This just came to me.
I have seen Land Rovers (another unfulfilled lust) with electric 
heaters.  They were a circular fan with a bunch of coiled (nichrome?) 
wire wrapped around a big ceramic ice-cream cone looking thing. Now hold on 
here, tho.  First off, think of where LR's usually are used, it ain't 
Alaska.  Secondly, they were made by Lucas so it probably don't work 
anyway.  Thirdly, reviews I've read say they don't work except to 
defog a 3 inch circle on the windscreen.  So, maybe I didn't lie.

Just can't beat old man physics.