Have you ever seen any Dart, Valiant, Demon or Duster with a rear window defroster?

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Kern Dog

Kern Dog

Build your car to handle.
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This subject came up on the FMJ forum. A member there mentioned that in New York, cars that are model year 1974 and later are required to have rear window defrosters. They have a few exclusions but it got me curious...
I have never seen any sort of rear window defroster in any A body, ever. None with the blower motor in the speaker deck, none with the grid embedded in the glass itself. How can that be? I've never seen any dash switches for them on any A body either. How is that possible if they existed?
I had a few Camaro and Firebirds from 1970-78 year models and none of them had them either.
Sure, I'm in California but we get Nevada cars here, it snows in Tahoe and Reno. Of the 70 cars and trucks that I have owned, only the '85 Camaro and '83 Nissan Sentra wagon had them.
I've seen the speaker deck blower motor in B and C bodies, but never an A body.
Have you ever seen one? Do you know the option code for them?
 
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I bought a 1973 Dart 4-door for my daughter from a friend. The car had the rear defroster option. I had to junk the car after she ran into a power pole and bent the body at the a-pillar. I don’t have a picture of the defroster.
 
Do you remember if it was the type that blew air at the glass or had that grid in the glass?
 
A guy posted these pictures in another thread here:

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Come to think of it, I am starting to remember these switches under the dash...

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Wow, I have NOT seen that before, Marvin. (The dash switches)
 
In my 68 I have the dash switch, and the deck vent trim. But in 1988 I was more interested in 2 speakers, plus living in Fl, I wasn’t worried about a rear defrost, so, being young & dumb, I tossed the blower motor & 6x9 hole adapter
 
I had a 74 4 dr. Valiant Brougham that had the factory grid type.
It's funny that you mention it, but I think ALL newer cars have them but hardly anyone uses them. They're like turn signals, it's just too much trouble to flick a switch to turn them on! :mad:
 
Electric grid defrosters were new for 1974.

I have a back glass with one for my 73 Satellite, for a 74 Charger.

The real oddity is the blower in a 29 body A body car.

I've only seen a couple pics of those, and they were on FABO.
 
My 74 current 74 duster has the electric grid type. Also has the fold down rear seat option which is why the grid type. (I'm thinking).

Not a duster but my 69 valiant more door has the blower motor type rear defrost
 
My understanding is the factory style was the blower motor in the rear shelf.
Aftermarket was the copper strips attached to the glass and run with electricity as a dealer add on. Typically aftermarket. Those are very rare and seldom work, customers did not need them due to the angle of the glass. The blower style was for fogging of the glass in cold weather.
Syleng1
 
To be specific, the blower is a defogger. The grid type is a defroster. You would need a heating element of some sort for the blower to "defrost".
 
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The blower did not work very good until you got some heat in the car due to intake at rear speaker opening. And as stated it was a defogger not a defroster.
 
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