I ASKED Mark Lynch of Carcool for his opinion. He thought the fault could be either the ambient temperature sensor or a faulty climate-control unit itself. The ambient sensor behind the front bumper tells the climate control the outside temperature. If this goes open circuit, the control will assume that it is -50C and will switch to full heating. The climate control unit itself could have a faulty component, dry-joint in the board, or bad connection plug. Try changing the ambient sensor and clean its connector. If it fails again, replace the climate control head.

SOUNDS as if you have a nice Fairlane there, Steve, and it seems a shame to sell it when it has such low mileage and is giving you good service. Instead of buying the V8 I'd consider an EB Falcon XR6 because I reckon you'd prefer the performance of that over the Ghia. Sure, the leather and the sports suspension sound great, but the XR6 will eat it for breakfast. Returning to the V8, the Windsor is a good, solid engine that gives little trouble and is good when converted to LPG. As you say, it is all steel, with cast-iron block and heads.