Squarebird Defroster Duct Improvement ~ Kevin Staton ~ shopguy

As many of you probably know, the heater ducts in a Squarebird were made of cardboard and simply didn’t last in most cases. Thankfully Matt, the owner of the 1960 Thunderbird I am currently restoring, located some fiberglass defroster vents from Carl Heller, (Carl only had the one set) but the ducting itself was a mess. I have never really liked the wire-supported ducts, they are difficult to secure and attach to the tubes since they tend to roll over upon themselves and bind. As I wandered around Home Depot, looking for inspiration on a better way to work this issue, I suddenly remembered an item they had that might work:


It is a rubber coupling for a drainage pipe used in plumbing applications.

I took the hose clamps off and sprayed a little WD-40 on the inner surface to slide it on easier, and voila! It was perfect, as I didn’t need to trim it at all, and it will certainly make the defrost capability much more efficient!

I hope this helps some of you that are struggling with poor ducting. Kevin Staton

NOTE: After posting the above, I was told that Pat Wilson's Tbird Parts used to manufacture the fiberglass defroster ducts. Upon checking with Pat, I was told that he still does for the 1959-1966 Tbirds! The information regarding them can be found in this thread that I just posted.

1959-1960 New Fiberglass Defroster Ducts

Created: January 8, 2021

Last Modified: January 8, 2021

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