I found an Irving Automatic Shutter (circa 1924?) for the radiator up in my dad's attic. It is in really good shape, but does not have the dash control or cables. Does anyone have any thoughts on who might use/want this and what it might be worth? I do have pictures that I can email. Thanks for your help.
It would be fun to see. Can you post a picture on the Forum of it for us?
Rich
If it's automatic, I would expect a thermostat to control it, not a manual control.
Dumb question. Why does "Automatic" need a cable?
I would love to see that accessory, too. Post a pic?
When it comes to Model T accessories - or anything else from 100 years ago - our modern interpretation of word meanings often is faulty. Many "automatic" devices from those times were anything but.
A picture would be fun.
I once did a little work on a 1948 Rolls, Royce, and the shutters were controlled by a thermostat. There must have been some cool factor involved, huh?
Franklins had thermostatically controlled shutters. They were all air-cooled.
A photo and measurement would help since these were made for a large variety of radiator sizes. The ones I Have seen make use of a bi-metallic device to open and close the shutters.
So do we get a cut of the Ebay sale price for helping you peg a title and description for the winter front?
In my experience, aftermarket radiator shutters aren't worth much. There really isn't any real demand for them from a practical or collector standpoint.
Being in Minnesota, I've seen a lot of them at swap meets over the years.
I worked for a company in 1967 that bought a fleet of new Dodge trucks, they all had an automatic radiator shutter on them, thermostatically controlled. That shows that the automatic shutters were around for a long time.
From memory they were about a 3 ton truck, maybe 4 ton.
The new Dodge Dart and Ram Trucks have computer controlled partial radiator shutters to reduce drag when maximum cooling is not required. Here is a quote from the Allpar website:
"The Ram 1500 is the first truck to use an active grille shutter system (similar to the one on Dart), closing airflow through the grille when cooling is not needed. It increases gas mileage by 0.5%, cuts drag roughly 4%, and cuts warm-up time/defrost time. The computer closes the shutters when cooling is not needed.
Dave Sowers pointed out that the active shutters was normally either fully open or fully closed. When closed, air pressure quickly builds up in front of the slats, deflecting oncoming air over the truck, which has the lowest drag coefficient of any pickup on the market. At all times, there’s airflow over the radiator from other openings. The idea was to avoid drag from radiator capacity which is seldom needed, while still being able to cool the engine under any reasonable conditions. (He also said that riding with the tailgate down increases drag, while a tonneau cover makes the truck much more aerodynamic.)"
John,
To answer your question, I hauled one to Hershey last year, still in the original box, I did not even get an offer on it! I thought it was a neat piece and should be worth at least 50 but nothing! Maybe the right person just was not looking that week?
The shutter is 22.125"h X 18.125"w X 2" at its thickest part at the top. Will attach photos soon.