Travel: Cool Cars

Out of his Cadillac staggers a sweltering Texan and collapses in his living room. “Why didn’t you roll down the car window, silly?” asks his wife. “What,” he says, “and let everyone know I don’t have an air-conditioned car?”

This Detroit joke points up the hottest —or coolest—long-term trend in the auto industry. Though an air-conditioning unit is the most expensive accessory available (average price: $350), it is getting to be one of the most popular. Eleven percent of all Detroit’s 1962 model cars had factory-installed air conditioning (some 750,000 units), and about 250,000 more were installed by dealers.

Coolest car of all is the Lincoln Continental, with 80.2% of its 19635 equipped with air conditioning (compared with 72.7% in 1962). Next comes Cadillac, with 67% v. 59% of its 1962s. But the rolled-up window is not only for these yachts of the road; Chrysler’s Dodge Division reported last week that it has already installed more air-conditioning systems this year than in all of 1962.