Comfort and performance!

[Hawklover]

So now that I have voted what else can I do??..........I have it troll the forum:-)

The 1963-1967 Stingray Corvette has always evoked a visceral response within me.....they are the only Corvettes that interest me.

Surfing e-bay listings for all Corvettes I came across a '67 427 4-sp with factory a/c. How amazing.....such power...with COMFORT!!! Let alone the price of admission to this fantasy ride of 107K dollars;-)

I have always wondered why Studebaker could not have engineered the R-2 or the R-3 (Avantis) for that matter to have factory a/c? I have seen over the years owners who have fashioned brackets to have both the blower and the a/c compressor.

You think it was the time factor of getting the car into production???...........or a cost issue???

I wish Otis Romaine(sp) were still alive to ask this very question.

[PackardV8]

I came across a '67 427 4-sp with factory a/c. How amazing.....such power...with COMFORT!!!

"COMFORT" is not a word which can be applied to a mid-year 427" Corvette. Having AC just means one is cool while being uncomfortable.

The worst is a coupe with the iconic side pipes and performance rear gears. After fifty miles on an interstate, the noise becomes so intolerable, you'd park that $107k torture chamber, leave the keys in it and start thumbing a ride.

I have always wondered why Studebaker could not have engineered the R-2 or the R-3 (Avantis) for that matter to have factory a/c? I have seen over the years owners who have fashioned brackets to have both the blower and the a/c compressor.

You think it was the time factor of getting the car into production???...........or a cost issue???

I wish Otis Romaine(sp) were still alive to ask this very question.

Yes to all of the above thoughts; a few reasons AC was not offered on R2/R3:

1. The York AC compressor Stude used was a huge, space-eating, heavy monster. It theoretically could have been made to fit, as was done on the '57-58 GH/PH. But the last thing an already nose-heavy supercharged Stude benefits from is an additional 100# hanging out in front of the front wheels and an additional load on the cooling system.

2. The cost of engineering special brackets for a few thousand R2s, on which Studebaker was already losing money; that the corporation was already in the process of getting out of auto production.

3. And yes, the time and manpower available. With the impossibly short lead time, production and delivery hassles with the bodies, engineering an AC for those few cars just didn't pay out.

4. The R3s were good to 7,000 RPM. No '60s AC system would have survived much of that treatment.

Most of the owner-designed and built systems used newer, smaller, lighter Sanden compressors. Does anyone have a photo of an R2 with the York?

jack vines

[Hawklover]

Well Jack when I say comfort I mean cool driving in the heat! I do not like the side pipes, and only the roadster interests me!

"COMFORT" is not a word which can be applied to a mid-year 427" Corvette. Having AC just means one is cool while being uncomfortable.

The worst is a coupe with the iconic side pipes and performance rear gears. After fifty miles on an interstate, the noise becomes so intolerable, you'd park that $107k torture chamber, leave the keys in it and start thumbing a ride.



Yes to all of the above thoughts; a few reasons AC was not offered on R2/R3:

1. The York AC compressor Stude used was a huge, space-eating, heavy monster. It theoretically could have been made to fit, as was done on the '57-58 GH/PH. But the last thing an already nose-heavy supercharged Stude benefits from is an additional 100# hanging out in front of the front wheels and an additional load on the cooling system.

2. The cost of engineering special brackets for a few thousand R2s, on which Studebaker was already losing money; that the corporation was already in the process of getting out of auto production.

3. And yes, the time and manpower available. With the impossibly short lead time, production and delivery hassles with the bodies, engineering an AC for those few cars just didn't pay out.

4. The R3s were good to 7,000 RPM. No '60s AC system would have survived much of that treatment.

Most of the owner-designed and built systems used newer, smaller, lighter Sanden compressors. Does anyone have a photo of an R2 with the York?

jack vines

[Hawklover]

Back in 1969 Trojan Service Center (the Studebaker repair facility) in Miami Florida made brackets to have that York compressor on an R-2...it was crude, but it worked.

Well Jack when I say comfort I mean cool driving in the heat! I do not like the side pipes, and only the roadster interests me!

[TWChamp]

20 years ago I drove my cousin's 67 Corvette a few miles, and was glad it wasn't any further.
It was as comfortable as sitting on a milk can on a hay wagon crossing a plowed field.

The only Corvettes that interest me are the 50's, and even those I'd sell to buy a Studebaker.
I do agree that A/C would have been nice on several Studebaker models.