JC Whitney Basic Car Air Conditioner Discovered

JC Whitney was and is a mail order car parts company I believe based out of Chicago. Their catalog ordering kept many an old car going or improved. Ordered VW parts from them many yrs ago. At a Garage Sale near Baldwin NY I discovered for sale at $.50 a really unusual and  odd Whitney product from the late 50's , early 60's. It was a car ice cube air conditioner. The ladies who were selling noticed my attention to the item. One came over and asked me what the heck it was. It had come from her Fathers garage  who had passed away this past February. I explained what it was , how it worked. I explained that I actually knew a {red neck] who had one . She offered to give it to me.....I declined. This is how this most basic of air conditioners worked. Once mounted somewhere on dash board of your car and the direct current wire attached to a hotwire  under the dash one would fill the tray container with ice cubes. Flick the switch and on would come the fan. The air would blow over the ice cooling it down  and put cooler air into the car.  It actually did work to some degree. Anyway , it came out as a novelty product when car air conditioning began to come into the market. In the 50's when air conditioning began to take over from fans or a shady porch it was an expensive item. But with increased traffic flow and more "traffic jams" it rapidly became a prized option. As we know today it is practically standard equipment on most cars. So , a short  trip back to  mail order automotive  artifact time. Car stuff always fascinates me even this stuff.