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just bought 2 things
73 & 74
73 has ac system minus compressor!!!
is this factory????
has hoses to front , air ducts under dash , ac radiator under front end
need info and compressor
where can i look????
thanx
kevin

Yes the Thing did come with a factory air conditioning option. Finding a factory compressor may be a challenge but perhaps there are other vehicle that share the same compressor. Good research topic. More on that later.

The only A/C units I've ever seen on aircooled VWs were dealer-installed, not factory. There were two or three different manufacturers/models, each with their own approach to compressor mounting, none of which were very well executed IMO.
A/C was rarely ordered in this part of the world so most of the cars I encountered with it were transplants from somewhere like California or Texas...our local dealers didn't know much about them, either.

Wouldn't the best approach be to adapt a compressor from a modern car? It shouldn't be that hard to make your own bracketry that'd be at least as good as the original stuff.
You might have to change some other components too but it seems to me it'd be worth it to convert to the more available R134a refrigerant.

I stumbled across this web site and thought it might be useful for the compressor needed for this set up

http://www.iceac.com/ackitsa.html

Here are two other articles that mentions air conditioning for air cooled:

http://www.iceac.com/beetle'slaststan.html

http://www.iceac.com/coldasi.c.e.html



Please post anyything else you learn about it here. Thanks.