[brucee70]

Originally Posted by north

One of the best finds was a NOS A/C control for a Bonne ...the wood grain on a Catalina and Executive is not the nice stuff like on the Bonne and you can see from the picture I had not installed it yet. That was the only one I've ever seen for sale (admit I haven't been looking much any more ....)

Bruce

I always preferred the 70 wood bezel than the 69 cheapo looking aluminum that always deformed to boot. I was lucky to find an nos bezel but now the AC head looks dull by comparison despite lots of cleaning.[/QUOTE]

I'll have to dig into my stash in the shed when I can ....At one point in the past I had a real nice 69 bezel and may have 69 A/C head as well. I'll let you know if find anything ...

[goatless]

Damn, John! That Ventura is gorgeous... in a plain green wrapper kind of way.

It's amazing that it stayed intact in it's as built condition for all these years.

[north]

Thanks Bruce, the AC head is pretty nice already, just that is supposed to be the same look as the surrounding bezel. Btw it has ATC, even tougher to find.

[blubomber]

If you look closely at the picture of the speedometer on John's (North's) newest buy, the '69 Ventura, you will see two rectangular lenses for some kind of light. they are below the numbers 100 and 120 on the speedometer.

I've seen speedo units with just the idiot lights and gas gauge; with the auxilery gauges;, with SafeGuard and idot lights, and very very rarely with auxilery gauges and SafeGuard but I have never seen a '69 with this configuration. Does anyone know what those lights are for?

[David Brown]

Do you know what the difference is between the Bonneville control (7314282) unit and the Catalina & Executive control unit (7314082)? I too bought a lot of NOS on ebay in the 90s and early 2000s. I almost bought an NOS control unit, but it was for Catalina & Executive, not Bonneville.

The Warning Lamps option Code 652-UPCW74 has 4 warning lamps. Left to right, they are Washer Fluid, Belts, Lights and Low Fuel.

[blubomber]

Dave,

Are you saying there are two additional lenses on the left side that I can't see in the photo? How many years was this avaialble?

[blubomber]

John, Are you sure about the ATC? I don't see the little vent in the wood gain passenger side dash panel for the temp sensor.

[David Brown]

Yes, according to the 1970 Accessories Manual, it has 4 warning lights.

[blubomber]

Very interesting. There are two wagons, '69 and '70, in a local junk yard. I'll check them out for these style units the next time I get down there. Thanks,

[blubomber]

That option wasn't listed in the '69 Accessories book that I am aware of. Now I am curious as to what color the speedo unit background is. In '69 they were a grey/blue. In '70 they were a charcoal black. The mysteries of options are fun.

[David Brown]

The ATC has a LOT of parts that are different than the Custom A/C, besides the controller and the vent on the right side plate. I had a dash with ATC and might have had a lot of the parts, but was advised it is a major job to change, and if something doesn't work, replacement parts are hard to get. I saw an NOS ATC controller being offered for a long time, but didn't buy it. Would be a good replacement for someone who has a working ATC system.

[north]

Blubomber...when I was mentioning ATC it was about my Bonneville. And yes extra warning lights are a 69 listed option on B cars only. They are part of the lighting group which my Ventura has.

David... I don't have a parts book in front of me but I'm assuming the part#'s you provide are for 1970. If so I suspect the difference is that the Bonneville had a different style of fake wood on the dash so the control had to be compatible (if it was also wood grained). In 69 the only "wood" on the dash was on the passenger side.

I've been collecting NOS ATC bits when ever they pop up on eBay cheap.

[north]

To "de-ATC" a car would be a major undertaking but not impossible. The actual heating and refrigerant parts are identical(compressor, condenser, heater core etc). The only way I would consider it is if I had a regular AC car of same year and model as a donor.

[blubomber]

Learned something new, again. thanks.

ATC. Someone once told me that you can take a modern system say from a Ford Explorer and replace the electronic controls and the system will work fine. I've never seen one to be able to verify if that is true or not. On the surface it seems to make sense.

The Ventura is very cool, but a weird combination of options.

[north]

ATC must do three things if you think of it:
control air temp flowing into car
control fan speed
direct air to different vents

Most ATC's I've run across do at least some of these. The most challenging one is directing to different vents.

If the ATC can't control fan speed hide a fan switch under the dash and have it run directly to the blower motor.

If it can't control temp you can easily install a non air style temp cable and jury rig it to the temp door lever on the heater box in the car.

If it can't direct air to the right vents you have a bigger problem.

If you think about how ATC operates the most likely problem is the programmer and they surprisingly turn up NOS on eBay. They were so expensive in the day that any that weren't sold by the end of warranty were probably never sold. So there are many out there, especially the later years as they became more commonly installed.

I'm talking big, we shall see, my Bonneville system works fine except for it refusing to go to higher fan speeds when needed. I have an NOS fan control switch in case it's the switch but I'll start in the spring by testing power to the fan etc.

My GP system is an unknown since my fan motor is burned out, I bought a new one which I'll install over the winter and then see from there.

[57Chieftain]

Nice score, John! I'm glad that you caved in to the peer pressure and got a longroof!

[north]

Thanks,

Your pic has me thinking about Bonneville 428 grille emblems, when did the start adding them?

My Bonnie is a November car out of southgate with no emblem, can anyone else key in?

[north]

I'm only referring to cars without the no charge regular fuel 400 of course.

[David Brown]

Have you replaced the High Blower relay North? That is usually the reason for no high speed on the fan.

The control part numbers I listed were for 1970 only. I don't think 1969 didn't use the woodgrain, did they? So, is the difference between the 1970 Bonneville and Car/Exec controller is the Bonne used a better quality woodgrain? I replaced my original 20 years ago because it was ugly and you couldn't read the settings at night. The used replacement is much better, but still a little lighter than my dash woodgrain.

I also have a 1969 speedo/gauge unit in the car, which is the blue/gray instead of black background. Other than that, they are the same.

[blubomber]

The '69 dash does not use the wood grain except over on the panel in front of the passenger above the glove box. There is a piece of brushed aluminum applique' that glues onto the plastic dash panel. Often times these are somewhat mangled with age and plastic warpage due to heat/cold. They can usually be removed and rolled flat again with a kitchen rolling pin. The black stripe around the perimeter can be easily touched up as well. The wood grain panel above the glove box was different (wood grain sytle and wording) depending on the mnodel; e.g. Catalina, Ventura, Executive, Bonneville, Brougham, with or without AC or ATC. The Catalina pattern was more of a pine wood grain. The others were a sort of burled walnut. In '70 the Bonnevilles has a little metal potmetal recessed insert with the word Bonneville in the panel. This was the same badge used on Bonneville '69 door panels with the wood grain inserts.

In '70 the dash style looks the same except that instead of using a wood grain applique' the wood grain is integral to the dash piece. This eliminated the issue with the plastic expanding and contracting due to heat and cold which would in turn affect the glued on piece of brushed aluminum in '69's. The '70 was a better design, and better looking IMO.

The overlay decal on the temperature control unit matched the pattern in each year. In "69 it was silver aluminum faced decal and in '70 it went to a wood grain decal. I've never seen a wood grain one in good condition in a junkyard. Occassionally a silver one can be salvaged.