1953 Chrysler Imperial with factory trunk mounted "Airtemp"
The first air conditioning for cars was in 1933 when a company in New York city offered installation of air conditioning for cars. Most of their customers were limousine and high end cars for the wealthy.
The Packard Motor Car Company was the first automobile manufacturer to build air conditioners into its cars, beginning in 1939. These air conditioners were originally optional, and could be installed for an extra US$274 (about US$4,050 in 2007 dollars). The system took up half of the entire trunk space, was not very efficient, and had no thermostat or independent shut-off mechanism. The option was discontinued after 1941.
In 1954, the Nash Ambassador was the first American automobile to boast a front-end, fully-integrated heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system. The Nash-Kelvinator corporation used its experience in refrigeration to introduce the automobile industry's first compact and affordable, single-unit heating and air conditioning system optional for its 1954 Nash models. This was the first system for the mass market with controls on the dash and an electric clutch. Marketed under the name of "All-Weather Eye", the Nash system was "a good and remarkably inexpensive" system. Entirely incorporated within the engine bay, the combined heating and cooling system had cold air for passengers enter through dash-mounted vents. Nash's exclusive "remarkable advance" was not only the "sophisticated" unified system, but also its $345 price that beat all other systems.
Most competing systems used a separate heating system and an engine-mounted compressor, driven off of the crankshaft of the engine via a belt, with an evaporator in the car's trunk to deliver cold air through the rear parcel shelf and overhead vents. General Motors made a front mounted air conditioning system optional in 1954 on Pontiacs with a straight-eight engine that added separate controls and air distribution. The alternative layout pioneered by Nash "became established practice and continues to form the basis of the modern and more sophisticated automatic climate control systems."
The innovation was adopted quickly, and by 1960 about 20% of all cars in the U.S. had air-conditioning, with the percentage increasing to 80% in the warm areas of the Southwest. American Motors made air conditioning standard equipment on all AMC Ambassadors starting with the 1968 model year, a first in the mass market with a base price starting at $2,671. By 1969, 54% of the domestic automobiles were equipped with air conditioning, with the feature needed not only for passenger comfort, but also to increase the car's resale value.
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