1959 Defroster

[peeeot]

My '59 came with two identically shaped strips of metal intended to fit between the dashboard and the windshield. One of them has two slot-like holes in it; the other is solid. They both have a screwhole in the center, but the spacing of the rest of the holes is different.

Every picture I've seen of a squarebird has shown the slotted strip in place, with the two air ducts pointing straight up and aligning with the slots. On my car, however, the slotted strip's screwholes don't line up right, while the solid's do. Also, it looks like the defroster is designed so that the two air ducts point forward and mate to a pair of holes in the car body. The air would then flow into an integral duct and exit across the whole windshield through numerous holes.

Does the '59 have a different defroster design? It looks like it would be an improvement to me.

Also, I'm missing my ducts. Am I going to have to fabricate them, or are they available?

Thanks!!

[Alexander]

RE: 1959 Defroster

The 1958 and possibly early 1959 used a different defroster system than the later Squarebirds. The 1958 defroster center dash trim is solid unlike the later slotted ones.

The defroster ducts are cardboard and fragile. Often they have the metal mounting tabs broken off. they are not yet available in reproduction.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[peeeot]

RE: 1959 Defroster

okay... it sounds like maybe mine is an early '59. The data plate says it was made on November 17th "first year." I don't know what the "first year" part means, but it came up in the decoding.

I wonder why they changed the defrost system. It seems to me like the full-windshield design would work better than the two-slot design.

Do you suppose new ducts could be fabricated from corrugated cardboard, or is there a better material out there?

[Guest]

RE: 1959 Defroster

I just replaced the heater core on my '58 and removed the 2 defroster ducts. They appear to be 2 thick cardboard "stampings" that are then glued(?) together. The attaching "ears" were ripped off so I added several layers of duct tape on the ends and punched a hole in it for the attaching screws. These parts are very difficult to find as they are made of material that deteriorates easily. The left and right are mirror images and one could fabricate then but it would not be easy because of the compound curves.

[tmjsong1aolcom]

RE: 1959 Defroster

Another one of those unanswered ?? about the 59's. From what we know and from parts books, the change could have been when the dash changed in June of 59. This is another one of those many nagging ?? that a group is trying to come up with answers.

As for the early production the front window trim is solid with no slot. These pieces do not wear out and can be picked up easily from many of the birds houses.

As for the cardboard ducts. I would bet these can also be picked up from the bird houses that deal in parts cars. There are many out there. Bob's birdhouse on the east coast and thunderbird ranch in Wi.

Good Luck
Fuz
58's&64's
Sun Prairie, Wi.

[peeeot]

RE: 1959 Defroster

My car's dashboard is definately designed for the solid trim. Not only do the screw holes line up for it, it also doesn't have any holes for the slot-style ducts to pass through. They wouldn't work. It sounds like you must be right about some kind of a mid-year change, since my '59 (if I'm decoding right) was built late in '58. It has date code 17L (november 17, first year) and the serial number is 108184. What does that 108184 mean, by the way? There had not been 108,184 Squarebirds made by the END of '59, let alone November of '58.

I haven't checked with the T-bird salvage places yet, but I've already built a pair of ducts that I think will work. Once I get them installed I'll test them for functionality. At this point, my priority is that things work, even if they aren't 100% correct. Besides, I'm not modifying anything so it would be easy to put the original style in if I can find it.

[tmjsong1aolcom]

RE: 1959 Defroster

The serial number 108184 is a 1 up series beginning with 100001. Therefore your bird was the 8184 th bird to get a serial number in 1959.

Hope this helps
Fuz
58's&64's
Sun Prairie, Wi.

[peeeot]

RE: 1959 Defroster

aaah, that makes sense. I thought that might have been the case. Thanks for clearing it up for me!

[Guest]

RE: 1959 Defroster

As Nick (from Nick's T-Birds) told me when I ordered a new defroster duct cover (mine was missing) -- The design used in '58 didn't work very well, hence the change to a slotted plate.