# When did air conditioning, radios, and auto-transmission become commonplace in cars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169 "2008-07-30T00:14:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/21 "2008-07-30T15:28:11Z")
At some point in the 90s A/C went from being an option to being standard. My 1992 Toyota came without A/C. I don’t know any cars nowdays that you can get without it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/22 "2008-07-30T15:38:28Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] I don’t know any cars nowdays that you can get without it. [/QUOTE] Almost every car from in the US “midsize” designation and below is available in a stripped-out manual/no AC version. The Toyota Corolla DX, for example. Most dealers don’t really stock them, though; they’ll have one or two “just in case”. It’s basically just there so that ads can say, “starting at $12,999” or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/23 "2008-07-30T16:27:17Z")
[Lamm, Michael. “Radio Hits the Road.” Invention & Technology Spring 2000.](http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2000/4/2000_4_18.shtml) > [@](#): > > Around 1922 a very few enterprising motorists began to install radios permanently inside their cars. No special automotive sets were available yet, so they used household models. They still had to shut the engine off to listen. > > The first man to go into car radios commercially seems to have been William M. Heina, who founded the Heinaphone Corporation around 1926. Heinaphone was soon taken over by a group called the Automobile Radio Corporation (ARC), which made Transitone sets, and Philco bought the entire operation in 1930. Just before the buyout A. A. Leonard, the chief engineer for ARC, hit on a practical way to eliminate ignition interference. This was such a basic and important development that it’s still used today in modified form. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/24 "2008-07-30T17:29:48Z")
Most cars here, especially in the lower price range, will still have manual transmission and even on the high-end stuff it’s often just an option. British drivers dislike automatic transmission; my father always said it was for ‘cripples and people who can’t drive properly’. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/25 "2008-07-30T17:39:42Z")
[QUOTE=Mk VII] Most cars here, especially in the lower price range, will still have manual transmission and even on the high-end stuff it’s often just an option. British drivers dislike automatic transmission; my father always said it was for ‘cripples and people who can’t drive properly’. [/QUOTE] While I agree with him from a joy-of-driving standpoint, I bet Caveman Og’s dad said the samething about the wheel… “It’s for weaklings and people who can’t walk properly, son.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/26 "2008-07-30T17:52:39Z")
Thanks for the answers. In the opening credits of [Car 54](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQbbhFDE9WE) Toody and Muldoon have what looks like a rotary fan on their dash. Does anybody know if that’s what it is? Something I swear I’ve seen are ads (some of them featuring Steve Allen) for a car _record player_, ca. mid 1950s. Allen even said “specially designed not to skip or scratch” (which considering how much stationary record players did this I found a bit hard to believe). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/27 "2008-07-30T17:56:13Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Thanks for the answers. In the opening credits of [Car 54](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQbbhFDE9WE) Toody and Muldoon have what looks like a rotary fan on their dash. Does anybody know if that’s what it is? Something I swear I’ve seen are ads (some of them featuring Steve Allen) for a car _record player_, ca. mid 1950s. Allen even said “specially designed not to skip or scratch” (which considering how much stationary record players did this I found a bit hard to believe). [/QUOTE] I think _that_’s a siren or a component of a PA system of some sort. Dashtop rotary fans were (and still are) quite common, though, but usually as aftermarket items, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/28 "2008-07-30T18:28:40Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] … Something I swear I’ve seen are ads (some of them featuring Steve Allen) for a car _record player_, ca. mid 1950s. Allen even said “specially designed not to skip or scratch” (which considering how much stationary record players did this I found a bit hard to believe). [/QUOTE] [http://www.uaw-chrysler.com/images/news/phono.htm](http://www.uaw-chrysler.com/images/news/phono.htm) In addition to the obvious problems, it required its own disc format, which meant signing up recording industry partner(s) to make them. Apparently only Columbia made them. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/29 "2008-07-30T18:46:08Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Thanks for the answers. In the opening credits of [Car 54](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQbbhFDE9WE) Toody and Muldoon have what looks like a rotary fan on their dash. Does anybody know if that’s what it is? **Something I swear I’ve seen are ads (some of them featuring Steve Allen) for a car _record player_, ca. mid 1950s.** Allen even said “specially designed not to skip or scratch” (which considering how much stationary record players did this I found a bit hard to believe). [/QUOTE] My husband had one and it really worked well. Whodathunk it? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/30 "2008-07-30T18:52:18Z")
My mother told me of some kind of “A/C” that consisted of containers of wood shavings that would be soaked in water or something, and when the wind blew across it, it would blow cool air. I never could actually get a good picture of that in my mind, but I think it was kind of common back in the day…I’m talkin’ the '30s maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/31 "2008-07-30T18:57:33Z")
The first true automatic tranny, IIRC, was Olds’ Hydra-Matic, introduced in 1941. Buick added Dynaflow postwar, and Chevy Powerglide about 1950. Factory air was pioneered by Packard in 1939. It had been introduced in '38 in ambulances by Henney Coach, which used Packard chassis. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/32 "2008-07-30T19:10:24Z")
