Anyone Use Southern Air?

There is an AC kit that I may get for my 51 Chevy. Its the Mustang underdash style. Does anyone have any experience with Southern Air. Its a good price, but I have never heard of them.

Thanks!

 

Id stick with vintage or hotrod air.both have treated me right and good products

 

I have used them in the past and i was not happy with it. Vintage air is the best hands down

 

It,s cheap for a reason .It,s cheap and flimsey.talker

 

It was in a Rambler I had a few years ago. I didnt install it or purchase it, but it wasnt real cold or efficent...

 

Had nothing but problems and customer support was even worse. Good luck with Vintage Air and Classic Air out of Florida

 

I have Southern air in one vehicle and hot rod air in another. go with either vintage or hot rod air. Southern air works alright but not as well as the others and customer service is awful.

 

Tom Joseph owns Southern Rods & Southern Air in Greer,South Carolina.

I have use Southern Air in the last 4 cars,,and I did have a problem with one of them,they made it good.

I have also used vintage air,,great product,,and it had a leak inside,,they too replaced it,,,I guess it happens to everyone sooner or later. HRP

 

wasn't that a recent change of ownership of Southern?

 

Vintage Air for me is the way to go

 

Tom has owned it for years unless he has sold it in the last couple of months. HRP

 

Fellow HAMB member Shane T works @ Southern Rods and Parts. SO ... I went and looked at their A/C product line. I know very little about A/C stuff and the quality, but their stuff looked OK to me ... but I went with Vintage Air . Vintage Air had such a good reputation here on the board. BUT the main thing that appealed to me was how small and compact the Vintage Air Generation II Mini was. I have a good friend with the same unit in a 32 Ford sedan and his did such a GREAT JOB ... I knew I would be happy with one in my coupe.







You barely even see it ... in my 32 coupe
It blows 40 degrees out the vents ... when it is 90 degrees outside.

You could most likely HIDE a Vintage Air Generation II Mini totally under the dash of your much larger 1951 Chevrolet. The Vintage Air unit has heat, A/C, and defrost also.

 

So the vintage air system is worth double the $$$ of a southern air? If so then I will have to save more.

Another option would be to get the compressor, condenser, and a few bits from a newer junkyard car. Then get the underdash unit from somewhere. It may be cheaper that way...

 

Bunch of god damn nancies-use the lever that flips up that cowl vent!

 

Over the years this question comes up - not just on this board - and the answers and comments are always the same, Southern is not good for air or service. Not personal experience, but where there's smoke there's fire.

On the flip side, Vintage seems to get the universal thumbs up.

 

I used Vintage Air in mine and went in great but tight. A couple years ago I helped a friend put SA in a 40 Coupe. We had problems with the wiring and spent a two days trying to trace it down. Called their tech line only to find out that a couple wires were installed wrong in a plug in switch and they knew that some of their units were sent out that way. I don't know if you know what it is like working under a 40 dash with air but we were not happy campers. They couldn't tell me why units were sent out knowing they were faulity.

 

I too like the cowl vent!

 

Yes, but both of you do not live in the HOT, HUMID South ... like a lot of us. It is not usual for it to be 95 plus with 80 per cent or better humidity ... in the summer months

 

Oh no, you didn't!!!

-Abone.

 

Blown,
When you say Underdash do you mean this


OR do you mean this



This one last one is what I replaced the unit above with. 38 degrees at the vents in a F100. I have no experience with SA. I do have a friend that had one in a F100 and he rode more with the windows down than up for what's it worth. Then I have seen the non-positive experiences of others posted here and on other boards. This unit above is a universal application. I think a hamber out of Austin, "Lucky's" sells both. I say ask around and if possible ride in a comparable vehicle with the unit you are thinking about. Best wishes my friend.

 

With 110 degree heat and 100% humidity our cowl vents stay the hell closed in Texas

 

If Old Air Products in Fort Worth is still in business, Stay Away!
Do Not do business with them.
You'll be sorrry....

