Which Smiths heater in '65 AC Cobra?

[sammyb]

A friend of mine has a 1965 AC/Shelby Cobra (yes, an original one -- and his father bought it new in '65.) He was telling me tonight that his heater has never really worked for more than 10 minutes at a time. It has a Smiths heater.

I was thinking...it probably was shared with other LBCs. Anyone have an idea what other cars (MGB, TR4, AH3000) this Smiths heater would have been shared with?

He has had it rebuilt, but it still fails after about 10 minutes...of course it doesn't get used too much in the cold, but he does drive it a bunch.

 

[rr64]

Are you sure it was an AC Cars installed heater? I don't know the cross fit in either case but all but the first 1963-65 Cobras (leaf spring cars) used a Dellaney-Gallay (spelling???) unit and 1966-68 427 Cobras/AC 289 Sports (coil spring cars) used a large Smith's unit.

 

[tony barnhill]

With all the heat coming off that tranny tunnel, why did he go with the heater option at all?

 

[rr64]

Defog the windscreen probably, especially when it rains. If it is raining out side the car is steamy on the inside not unlike touring cars of the first three decades of cars. Cobras get wet inside. I know a couple of guys that still take day long trips in their Cobras rain or shine. They use clear tape to slow the ingress on water into their laps.

 

[William]

Oddly, the one thing I can't find in "Original AC Ace and Cobra" by Rinsey Mills is info on the heater! The last Ford-engined Aces (with the 2.6 liter Zephyr six pot mill) used the Delaney-Gallay "Delanair" item, and this presumably was carried over to the earlier Cobras. The later coil sprung cars had Smiths items. The Delanair item was situated under the dash, as opposed to the Smiths items in things like MGBs.

-Wm.

 

[rr64]

The first batch of Cobras didn't have heaters/windscreen demisters, which became a problem almost immediately as one of the first street cars was sold to somebody in a northern latitude. I don’t know about 427 Cobras/AC 289s but the Cobras (leaf spring cars) did not come standard with heaters/demisters, they were options. Now that said, most of the street cars seem to have left AC Cars Ltd with heater/demisters after production got past the first small batches. This is mostly documented the SAAC 1997 Registry. SAAC (Shelby American Automobile Club) has all the invoices from AC Cars showing how each car was shipped from AC Cars and invoices on finished cars going to the original dealer. Since AC/Carroll Shelby/Ford Motor Company didn’t give anything away everything is documented and priced out in these documents. In comparing the Delaney-Gallay DELANAIR units on Cobras and the Smith’s units used on 427 Cobras/AC 289s nothing seems to be the same except the particular brand of machine screws AC Cars Ltd used to mount the main assemblies to the bulkhead.

One strange thing has shown up on Cobras. 1963 Cobras with Delaney-Gallay units often have the large “DELANAIR” aluminum identification plate riveted to their housing. The 1964/65 Cobras* with Delaney-Gallay units usually have the rivet holes for the plate but no plate.

Just in case any of you have some of the Delaney-Gallay parts sitting around you don’t want I am still looking for a white plastic fan blade for a DELANAIR heater blower motor.

Dan

*1964/65 Cobras are chassis CSX2201 and up. The last specification change started with the production of CSX2401.