1941 Cadillac Series 75 Touring Sedan

A new accessory called air conditioning made enclosed automobiles comfortable year-round by cooling the inside air. The air conditioning system was manufactured by Bishop & Babcock of Cleveland and was made available to auto manufacturers in 1940. Due to the tremendous cost, only luxury automakers adopted it at first. Packard was first, in 1940, followed by Cadillac, and then Chrysler the following year.

Bishop & Babcock basically used the same equipment for each manufacturer. It was essentially a standard remigration system with a condenser placed in front of the radiator and the large evaporator mounted in the trunk. The cooled air exited the evaporator and was blown by a fan into the car through a large vent behind the rear passenger seat. The air conditioning system ran constantly when the car was running since it was run by a belt off the engine. To turn off the AC, the driver actually had to turn off the car, open the hood, and remove the belt from the engine bay. Inside, there was a three-position switch, which was placed beneath the dashboard to the left of the steering column and was used to control the speed of the fan.

Since the system was expensive and ran continuously, only a few vehicles were outfitted with this new luxury. It is believed that the system was installed in only about 300 Cadillacs, all in 1941. Today, only three remain.

This Series 75 Touring Sedan is essentially a limousine without jump seats or a divider window. The current owners acquired the car in 1987 and shortly thereafter, it underwent a meticulous repaint and interior restoration. Its original air conditioning system was fully serviced and is reported to still be functional.

The 346 cubic-inch, overhead valve V8 engine offers 150 horsepower. There is a three-speed synchromesh manual transmission and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes.