point of reference, the option added $395 to the sticker price of a new Statesman ($2,178-$2,468) or Ambassador ($2,412-$2,730). The relatively tiny Nash, the USA’s 11th-ranking car brand in ’54, had pulled off a major coup in the Motor City. In April of that year, Nash-Kelvinator merged with Hudson to form American Motors with combined assets of $355 million.
To give credit where it’s due, the Pontiac and Harrison divisions of General Motors offered a somewhat similar system in 1954. However, in the Pontiac setup the heater core was mounted under the front seat, while the heater/defroster and air conditioning required two separate controls to operate. Advantage, Nash. The all-new 1955 Chevrolet offered air conditioning, and Ford as well. Now air conditioning was available throughout the high-volume, low-price field. By 1970, more than half the new cars sold in the U.S. were equipped with A/C, and the feature is nearly universal today.
1954 Pontiac modern in dash air conditioning beat 1954 Nash by 6 months, December 1953 versus May 1954.
Please see the story. As it explains, the Pontiac system was not integrated. The heater was under the front seat and the system used two separate controls to operate.
The Pontiac air conditioning control mounted in the dash right above the heater/defroster control is splitting hairs on your part, the Nash air conditioning placement of the evaporator assembly and the two square doors for a/c vents was a very primitive design when compared to the much better, and more modern design of the 1954 Pontiac air conditioning.
We’re not partisans for Nash or Pontiac. We’re just noting that Nash had the first integrated system.
Ford offered its in-dash SelectAire in 1955, though, as in in ‘56, the components were dealer-installed. ‘55 compressors had no clutch.
I have service manual for the ‘55 Ford system.
Thanks! Correction made.
And it took over 50 years before it became standard equipment on almost every vehicle. That is, unless you drive a UPS package car, and from here forward they are going to have some kind of air.
I was 18 years old when I got my first AC equipped vehicle, the same year my Dad also finally bought a car with AC on it. No AC in the house or vehicles either when I was growing up. He didn’t believe in extras like AC, power steering or power windows, he said that was just something else to tear up! Living in the South and being accustomed to having AC all these years makes you wonder how we survived back then, we were for sure a lot tougher!