Vintage Air Climate Control Unit - (No More) Sweatin' To The Oldies - Tech

Here's a shot of the side plenum area with the doors installed and the two box halves mated.

The front door was reversed from the stock design so that it directs the air up toward the passengers as opposed to toward the floor. The box is now installed and ready to rock!

Here are three different outlets offered by Vintage Air. The left is a direct flow defrost duct, while the other two are underdash louvers.

We're going to install a pair of underdash vents on opposite ends of the dash, but with a little twist. Since we want to tone down the presence of the A/C unit, the vents are going to be hideaway, tucking up under the dash when not in use; out of sight, out of mind.

The mounting surface of the vent is attached to a hinge and a cabinet door release is mounted to one side to hold it in place when it's in the hidden position.

Here's a shot of the passenger side vent in the "operating" position...

...the same vent in the "hidden" position, as viewed through the glovebox.

The last piece of the puzzle of our low-key A/C install is to mount the controls. The '52 Pontiac dash we grafted into the F-1 had a neat control panel that mounts just above the steering column, housing the controls for the stock heater. We removed the controls from a Vintage Air GEN-II underdash pod and relocated the "fan" and "mode" controls to the stock "air" and "temp" locations on the Pontiac panel, while the two "temperature" controls were mounted on the dash next to the headlight switch. At first glance, the dash looks stock with two extra, nondescript knobs.