I inherited this car from my mom and am its second owner. It's in stellar condition and has 137,000 actual miles. It lacks only two things in my opinion, but I don't know how to proceed. The air conditioning unit stopped producing cold air last week and I'm not fond of sweating my way through LA! Can/should a retro fit be attempted for the car? Anyone have experience with a service for such in the Los Angeles area?

much appreciation for guidance as I am a newbie with swedish bricks!

Hi Dory, I would suggest that you find a reputable AC shop and spend the money. It's well worth it, the system in your car is of good quality. It was originally configured for Refrigerant 12 which is no longer legal in most areas so will need to be retrofitted to use Refrigerant 134A, which is less harmful to the air. The system consists of the engine driven compressor, the condensor which lives in front of the radiator and gets rid of heat, a receiver drier which stores, filters and dries the refrigerant, the expansion valve, the evaporator which absorbs the heat inside the car, the thermostat which turns the compressor clutch on when the evaporator is warm, and the hoses that connect everything together. Failure of any of these parts could cause the system to not work. The engine fan must also do it's part, and the condensor might have an extra electric fan to help out on hot days. The repairs would take the form of diagnostics, which finds out why it stopped working, repairing or replacing whatever part went wrong, the retrofit, and then recharging the system. The retrofit could be as simple as draing the old R12 oil out of the compressor and installing fresh R134A oil. Then the service ports are added onto with R134A compatible fittings, the system is evacuated (all the air is sucked out) and an appropriate amount of R134A refrigerant is added. If the car is in really good shape and you want the repairs to last a long time you might want to replace the receiver drier and the hoses with parts that are more compatible with the new type refrigerant. The compressor and the evaporator are very durable, it's unlikely that they need to be replaced. The condensor at the front can suffer damage from projectiles. The receiver drier is expensive but by removing moisture from the system it prevents the formation of acids which attack the system parts from inside. A receiver drier failure quite often leads to expansion valve failure due to acid corrosion of the valve. The compressor shaft seal sometimes leaks. Old hoses designed for R12 may not last long in R134A service. A good service guy will explain all this to you and give you some options as to how to best spend your money. Good luck, sorry for being so long-winded.