I’m curious about when AM/FM radio became standard. As late as the 1980s, I remember cars being sold with just AM radio. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/33 "2008-07-30T19:17:01Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] My mother told me of some kind of “A/C” that consisted of containers of wood shavings that would be soaked in water or something, and when the wind blew across it, it would blow cool air. I never could actually get a good picture of that in my mind, but I think it was kind of common back in the day…I’m talkin’ the '30s maybe. [/QUOTE] I think she’s talking about [swamp coolers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooling#Evaporative_cooling), but I’ve never heard of putting one in a car. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/34 "2008-07-30T19:44:39Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] I’m curious about when AM/FM radio became standard. As late as the 1980s, I remember cars being sold with just AM radio. [/QUOTE] Yeah, we had a '78 or '79 Toyota Corolla (back when they were actually inexpensive cars) that had AM only. I remember that there was some reason it was incompatible with CBs (which were still big at the time) as well; no idea if that’s why. A running argument (well, rarely comes up, but has a couple times in the past) that perhaps some Dopexpertise can help with: My parents bought a Cadillac Calais around 1977, brand new, fully loaded, and I swear that I remember it having a factory installed CB. My sibs say it didn’t, that there was no such thing, the CB was just added by the dealer and _looked_ like it was a part of the car. The car’s been gone over 25 years so no way to settle , but she says there was no such thing (that whoever installed it just did a good job). No idea who’s right or wrong as far as that particular car as it’s been gone for over 20 years, but does anybody know if there _were_ factory installed CBs at the time? ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/35 "2008-07-30T19:58:27Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] I think she’s talking about [swamp coolers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooling#Evaporative_cooling), but I’ve never heard of putting one in a car. [/QUOTE] A former coworker restored an old car, and it had these things on the top of the windows that looked like a cross between a jet engine and a Thermos. He said they were used to put ice in, but wet wood shavings make more sense. As **RNATB** alludes to, wood shavings are used in the “filters” of swamp coolers. I put “filters” in quotes because they’re not really filters, but that’s what everybody calls them. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/36 "2008-07-30T21:04:27Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] I’m curious about when AM/FM radio became standard. As late as the 1980s, I remember cars being sold with just AM radio. [/QUOTE] Oh, what a memory you just stirred up: I can recall my dad shopping in the late 80s for a car that had an AM-only radio _on purpose_. At the time, all he listened to was news, which AM had in spades, and none of that distracting “rock” that we kids liked to listen to. He found one, too: a GMC Jimmy that was about the ugliest shade of tan I’ve ever seen. I’m sure people used to try to write “WASH ME” on the dust, then realized that was just the color. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/37 "2008-07-30T21:33:41Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Almost every car from in the US “midsize” designation and below is available in a stripped-out manual/no AC version. The Toyota Corolla DX, for example. [/QUOTE] The Corolla seems to have A/C at every level; it’s the Civic DX that doesn’t have it. That’s part of the reason I opted for the Corolla instead of another Civic. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/38 "2008-07-30T21:36:18Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] Oh, what a memory you just stirred up: I can recall my dad shopping in the late 80s for a car that had an AM-only radio _on purpose_. At the time, all he listened to was news, which AM had in spades, and none of that distracting “rock” that we kids liked to listen to. [/QUOTE] My father bought base model Sentras in the 80s and IIRC they didn’t have a radio at all. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/39 "2008-07-30T22:56:21Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] A running argument (well, rarely comes up, but has a couple times in the past) that perhaps some Dopexpertise can help with: My parents bought a Cadillac Calais around 1977, brand new, fully loaded, and I swear that I remember it having a factory installed CB. [/QUOTE] I saw a '73 Cadillac ElDorado for sale the other day that had a factory CB radio. (This was also the first full-size V8 front-wheel drive car). Chrysler also offered the AM/FM/CB radio in the 70s. > [@Max Torque](#): > > Oh, what a memory you just stirred up: I can recall my dad shopping in the late 80s for a car that had an AM-only radio on purpose. My dad did the exact same thing in 1991. He bought a '91 GMC S-15 pickup with a factory AM radio. It looked like a standard AC/Delco digital radio but it only tuned AM. He listened to talk radio all day long, which was all that was available in New Orleans on AM at the time. When he retired a couple of years later, he gave me the truck and I think it took me all of 48 hours to remove the factory radio and install something with FM and a cassette player. ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169/40 "2008-07-31T00:07:43Z")
[QUOTE=jasonh300] I saw a '73 Cadillac ElDorado for sale the other day that had a factory CB radio. (This was also the first full-size V8 front-wheel drive car). [/QUOTE] Not quite. The first front wheel drive Cadillac Eldorado of 1967 was preceded by the 1966 Oldsmobile [Toronado](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_Toronado): > [@](#): > > The unusual Olds powertrain was dubbed the Unitized Power Package (UPP). It was designed to combine an engine and transmission into an engine bay no larger than a conventional rear-wheel drive car. The Toronado used a conventional, although performance-boosted Olds 425 in³ (7.0 L) Super Rocket V8 rated at 385 hp (287 kW) and 475 ft·lbf (644 Nm) of torque. The 1967 Eldorado used a Cadillac 429 V8 coupled with the Unitized Power Package. Eventually, Cadillac would use a 500 cubic inch engine in the Eldorado; the largest Toronado V8 was a 455. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-air-conditioning-radios-and-auto-transmission-become-commonplace-in-cars/458169.md?page=3)