My New Car Fetish - A/C Stickers

"Jonee" (Jonee) 09/26/2014 at 13:51 • Filed to: Neato

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I saw this VW decal recently and became enamored by these stickers and badges advertising the fact that these cars have a/c. It's fun to think that air conditioning was such a luxurious novelty back then. It's like how cars in the 80's had "turbo" decals. What happened to those? Now you don't even get the "T" at the end of the numbers that are what goes for car names these days. We've become as blasé about turbos as we are about air conditioning.

They also remind me of old motels that advertise "color television."

505Turbeaux > Jonee 09/26/2014 at 13:52

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they missed the top half of this sticker that says "NEVER"

Jonee > 505Turbeaux 09/26/2014 at 13:55

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Yeah, I've never been in an old Beetle with a/c, but I imagine it was as effective as the notorious heater. How did that engine have the energy to power a compressor?

McMike > Jonee 09/26/2014 at 13:56

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.

Jayhawk Jake > Jonee 09/26/2014 at 14:01

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We've got a 1960 Mercedes 300 at our air museum with a Sears aircondtioner. It has a neat sticker on back. I can't find a picture.

pdx107 > Jonee 09/26/2014 at 14:05

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I have one in my bus, well, did, yeah... it sucked about half the power from the engine... eff that noise

505Turbeaux > Jonee 09/26/2014 at 14:09

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ha you turn it on and the car feels like it is going to die. Tell you what next time I see my friend with the rotisserie restored Volvo 122S wagon with WORKING AC, I will snap a picture of the sticker for it. I remember it took him a long time to find a NOS one. Here is the car if it gives you any scope on it. That is the sticker in the back window IIRC

Jonee > 505Turbeaux 09/26/2014 at 14:13

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That car looks amazing. Yeah, I haven't found any Volvo a/c stickers, so I'd love to see it. I had a Renault LeCar with air conditioning, but like the VW, it was ridiculous to use and I disconnected it. Not only would the car barely move, but it would also overheat with the a/c on.

505Turbeaux > Jonee 09/26/2014 at 14:21

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dooms that #3 exhaust valve even more...I set those REAL loose .06

desertdog5051 > Jonee 09/26/2014 at 15:04

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Car makers were proud to display things like "EFI", "ABS", "ELECTRONIC ENGINE CONTROL". Things that are taken for granted now.

Jason Torchinsky > Jonee 09/27/2014 at 01:54

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I had a '71 Super Beetle with A/C. It actually worked, but I eventually got rid of it because I thought it was pretty taxing on the engine.

Rpadula > Jonee 09/27/2014 at 02:03

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Does in USA brand new cars comes with windows stickers stating that the car was tested before leaving the factory?
like those?

Jonee > Rpadula 09/27/2014 at 03:04

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Not those exact ones, but I do think they put something on the car. I love those thumbs-up decals. What country is that from?

Jonee > Jason Torchinsky 09/27/2014 at 03:13

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It was the same in the Le Car. I felt bad for the little thing.

kschang > Jonee 09/27/2014 at 05:09

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Too bad this ain't on sticker form

No pix embedding for me, even innocent ones

Old-Busted-Hotness > desertdog5051 09/27/2014 at 05:42

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OVERDRIVE, bitch!

Ed, for the old good times > Jonee 09/27/2014 at 07:10

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The green sticker reads ARIA CONDIZIONATA

Just look under the dashboard...

Ed, for the old good times > Ed, for the old good times 09/27/2014 at 07:13

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Alfa had classier stuff like this too:

ThePro > Rpadula 09/27/2014 at 09:45

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Only if the car was road tested and has a few hundred miles, mostly to explain why there's so many miles on a new car

Jonee > Ed, for the old good times 09/27/2014 at 12:00

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Awesome.

Rpadula > Jonee 09/27/2014 at 14:50

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Those are from Brazilian General Motors. Each manufacturer here had its own set of stickers. the fiat ones were nice too

Gonemad > Rpadula 09/29/2014 at 13:06

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Those Brazilian GM stickers were very common in Monzas and other GM models circa '84. And they couldn't be removed without leaving a nasty patch of glue behind. Now they are SOLD for collectors, for decoration purposes.

Ad_absurdum_per_aspera > Jonee 09/29/2014 at 13:10

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I haven't seen the car in years, but someone at work used to have a 70s Volvo brick with the window sticker, "Air conditioning by Volvo. Brrrr..." If memory further serves, this was on the fixed triangular window at right rear, but may have been on the rear windshield.

Jonee > Ad_absurdum_per_aspera 09/29/2014 at 13:21

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I hadn't seen that one before so I looked it up. Was it this? Because it's awesome.

Ad_absurdum_per_aspera > Jonee 09/29/2014 at 14:07

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I'm pretty sure the one I saw had the words "Air conditioning" in it, but the typeface suggests a similar era...

Buick Mackane > Ed, for the old good times 09/29/2014 at 19:55

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Wow. an Alfa with AC, I never saw one. I bet the AC emblem stayed on the car much, much longer than the AC actually cooled the car.

