56J With Factory AC

[JoeHall]

I cannot find it now, but there was a thread here a few months ago about a 56J on ebay or CL, that supposedly had factory AC. The person who later bought the car posted here and identified himself, and promised to get back with us later when he knew more about the car. IIRC the car was redwod & snowcap.

I just stumbled onto the production order for the one 56J that did in fact come with AC, and it was redwood & snowcap, so that was likely the one car.

Does anyone remember that thread?

Thanks

[rkapteyn]

Robert Maker (maker.robert1@gmail.com) posted on the 56j group that he owns that car.

[JoeHall]

Are we speaking of the trunk mounted system? I know from in depth conversations with a Studebaker Process Engineer that there were hours and hours of hand work on a hospital line, "shoehorning" (his words) that Packard air conditioning system into the trunks of President Sedans. His estimate was about 10 man-hours per car, AFTER they got the system down and coordinated with the body plant to pre-drill some holes. I just can't imagine doing it in the tighter dimensions of a K body.

Not sure if it had a trunk mounted evaporator, but that would be consistent with the era. I am thinking the hardest part was hood clearance for the compressor, on the 352. Back then, compressors were much larger.

I have mounted Sanyo 508s on several 56Js, using modified 55-56 Packard mounts, but there's only about 1/4" between compressor pulley and hood. On most of those, I bent the oil filler pipe 30-45 degrees for clearance; on one, I removed and plugged it, and modified the valve covers for filler caps.

I have saw a couple of 56Js with vintage AC setups, that used early GM style loong compressors mounted where the generators normally sat, with the generators relocated next to the oil fill pipe, which had to be bent, as above.

Per the production order, this 56J also came with PS and PB, so I bet the S-P engineers had their work cut out for them in fitting AC. On the PO, it says, "SEND TO ENGINEERING FOR CHECKSERVICE FOR RETAIL DEL". In any case, I hope to see pix of it someday, or better yet, the whole car.

[rkapteyn]

I know that Robert Maker's car had a trunk mounted unit because I sold him a set of plexiglass tubes for in the rear window.

Robert Kapteyn