cars had air conditioning as a standard equipment in 1968.
cars had air conditioning as a standard equipment in 1968.
when did cars have air conditioning as a standard equipment?
1968
for the 1968 model year, a new sst trim line was placed above the now mid-line dpl trim for the ambassador. american motors was a pioneer in the field of air conditioning through its kelvinator refrigerator division, and amc's marketing chief bill mcnealy wanted to make the ambassador stand out in a crowded market segment and decided to add greater distinction to the ambassador line by making the all weather a/c system as standard equipment. this was the first time any volume car manufacturer had done so, something that even cadillac and lincoln had not offered on their luxury cars – although some of them were priced at more than twice as much as ambassador. while all ambassadors came with air conditioning as standard, consumers could order the car without air as a "delete option" and decrease the price by $218. as amc pointed out in their advertising campaign for the ambassador, the only other major automaker that offered air conditioning as standard equipment in 1968 was rolls-royce.
amc ambassador
the r38 was the first subway car fleet to have air conditioning installed. the last ten cars delivered (4140–4149) came factory equipped with stone safety 10-ton split system air conditioning system featuring the compressor/condenser units mounted under the cars, while the evaporator units were installed on the top interior ends of the car in 1967. the first six air conditioned cars came into service on the f train on july 19, 1967. the six-week experiment was a success after past failures and air conditioning would soon, but not immediately, become standard equipment on new rolling stock built for the system, since the first 200 r40 cars were built without air conditioning. the air conditioned cars cost $40,000 more than the non-air conditioned cars. from this point on, the new york city transit authority began adopting air conditioning as standard equipment on all new cars, and older model cars were retrofitted with ac units to make life much more bearable throughout the subway system. the stone safety air conditioning system was adopted from their standard railroad and commuter coach air conditioning systems, and it proved very successful.
r38 (new york city subway car)