Now that I have finally got (most) of my money back I'll let you in on my
experiences with Vintage Air.
In March I ordered a "Sure Fit" Air Conditioning kit for my 57 GMC 1/2 ton
from Vintage Air. The phone salesman's name was Art. He was not familiar
with the kit for the GMC truck and had to ask a number of questions of his
co-workers in order to answer my questions. The kit is listed as fitting
55/59 GMC Pickup Truck. I charged it to my Master Card. Total cost was
$1243.16 including shipping, upgrades (polished compressor and chromed
drier) and state sales tax (I live in Texas where Vintage Air is). I chose
Vintage Air over Old Air Products because their kit did not require
modification to my original deluxe heater control. To my delight, the kit
arrived in less than the 10 days that Vintage Air said it would take.
I inventoried the kit and the only thing I questioned was the small number
of o-rings included in the kit. There are 10 connections to be made and
only 5 o-rings. I planned to do the installation of components myself and
have a local A/C shop do the hose connections and evacuate and charge the
system, so it wasn't worth my time and effort to call Vintage Air over 5
missing o-rings.
Reading through the instructions I noticed that the bottom of the condenser
was supposed to attach to an "X brace" in front of the radiator. While the
X brace exists in 58/9 GMC trucks, not in 55-7. Not a big deal, I'll just
fab two more brackets similar to the two that mount the top of the
condenser. I called Vintage Air's tech support line and asked them how
close the condenser should be to the radiator. Their answer was "As close
as you can get it without touching." That being the case, the top mounting
brackets that were already mounted on the radiator side of the condenser
needed to be moved to the grill side of the condenser to get the condenser
closer than 1.5" away from the radiator. No big deal, just unscrew the
brackets, move them to the other side and reinstall. There were already
holes there so I guess it was assembled wrong at the factory. I made up
some spacers out of 3/8" aluminum tubing and got the condenser installed
about 1/8" from the radiator.
The instructions make no mention of the safety switch (also known as the
binary switch) which prevents the compressor clutch from engaging if over or
under pressure condition exists. The schematic shows where it goes
electrically, but not where it mechanically connects to the system. A quick
call to Vintage Air tech support and I know where to install it.
The procedure that Vintage Air uses for warrantee registration involves
stickers with serial numbers on them for each major part (compressor,
evaporator, condenser, safety switch) of the kit. The stickers are pasted
onto a sheet that includes your address and order number and then returned
to Vintage Air. Problem was that there was no sticker for the compressor.
Vintage Air tech support says "no problem, we go by the order number
anyway."
The next thing I worked on was the heater control head. Vintage Air's kit
supplies a replacement for the stock blower (fan) speed control switch. The
original switch is held in place by two 8x32 screws that attach to the
threaded bracket on the switch. The replacement switch was not threaded,
but at least the holes were the right size for an 8x32 tap. After tapping
the holes I noticed that the handle on the switch was about 13/16" too short
to reach through the slot in the front of the heater control unit. If it
were long enough to reach it was also about 1/4" too high to line up with
the slot. Called the tech support people again and they said that they
would send the proper switch. While I had them on the phone I told them of
the missing o-rings and they said that they would send those too. At this
point I programmed Vintage Air's 800 number into my speed dial.
Two days later the correct switch and the o-rings arrived. I mounted the
switch and tried to mount the new plastic placard into the stock heater
control unit. This placard replaces the original one marked to show fan
speed, outside vs. inside air, temp and defrost with one marked fan speed,
A/C on/off, temp and defrost. Only problem is the new placard is about 1/8"
too high and 1/8" too wide to fit into the space occupied by the stock
placard. Used the speed dial and got the answer that this was the only part
available. Some careful sanding with emery cloth removed 1/16" from each
side and then the placard would fit in the heater control head. Looking at
my accomplishment I noticed that the print on the placard was so large that
the outside, top and bottom edges of the words TEMP and DEFR (they run
vertically on the plastic) were not visible through the opening, but hey,
this is the only part available.
I installed the compressor with no problems. Then it came time to install
the evaporator. This is where the ship hit the sand. The evaporator unit
supplied was 20.5" wide. The space under the dash between the right side of
the heater control unit and the right side of the cab behind the glove box
door is 18.5". Speed dialed again and tech support (Ramone if I remember
right) was totally mystified. He said that the kit had been developed using
a 58 GMC (explains the X bracket) which they had since sold. I had them
pull the engineering drawings and confirm that I had the right unit. The
drawings showed that the unit should be 20.5". I had a list member (Jeff
Cerniglia) measure the same space in his 59 GMC. He measured 18 9/16",
within a sixteenth of my measurement. Ramone also questioned Art's selling
me such an "old kit". The date on the drawings was May 20, 1996. I guess
the under-dash measurements of 55-59 GMCs have changed in the last five
years. Vintage Air's only solution was to provide me with a smaller general
purpose evaporator, which would not be controlled by the stock heater
control head. Not a good answer.
I called Old Air and talked to Johnny. I didn't want to have to unmount the
compressor and condenser and asked if they would be compatible with Old
Air's evaporator. He said yes (they use the exact same Sanden compressor
and the size of the condenser is almost identical). I had him measure the
evaporator. It should fit. Speed dialed back to Vintage Air's tech support
and after much weeping and gnashing of teeth Mark gave me a return
authorization for just the evaporator portion of the kit, however the
refused to pay the $21.35 UPS charges for the return. Got it boxed up and
sent via UPS on May 15th. It arrived at Vintage Air and was signed for on
May 16th.
On June 13th I received my next credit card bill as was shocked to not find
a credit from Vintage Air. Speed dialed again and was told by Paul "It
takes a month to clear." Funny, it only took them a day to charge me for it
originally.
On June 20th I checked with the credit card Company. Still no credit.
Speed dialed and was told by Paul "It takes 3 to 4 weeks to clear." I
informed him it had been 5 weeks. He checked with accounting and said it
would be done "By late this week."
At 3PM (they close at 4PM) on June 22nd (Friday, the end of the week) I
speed dialed again, waited on hold for a few minutes and left a message with
the operator that I needed to talk with the accounting people. She said
they would get back to me shortly. When I hadn't heard from them by 3:45 I
speed dialed once more and got Dan in accounting. He told me that they had
just found my paperwork clipped to some other customer's. I didn't know it
was lost. They had already closed out the Master Card accounting for the
day and that the credit would be posted "first thing Monday".
Monday, June 25th around noon I speed dialed another time (I wonder if this
button on my phone will be the first to break?) and Dan told me he would
apply the credit "As soon as I get enough charges to offset the credit". I
told him that was not acceptable and he said he would do it "right now".
Two days later I checked with the Master Card folks and the credit had been
received.
A few days later I received an invoice and credit card slip from Vintage Air
in the mail. Opened it to find that they refunded the $575 for the parts,
but had not refunded the $45 (I don't remember the exact amount) sales tax.
Back to the speed dial and Dan says that he'll get that done quickly. A few
days later another invoice/credit card slip arrived showing the sales tax
refund.
Meanwhile I had received and installed the Old Air evaporator. Now I feel
as cool as my truck looks.
Vintage Air "Sure Fit"? Surely they jest!
Bill Hanlon
6022 Pin Oak Place
Klein TX 77379
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