Ventilation versions

[roger_ph]

Did you all know, that there are two different versions of the ventilation? Up to #016 there was just one air outlet either side of the drivers seat, like you can see here:



Unfortunately I don't have any inside pics of #017, but from #018 there are two of those outlets, like you can see here:



Up to now I didn't realize that.

Roger

[hurstg01]

Hi Roger

I had spotted that last night whilst looking for the dash colours for another thread, but didn't comment on it at the time. I didn't know at what stage of production when the change came in, so for clearing that up

[Peloton25]

I believe the cars with 4 dash vents have the upgraded A/C. I don't know if this was a change that occurred during production, or if the updated system was developed later and has been added to cars only on a refit basis. If it was a running change during production, I don't know where (as far as chassis number) the changeover occurred.

>8^)
ER

[hurstg01]

#065 must have the updated A/C, it's certainly far enough down the production line to tie in with what Roger stated. Here is a pic of the vents, showing all 4

here is one of #047

AFAIK both #047 and #065 haven't been refitted, so out of Erik's propositions I guess it's a change, like most normal production cars, that after the first F1's were in circulation updates were added to the original spec for better usability. I have heard about poor ventilation on early models; perhaps the more vents and uprated A/C must have sorted out the problem, as I can't see 6 or more vents on the very late models

[Peloton25]

In using the word "refit" I didn't mean it in the same sense as a respray or retrim of the interior as we see so many owners choosing to do today. Stuff like this could have been modified during a service stop at the factory.

To truly answer this question as to whether this occurred as a running change during production we'd need to reference the earliest possible photos of some later chassis numbers. I don't have anything at my fingertips at the moment, but I will look later on.

>8^)
ER

[ArchangelGTR]

Don't forget the ones for the GT and various GTRs.

[roger_ph]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

I believe the cars with 4 dash vents have the upgraded A/C. I don't know if this was a change that occurred during production, or if the updated system was developed later and has been added to cars only on a refit basis. If it was a running change during production, I don't know where (as far as chassis number) the changeover occurred.

>8^)
ER

Erik, you are right - #003, #009, #011 and #015 have 4 dash vents, too...

Oh - XP4 and XP5 also!

And in my pics of XP2 it is not obvious...

[Peloton25]

The earliest shot of 56XPGT with the red interior in the GT brochure shows a pair of dash vents. So, at least on the GTs it appears that the upgraded A/C was included from new.

Here's the only picture I have of the interior of #018 prior to it's refit and although small, you can see that there was not a second set of vents on the dash close to the steering wheel at that time ruling it out as the earliest chassis.



Here is chassis #022 when Wyclef Jean owned it and you can also see the lack of a second set of vents. I'm sure that has been rectified with the expensive refit it recently commissioned by Mr Collier.



I have no pics of #023 prior to when Paul Stewart owned it, and it had obvisouly received a signifcant refit by that point, so no telling there. Again, the same is true for #024 which had also received a complete interior makeover for Jim Clark. #025 is the George Harrison F1 and most here know the lack of content on that car quite well. There was no chassis #026 or #027.

To complete the hat trick of crappy photos here, this is quite possibly the worst of the trio, but shows #028 in Japan in 1999 and is the earliest shot I have of the interior in this car. I think it may have had the secondary dash vents from new, but there was an approximate 5 year period before this photo was taken where it could have received them as an update of sorts.



The hunt continued for the highest chassis number with single vents in the dash to try and rule out #028 or earlier as the cut off. Chassis #029 is mixed up in the brown quagmire with no solid reference. There was no chassis #030. I have no shots of the entire dash in #031, just a recent shot of the gauges. There was also no chassis #032. #033 is one of the silver mystery cars that may have been destroyed - nothing to positively reference. There also wasn't a #034 or #035. The earliest shots of #036's interior were provided by Roger and at the time it had 4 vents, but it was the boss's car, so one would expect it would receive all the updates that became available. Chassis #037 is the Manelis car and photos of that show four vents. #038 has received an extensive refit with no earlier photos that I have seen. #039 is the other brown car, again with no solid reference. #040 has the four vents, but no way of telling if that was from new. Really at this point though I think I am starting to beat a dead horse as none of the source photos I have for reference really date back to the time when any of the cars were factory-fresh. I do now believe this was a running change to production sometime near the end of 1994.

One interesting thing to note about #038 is that when the McLarenForSale.com website was up, it listed "Upgraded A/C" under a section of details titled:

"The Following list of items represent features and options that are in
addition to any standard features on a F1."

That leads me to believe that the additional dash vents may not actually imply that an F1 has the upgraded A/C components as I originally suggested. It could be that the guts of the system have no correlation to the number of vents and that the second set of vents was added just to better control and allow more airflow in the cabin.

>8^)
ER

[hurstg01]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

It could be that the guts of the system have no correlation to the number of vents and that the second set of vents was added just to better control and allow more airflow in the cabin.
>8^)
ER

sounds right, good detective work