1954 Heater Box Identification

[Darthintel]

I purchased a 1954 Chev 3100 truck, and noticed it doesn't have the original heater core inside the cab. This one has 2 fans - 1 for the cab heat, and another for the defrost. They are 12V motors.

Does anyone know what this heater assembly is out of?

[MARTINSR]

There were SOOOOOO Many heaters sold in parts stores back then. MOST trucks were not ordered new with a heater, that sucker cost about $15! That would have added a dollar to their $32 payment and they couldn't afford it....no I am not joking.

So, with so many sold, I don't know if I have seen two of the same! I know I have one for my truck that is very different than that one, if it works roll with it. I had an original one in my truck for years, they are pretty cool. I sold it when I sectioned the cab and removed the side cowl grille.

Brian

[mikebte]

I saw something close to this in HotRod magazine, they installed an aftermarket heater under the dash and ducted it to the old heater, such as you have pictured. Turned out real cool. You may be able to do modify it and keep it.

As Brian stated. A lot of them are aftermarket setups.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/how-...ac-gen-ii-kit/

[Darthintel]

It functions just fine, I just wanted to know what it's out of for future reference.

[joedoh]

looks like someone took off the sticker when they painted it blue. its not a GM or ford or mopar accessory heater, like martin said could be any one of hundreds of manufacturers, everyone made one, even whirlpool and kenmore and even westinghouse were making car heaters back then.

do you know its 12v because its labeled as 12v? because a 6v fan will just spin twice as fast hooked up to 12v, I did a lot of 12v conversions on bugs years ago and most times we didnt even change the starters or even the headlights, the starter spun faster and the headlights were brighter (for a very short time). the 6v dash lights lasted longer.

I have a few old truck heaters still, almost time to break them down for recycling. the brass core is almost worth more than the $5 each I was asking for the whole heater, and I just got rid of 5. they werent made to take the pressure of a modern coolant system so they really only have value to guys running original engines. and there are thousands available out there. my point being if you have a problem with this one you will be able to swing a cat and find 30 haha

[Darthintel]

Well - the truck has been converted to 12V and there's converters to 6V for the fuel gauge only. No - I'm not sure the motors are 12V, but they run like they are.

If it works well this winter I'll keep it.