 

You mean this one but comes with only engine turned aluminum front panel for better looks. I own Southern Rods and Parts and Southern Air and I agree Vintage Air has been around a long time and they copied our all electric units we had in new products at the sema show in Nov. 98 and came out with their first one in Feb 01 this is in stone. They make a great product but so do we and we sell hundreds to the hardest crowd on earth to please and it ain't east. Randy if you had even had your eyes open you would see V-airs Mini is very similar to our Maxi 1 and has nice looking controls. The case this Mustang style unit is made from is the same case we've used since 1992 when we started and wanted to give all you guys a better deal by not marking our product up another 40% and selling it thru dealers instead sell direct hence the lower price because I'll bet it cost us as much to make a kit as V air and it's all made in the USA. 99.9% of problems can be solved by following the directions and if they are lost go to the front page of our web site www.southernrods.com and they are there. Are we perfect no but if there is a problem we fix it if your on here bitching just to bitch well I get it including the V air dealers on here. ha little Mustang style unit is in my 56 pickup and I installed it with help from one of my guys in 4 hrs and has 39 degree air. I think the price is good but not cheap and V air doesn't have one like it except for the steel one which by the way was ditched in favor of ABS plastic years ago because they rust right out as AC equals moisture. I believe if I charged more I would be gouging and that's what we're all about giving you guys a good deal if you think it is not priced high enough then I'll be glad to take more for it and won't bitch about it. You get that whole kit for 679.00 and get a free chrome compressor upgrade with it or any kit you buy from us and for 55.00 if you have a short water pump small block chev you can upgrade to a chrome ac bkt with the alt. bkt. so where's the competition there. Tha's only on the SBC Shrt pump motors.
Again we don't sell thru dealers except two on the west coast,one in Australia and one in Fla. That's how we keep the price down so call me crazy. If you have our unit and it's within the warranty period we'll fix it if it isn't something that got hit with a hammer.
OH I liked the part about we sold out.......tipical keyboard cowboy dreaming things...ain't for sale but I bet you can get a real good deal on one of the competitors mentioned on here...real good but you will probably have to pick up his debt to. You have a problem email me as I don't ck these boards I'm too busy I want to hear them and pull the paper work and find out what the story really is. srp707@aol.com.

 

I have to comment here to. Old Air has been around for a long time and a damn nice guy. If you have an issue with him call him his name is Darrah and has a damn good product to. Not a huge company but he's there.
Tom

 

well, you've convinced me,...if I ever put an A/C in another one of my cars,....it'll be VINTAGE AIR.

 

HEY ... Tom
I said it looked good

I bought the dryer, binary switch, hose kit and a compressor ... from Shane
Did not know of any 32 Fords ... with your kit under the dash.
HotrodPrimers A/C is under the seat in his 32 pickup ... and not the kind I wanted
knew of 5 or 6 32 Fords with the Vintage Air Mini Generation II ... under the dash

SIMILAR ... was not going to cut it ... because if it was 1/2 inch thicker or 1 inch wider ... it would not fit
The Vintage Air Generation II Mini barely fits up under the dash.

 

great thread, I'm in the market and still not sure which to get. So far, the masses seem to like the VA unit, I'll see who chimes in and go with whoever has the best unit and customer service. Real world experiences are great to learn from, good and bad, we want to hear them all and thanks to all the contributors of this thread, good stuff indeed.

 

Dang, SRP707-don't you know you only get one chance to make that first impression?

 

This is the style I want. It doesnt have to be this exact one, but its a good size.

 

I have seen it in person and it looked OK to me ... but just not the style I needed.

I know 4 of the folks at Southern Rods ...

Tom ... owner
Shane T ... number one HELP
Shawn ... he bought a house from me
Rob ... all around rod type of a guy

I have bought a good bit of stuff from SR ... and only had a problem once, years ago.

Bought a Vintage Air unit and had the heater core leak ... brand new

So anything made by man can have a problem every now and then