This ’72 corvette was an original LT1/four-speed equipped, non-air car. The LT1 was long g
It’s easy to forget that cars without air conditioning were more common than cars with air back in the day. And while it was just as hot then as it is today, because A/C wasn’t as common in cars, people just dealt with it. Today it’s a different story. Everyone’s used to climbing into just about any car and cranking up the air conditioning on a hot summer day to cool off. Driving down the road with that cool refreshing air blowing in your face is great, unless you happen to be in a vintage car with no A/C.
Seeing the demand for retrofit A/C for old Bow Ties, the cooling experts at Vintage Air have come up with direct fit air condition systems that put ice cold air in cars that never had it from the factory, along with kits for factory air cars as well. In most cases, the new A/C units offer superior cooling and comfort than the factory system, especially on the Corvette.
After a few rides in the hot Florida summer in Editor Campisano’s ’72 Corvette, we knew that this car was a perfect candidate for one of Vintage Air’s kits. The car is an original LT1 steed, but the original engine was long gone when our Don purchased the car a couple of years ago. An interesting fact about the ’72 was it was the first and only year a buyer could get factory A/C with the LT1 engine in a Corvette. Research shows only 240 cars left the factory so equipped, but this one wasn’t in that rare group.
For our install we went to the local air conditioning experts at Mark’s Air Inc. unless you’re very mechanically inclined and/or your car is already torn apart for restoration, this type of install is best done by a professional. In business for over 30 years, Mark’s Air has been specializing in A/C installs in a variety of vehicles, from vintage non-A/C classic cars and street rods to heavy duty industrial vehicles such as semis, garbage trucks, and school busses.
Follow along as we give this ’72 Corvette a cooler interior.
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The first order of business is to get the hood removed and out of the way to make working
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After draining the radiator and all the coolant we could, the first step was to remove the
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To provide access for the removal of the old parts and install of the new A/C system, most
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With everything out of the way, it’s just a matter of a few bolts and the factory heater c
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Next, this rusty bracket has to be removed. The Vintage Air kit caps off the factory Astro
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Next up, the factory blower motor firewall hole is capped off using this included block of
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After attaching the mounting brackets to the new condenser, it’s lowered into place and mo
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With the condenser installed, it’s time to drill the holes for the A/C tubing through the
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Another template is used to drill the holes on the back side of the core support t run the