RaggedMile > Jonee 09/29/2014 at 20:34

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Kinda like when all of the window A/C units for sale at the appliance store would have little ribbons on the vents to show that they actually moved the air or something.

Blinkrfluid > Jonee 09/29/2014 at 21:58

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We had an old VW bug with AC as a second car.The air worked,but it pretty much came down to a choice between a/c on or something resembling acceleration. It cracked a piston trying to do Skyline drive near Roanoke,Virginia on a weekend jaunt. Made it back to Annapolis,Md. leaving a blue smokescreen the entire way though.It was replaced with a loaded year old Cadillac and I never saw it again. I think dad's still pissed decades later when he sees one.lol.

Rpadula > Gonemad 09/30/2014 at 01:14

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My parents loved Monzas, they owned 4 in 3 years. (SL and a SL/E pre facelift then a SL/E and a Classic)

I i just loved those quality seals. My dad was one of those guys that used to keep the stickers on the windshield for a while...

Actually my parents loved Gm cars in the 90' they had Kadetts (GS and GSi) a Calibra and Vectras CD of either gen... good times.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > Jonee 09/30/2014 at 01:41

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Not a sticker, but I thought you might enjoy this one:

Jonee > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny 09/30/2014 at 03:28

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Ha. I like it. Thanks.

1972Honda600 > Ed, for the old good times 09/30/2014 at 10:17

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Italian for "frozen areola"

joey-taps > Jonee 09/30/2014 at 13:57

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sounds like the Powered by Honda sticker, on a Honda car....

Ed, for the old good times > Buick Mackane 09/30/2014 at 17:14

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They were pretty common in tropical climates. Really don´t know if they really chilled those hot Alfas...

DadsChevy > Jonee 10/01/2014 at 10:38

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How about back when equipping a car with an automatic transmission was worth bragging about with not a sticker, but a whole emblem?

That's from the back of my '54 Bel Air.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Jonee 10/01/2014 at 11:09

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Found on the net, but just like what I had on the back of my '77 Dasher Wagon.

Jonee > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/01/2014 at 12:40

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That's a nice one. Apparently those were dealer installed units.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Jonee 10/01/2014 at 14:27

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I remember when my mom bought the car. The dealer never ordered the cars with A/C from the factory because the Germans could never design a system to handle the needs of a Southern California summer. That DPD system kicked ass - ridiculously powerful.

After she upgraded the stereo and speakers, the window cranks wouldn't work as there wasn't enough clearance. This was in the days before the window crank extender thingies were available, so she replaced the cranks with round knobs identical to the ones used to open the vent windows. There wasn't enough leverage with those, so we never rolled down the windows and instead ran the A/C pretty much all the time. Not the greatest thing to do with a car with only 76 HP (and running on 155/80R13 tires), but it got us around OK. This became my first car, and thus the lack of power and handling was probably a good thing for a new driver.

(not my car, but similar. See the round knob under the vent window? Try using that to roll down a window - not easy)

Jonee > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 10/01/2014 at 14:34

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That's awesome. Clever modification, but yeah, those would be a pain to use. Hopefully, there aren't any toll roads near you. I always liked Dashers, but I remember there was some reliability issue with them. Sounds like your car was durable, though. It's a great first car especially if it was a manual. This one has been tempting me on my local Craigslist forever. Looks lovely, but apparently no one wants it.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/ant/cto/463987…

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Jonee 10/01/2014 at 14:50

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Wow - that's in pretty nice shape for its age. That interior brings back some memories. Ours was a '77, the last year of the original dash design, but the rest seems pretty close, right down to the brown leatherette.

It wasn't a model of reliability, but compared to the Fiat 124 she had before it and the electrical nightmare of an '84 GTI I had as my second car it wasn't too bad. I learned to drive in that one, 4-speed stick in a hilly area, probably the best conditions in which to learn. I've been a manual die-hard since, even getting the 6MT in my current driver, a 2012 Mazda5.

Of course, as a teenager I wanted something newer and flashier, hence the purchase of the GTI. In retrospect, the Dasher was a pretty decent little runabout, and I wish I still had it today. I have an instrument cluster from one of these on a bookcase at home, and I'd like to make a nice wood mount/base, apply 12V for the lighting and clock, and use it as a desk clock, however my mother told me that the clock was the first thing to break in hers, so it probably doesn't work in the cluster I have.

I have a clipping somewhere from the Recycler classifieds for an Audi Fox for sale (essentially the same car, especially in wagon form). I'll never forget the words in the ad - "197x Audi Fox - doesn't run, don't know why, get it away from me please". If this isn't truth in advertising I don't know what is...

Ad_absurdum_per_aspera > Ad_absurdum_per_aspera 11/02/2015 at 11:48

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Fast forward to November 2, 2015, and the commentary (though alas not the actual car) in today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe brings us a picture of the very sticker I remember, courtesy of G. Yogurt :

Understeer Fiasco > Jonee 12/11/2015 at 19:27

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I don’t know why people bag on VW heaters. They work pretty well. ...as long as the car is at speed, anyhow.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Jonee 12/18/2015 at 07:31

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