A/C equiped how can you tell ?

[ctm14]

I am wondering how you can tell if a vehicle is A/C equiped from pictures.  I noticed that several of the examples I have looked at have a venting consel attached under the dash and wondered if this is the A/C.  Is this how the factory added the option?  When did A/C become available and what are everyones thoughts about purchasing a non-A/C car.  I live in Southern Cal but am thinking air conditioning would be nice to have with the strong sun.

[JamesL]

A/C was, I gather, not factory ftted but fitted by the dealer/importer.

As such it's clear. The A/C is slung under the dash, most obviously under the passenger side.

[ctm14]

Thanks, 
That is what I was afraid of.  I have been eyeing a few cars online and they don't apear to have this add on.

[thelews]

Just because you see the evaporator/blower in the car, doesn't mean the A/C works. 

Here's a pic of one that does.

[graphic66]

I believe some of our vendors still sell the Fridgette kit. My 66' 230SL had the original Khulmiester, it even has a cool little Khulmiester decal on the hardtop window. That older system was pulled out in the eighties I think on my car and was replaced with a Buds Benz Fridgette. It took a little work to get it working really great. It took about 5 hours of pulling a vacuum on the system while heating the accumulator and recharging with some good ole R12 I found on Ebay. I had to spend a lot of time remounting the condenser in front of the radiator. My car still has the old condenser that was mounted behind the front bumper and is about 5" square and about 30" long. From reading on this site the old compressors would sometimes break the pulley off the front of the crank on 230SL's. So watch out for that and do some searching here to confirm my memory. I would like to put the old Khulmiester evaporator under the dash and use the modern compressor. The Khulmiester unit looks really cool and better than the new Fridgette in my opinion.
   So, I think you need to know what components are in the car and be prepared to do some work. You can also just buy the kit and install it on any W113. I do highly recommend the system. It is really "cool" to ride around in the rain with the AC going on a hot day. I don't know how it would work in the hot sun with the top up, we don't get those in Upstate New York.

[ctm14]

Thanks everyone for the information.  Can someone give me some perspective on how had it is going to be to find an early 250 with a manual transmission and A/C.  I would also like to know if adding it hurts the cars value and how much it costs to add A/C aftermarket.

[DavidBrough]

I fitted the Buds Benz kit to my car and I think its about $1,500, I did the installation myself so don't know how much it may costs if done professionally. In terms of effect on value I think that depends on what you have and what you want, I'm sure a show car with a none period extra would suffer but a driven car with a nice cool interior always wins for me. I certainly wouldn't change mine back as I find I use the A/C quite a lot even in the UK and its excellent.