It's hard to keep up with Detroit's ability to load new cars with every type of luxury and convenience that can be thought of. How many of us really need to know what the outside temperature is as we're screaming down the freeway? This may be an interesting piece of information, but come on, it seems like some of this stuff is just too frivolous to even be standard equipment, let alone to be paying extra for. But then there are those luxuries that aren't just fun and frivolous, but realistic, too. Like power windows, right? Well, no matter what you may think about power windows, they are kinda cool and besides, the aftermarket demand has forced production of bolt-in power window kits for almost all cars.
Long gone are the days of junkyard-searching for a power window set-up that looks like it could possibly fit with some gentle persuasion. Or how about the first aftermarket "universal" kits that never seem to fit in anything without a full weekend of hammering and grinding on the vehicle's poor doors. By the time we were done, we felt so happy to have accomplished the task, it didn't matter the windows went up and down when they felt like it, or that snails move faster.
With all these horror tales in mind, we set out to find a bolt-in kit that would work like factory-equipped power windows. During our investigation (if you will) we ran across a company that builds OE power windows for cars like Lamborghini and Mercedes. If it's good enough for them, then it's got to be good enough for our '82 dualie, we reasoned. So we decided to try them on for size and see what happened. In all honesty, the kit went in just like it was supposed to. The front-door kit consists of two new regulators that upon inspection looked very much like the factory units. This was a very good sign. And the back-door kits look a little exotic, but installed and worked almost as easily as the front. Let's just say, the end result was that these kits went in place easily and work as good as any factory-installed power window that we ever used. Even the switches look like something Chevy would have installed. So take a look and ask yourself if this is a luxury you wouldn't mind having. Maybe soon we will show you an installation story on a mirror-mounted, outside thermometer. (But don't hold your breath.)