Ah those prism things....... Wish I had one of those when I had a 54 Chev, so I
could see the stop lights at the intersection. I would get a sore neck trying to
see the lights under my windshield visor. Maybe I'll put one on my '67 1600.
Seems like the lights always line up with the top of the winshield......
BERKEN@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 03/14/2000 8:26:29 PM Mountain Standard Time,
> bstrachan@home.com writes:
>
> << I'm sure you young whipper snappers on the list have never seen one, but
> us old pharts remember the car window style swamp coolers that were
> popular in the '50s. These things were cylindrical, about 8" in diameter
> and maybe 16" long, and they had a long rectangular projection coming
> out the side. You put this projection, which was the air vent, in your
> window and rolled up the glass to hold it in place. You then put some
> water in the pan in the bottom of the cylinder and pulled a little chain
> which dangled out of the vent. Pulling the chain rotated a cylindrical
> excelsior (shredded wood) pad inside the cooler through the water,
> moistening it. When you got underway, air from the slipstream entered
> the cylinder through a hole in front, evaporated water from the pad,
> giving up heat in the process, and cool, moist air came into the car.
> They worked well in Wendover, Utah, where the summer temps were usually
> right around 100 degrees and I don't think the relative humidity EVER
> got above 20%.
>
> In case you guys think I'm making this up, there is one of these coolers
> hanging from the ceiling of Majors Diner, a '50s style old-cars theme
> roadhouse on Interstate 8 about 40 miles up in the mountains east of
> here. I have lots of fun taking younger friends in there and asking
> them if they can identify the mystery object.
>
> Barrie
> '66 2000
> San Diego
> ---- >>
>
> Barrie,
>
> OK, here's another one. What were the little prisms for, that sat on the
> dash of cars in the early 50's. I certainly do remember the "swamp coolers".
> We had one on our '50 Plymouth wagon, I think.
>
> Joseph Berkenbile
> 70 1600
> Warren Me
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