air conditioning became common in cars in 1969.
when did air conditioning became common in cars?
1969
the innovation was adopted quickly and new features to air conditioning like the cadillac comfort control which was a completely automatic heating and cooling system set by dial thermostat was introduced as an industry first in the 1964 model year. 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 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.
automobile air conditioning
the r38 was the first subway car fleet to have air conditioning installed. the last ten cars delivered (4140–4149) came factory equipped with stone safety 10-ton split system air conditioning system featuring the compressor/condenser units mounted under the cars, while the evaporator units were installed on the top interior ends of the car in 1967. the first six air conditioned cars came into service on the f train on july 19, 1967. the six-week experiment was a success after past failures and air conditioning would soon, but not immediately, become standard equipment on new rolling stock built for the system, since the first 200 r40 cars were built without air conditioning. the air conditioned cars cost $40,000 more than the non-air conditioned cars. from this point on, the new york city transit authority began adopting air conditioning as standard equipment on all new cars, and older model cars were retrofitted with ac units to make life much more bearable throughout the subway system. the stone safety air conditioning system was adopted from their standard railroad and commuter coach air conditioning systems, and it proved very successful.
r38 (new york city subway car)